MAUREEN DOWD

LESLIE DOYLE

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Sep 10, 2008, 9:32:05 AM9/10/08

to James Hopcus, NEW-YORK-TIMES-E...@googlegroups.com

HIGHLIGHTS:

MAUREEN DOWD

"What kind of budget-cutter makes a show of getting rid of the state
plane, then turns around and bills taxpayers for the travel of her
husband and kids between Juneau and Wasilla and sticks the state with
a per-diem tab to stay in her own home?

Why was Sarah for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against the
Bridge to Nowhere, and why was she for earmarks before she was against
them? And doesn't all this make her just as big a flip-flopper as John
Kerry?

What kind of fiscal conservative raises taxes and increases budgets in
both her jobs — as mayor and as governor?

When the phone rings at 3 a.m., will she call the Wasilla Assembly of
God congregation and ask them to pray on a response, as she asked them
to pray for a natural gas pipeline?

Does she really think Adam, Eve, Satan and the dinosaurs mingled on
the earth 5,000 years ago?

Why put out a press release about her teenage daughter's pregnancy and
then spend the next few days attacking the press for covering that
press release?

As Troopergate unfolds here — an inquiry into whether Palin
inappropriately fired the commissioner of public safety for refusing
to fire her ex-brother-in-law — it raises this question: Who else is
on her enemies list and what might she do with the F.B.I.?

Does she want a federal ban on trans fat in restaurants and a ban on
abortion and Harry Potter? And which books exactly would have landed
on the literature bonfire if she had had her way with that Wasilla
librarian?

Just how is it that Fannie and Freddie have cost taxpayers money
(since they haven't yet)?

Does she talk in tongues or just eat caribou tongues?

What does she have against polar bears?"

The New York Times
Printer Friendly Format Sponsored By

September 10, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
My Fair Veep
By MAUREEN DOWD

WASILLA, Alaska

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the Arctic plain ...

I hope John McCain doesn't throw his slippers at Sarah Palin's head or
get as acerbic as Henry Higgins did with Eliza Doolittle when she did
not learn quickly enough. McCain's Pygmalion has to be careful,
because his Galatea might be armed with more than a sharp tongue.

For the first time in American history, we have a "My Fair Lady"
moment, as teams of experts bustle around the most famous woman in
politics, intensely coaching her for her big moment at the ball — her
first unscripted interview here this week with ABC News's Charlie
Gibson.

Eliza, by George, got it and brought off the coup of passing herself
off as a Hungarian princess rather than a Covent Garden flower seller.
Sarah's challenge is far tougher, and that's why she's pulling the
political equivalent of an all-nighter. She doesn't have to pass
herself off as a different class or change her voice or be more
highfalutin. The McCain campaign is reveling in its anti-intellectual
tenor.

Sarah, who is now so renowned that she is known merely by one name and
has a name ID of 90 percent, has to be a Kmart mom who appeals to
Kmart moms and dads. She's already shown that she can shoot the pig,
put lipstick on it, bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan. Now
all she has to do is also prove that she can be the leader of the free
world on a moment's notice, and field dress Putin as adeptly as she
can a moose.

After devilishly mocking Obama — and successfully getting into his
head — with ads about how he was just a frothy celebrity, like Paris
Hilton and Britney Spears, it turns out all the McCain camp wanted was
an Obama of its own. Now that they have the electric Palin, they've
stopped arguing that celebrity is bad. All they do is worship at her
cult of celebrity. As Rick Davis, a top McCain adviser, said: "This
election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view
of what people take away from these candidates."

Wasilla will be crawling with four groups — ABC staffers, frantically
getting ready for the big showdown; McCain staffers, frantically
tutoring Palin for the big showdown; McCain vetters, who are belatedly
doing their job checking to see if Palin is a qualified White House
contender and doing their best to shut down Troopergate and assembling
a "truth squad" posse of Palinistas to rebut any criticism and push
back any prying reporters; and journalists — from Sydney to Washington
— who are here to draw back the curtain on the shiny reformer image
that the McCain camp has conjured for their political ingénue and see
what's behind it.

Gibson has his work cut out for him. His problem isn't coming up with
a list of questions, but finding time to drill deeply enough into all
the unknown territory of her life. It's a task that dwarfs the
drilling job the oil companies are doing on Alaska's North Slope.

In the end, none of it may matter, since Palin has rocketed in the
polls, drawing women and men with her vapid — if vivacious and
visceral — scripted cheerleading. But if you're reading this, Charlie,
we want to know everything, including:

What kind of budget-cutter makes a show of getting rid of the state
plane, then turns around and bills taxpayers for the travel of her
husband and kids between Juneau and Wasilla and sticks the state with
a per-diem tab to stay in her own home?