More Palin

Two do not make a pattern. Still....

In her coming out speech on Friday in Dayon, Ohio, Sarah Palin boasted

I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves.

Thanks to thinkprogress.org, we know a little about the veracity of that statement. When Mayor Palin was interviewed by the Anchorage Daily News during her campaign for governor in 2006, she stated

Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.

She was, it appears, supportive of the bridge when it looked like money would be coming from the federal government, then changed her tune when Congress rejected funding- almost the opposite of what she claimed when she appeared with McCain in Dayton, Ohio.

It gets worse. On Friday, Pat Buchanan told Chris Matthews on Hardball that Palin "was a brigader in 1996 as was her husband, Chris, they were at a fundraiser for me, she's a terrific gal, she's a rebel reformer." Bad enough- but the Mayor reversed herself the next day, for McCain-Palin spokesman Michael Goldfarb explains

Governor Palin has never worked for any effort to elect Pat Buchanan -- that assertion is completely false. As Mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin did attend an event with Mr. Buchanan in her home town where reports described her wearing a Buchanan for President button. She wore the button as a courtesy to Mr. Buchanan and in an effort to make him feel welcome during his visit, but immediately sent a letter to the editor of her local paper clarifying that the button should not have been interpreted as an endorsement of any kind.

And even worse. ABC's Jake Tapper notes in his blog, The Punch, that Goldfarb states that in 2000, Palin supported neither Buchanan, Bush, or McCain, but rather the "Empower The Rich" (made up, but accurate) campaign of Malcolm Forbes Jr. (name not made up). Tapper says

And indeed, another AP story from August 7, 1999 -- one month after the Buchanan trip to Wasilla -- states that joining state sen. Mike Miller of Fairbanks on the Forbes campaign's Alaska "leadership committee will be Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin, and former state GOP chairman Pete Hallgren, who will serve as co-chairs."

Dishonest, two-faced, or simply a sharp politician. It's still fewer than 48 hours since the announcement and there is no telling what we're going to learn from the person John McCain wants us to believe is a credible vice-presidential candidate.