The Vig

Here’s a guy from Alaska who’s just as mystified as to why McCain chose Palin as I am.  With all three “gates” (bridge, trooper, and baby) lighting up the Interwebs (I’m having a heckuva Sunday for traffic, tyvm), the McCain campaign is finally sending a team up to Alaska to find out what exactly it is they’ve purchased in Sarah Barracuda.

But now the cleanup crew has started. Palin’s praise of the Obama energy plan that was on her website? Scrubbed. Photos on the website during the time period she was supposedly to have been pregnant? Allegedly scrubbed too. John McCain’s organized vetting team? Supposedly on their way to Alaska right now. (Note to McCain staffers: Vet FIRST…it works out better that way.) The National Enquirer? Supposedly all over this already. Photos of the pregnant (or not) Palin are circulating everywhere. One thing is certain, the rumor mill has started, and there’s no getting this toothpaste back in the tube.

The toothpaste analogy is spot on and I think ultimately the Palin episode will be able to pull together all the different narratives about McCain’s judgment and his propensity to shoot from the hip.  McCain is in a major bind here though; if the team finds any merit to any of the accusations and he has to jettison Palin, there will be Hell to pay with the base.  If, on the other hand, they find nothing, it won’t stop The Enquirer or other investigative reporters from continuing to look into all of this.  For example, who, if anyone, was Bristol dating around the time she may or may not have conceived?  You think The Enquirer won’t find him?  You think The Enquirer won’t be looking for a birth certificate?  They found the one for John Edwards’ alleged love child, they can find Trig Palin’s.  Jack Bog’s insurance question will need to be answered as well.  The Palin’s are covered by the state, yes?

Good luck to the McCain plumbers.  They’re gonna need it.