Slip of the tongue?

Palin today outlined the approach that a "Palin and McCain" administration would take in helping small businesses (by helping them keep more so they can do more, and stuff). Was her reversal of the ticket an innocent slip of the tongue? Perhaps, but on Sept 14., Frank Rich said in the NY Times that

"No longer able to remember his principles any better than he can distinguish between Sunnis and Shia, McCain stands revealed as a guy who can be easily rolled by anyone who sells him a plan for “victory,” whether in Iraq or in Michigan. A McCain victory on Election Day will usher in a Palin presidency, with McCain serving as a transitional front man, an even weaker Bush to her Cheney.

The ambitious Palin and the ruthless forces she represents know it, too. You can almost see them smacking their lips in anticipation...

The cunning of the Palin choice as a political strategy is that a candidate who embodies fear of change can be sold as a “maverick” simply because she looks the part. Her marketers have a lot to work with. Palin is not only the first woman on a Republican presidential ticket, but she is young, vibrant and a Washington outsider with no explicit connection to Bush or the war in Iraq. That package looks like change even if what’s inside is anything but."



Palin talks a good game as a "down home" hockey mom who rose to the national stage on sheer pluck, but there are some powerful evangelists behind her rise that like her a lot better than they like McCain.