On the Palin-McCain Ticket, Palin Is Still Under Wraps

No, that was not a typo. These big crowds really seem to be going to Sarah Palin’s head. As Jonathan noted, she actually referred to “a Palin and McCain administration" in a speech last week.

But Palin’s high opinion of herself is clearly not shared by the people running John McCain’s campaign. Funny that the McCain folks agreed to a wide-open format for the presidential debates but insisted on strict rules for the vice presidential encounter. That way, Palin won't have to offer long answers. Little sound-bites will do. As Bob Kaiser put it in The Post this morning, “In the negotiations, Republicans wanted to limit the amount of time available for their neophyte candidate, Palin, to be questioned on a single topic.” No kidding. Once again, the McCain campaign is admitting that Palin’s knowledge is as thin as a single-sheet press release.

Then there is the fact that Palin has been kept away from any serious or challenging questioning since her interview with Charlie Gibson. In Grand Rapids, Mich., where I visited this week, Palin did participate in a “town hall” meeting with McCain, but she did so before a carefully controlled crowd of Republican loyalists that was not about to ask her a question that might stump or stretch her. The Post editorial board put matters gently but firmly today: “Mr. McCain's selection of an inexperienced and relatively unknown figure was unsettling, and the campaign's decision to keep her sequestered from serious interchanges with reporters and voters serves only to deepen the unease.”

Finally, there is the stonewalling of the Alaska investigation into what has become known as “trooperagte.” Here is how an Associated Press story filed on Saturday described where matters stand:



ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Until three weeks ago, only Alaskans and a few hard-core political junkies in the rest of the country cared about the obscure scandal known here as Troopergate. A legislative committee had ordered an investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power to settle a vendetta against her sister's ex-husband. She didn't seem too worried. Broadly popular, she adopted a bring-it-on attitude, saying: "Hold me accountable. ... I don't have anything to hide." But the bravado regarding allegations that she dismissed the state's top law enforcement official when he wouldn't fire Palin's former brother-in-law from his state trooper's job disappeared on Aug. 29. Suddenly, Palin was the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Suddenly, aided by McCain campaign operatives, she began stonewalling. Over the next several weeks, Palin and her team withheld the investigation's most important witnesses _ herself, her husband Todd, and a host of key administration aides. Palin also continued to withhold potentially key evidence _ the contents of a plethora of e-mails among the governor, her husband and key state government officials.

If Palin thinks she’s on firm ground, why all this stonewalling? If this is not a cover-up, what is it?

McCain figured he could prop Palin up – and keep her locked away -- until Election Day. But that is looking more and more like an iffy proposition. Of course, given Palin’s unguarded take on the actual order of this ticket, maybe Palin will dump McCain before this is done.