Arianna says it best

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/sarah-palin-a-trojan-moos_b_124867...

snip
The point is that Palin, and the circus she's brought to town, are
simply a bountiful collection of small lies deliberately designed to
distract the country from one big truth: the havoc that George Bush
and the Republican Party have wrought, and that John McCain is
committed to continuing.

Every second of this campaign not spent talking about the Republican
Party's record, and John McCain's role in that record, is a victory
for John McCain.

Her critics like to say that Palin hasn't accomplished anything. I
disagree: in the space of ten days she's succeeded in distracting the
entire country from the horrific Bush record -- and McCain's
complicity in it. My friends, that's accomplishment we can believe in.

Just look at the problem John McCain faced. George Bush has a
disastrous record, and the country knows it. John McCain -- the
current one, not the one who vanished eight years ago -- has no major
disagreements with George Bush (and I'm sorry, wanting to fire Donald
Rumsfeld a bit sooner doesn't qualify) and wants to continue his
incredibly unpopular policies for another four years. The solution?
Enter Sarah Palin, a Trojan Moose carrying four more years of
disaster.

And the plan has worked beautifully. Just look at what's being
discussed just 57 days before the election. Is it the highest
unemployment rate in five years? The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac? The suicide bombing yesterday in Iraq that killed six people and
wounded 54 -- in the same market where last month a bomb killed 28
people and wounded 72? That the political reconciliation that was
supposedly the point of "the surge" is nowhere near happening? That
Iraq's Shiite government is now rounding up the American-backed Sunni
leaders of the Awakening? That the reason 8,000 soldiers may be
leaving Iraq soon is so more can be deployed to Afghanistan where the
Taliban is steadily retaking the country?

No. We're talking about whether Sarah Palin was or was not a good
mayor, whether she was or was not a good mother, whether her skirts
are too short and her zingers too sarcastic.

Contrary to what we're hearing 24/7 in the media, the next few weeks
are not a test of Sarah Palin. The next few weeks are a test of Barack
Obama.

He needs to dramatically redirect this election back to a discussion
over the issues that really matter -- the issues that will impact the
future of this country. A presidential campaign is a battle and this
is the time for Obama to show some commander-in-chief skills. I'm not
talking about calling Palin out for lying about his record and
demeaning community organizing. I'm talking about grabbing the
political debate by the throat. The country is already angry about
what's happened over the last seven-plus years -- he shouldn't be
afraid to give voice to that anger. Obama has spent years adopting a
non-threatening persona; but he can't let his fear that appearing like
an "angry Black man" (a stereotype not-too-subtly fueled by Fox News)
will turn off swing voters keep him from channeling the disgust and
outrage felt by so many voters --swing and otherwise.

McCain's team, in an effort to distract, is going to keep doing what
they're doing -- diverting voters and the media with a tantalizing
combination of personal trivia and small lies. It doesn't matter if
they're caught in them -- in fact, all the better. Because they know
there is no way in hell they can win if this election is about the big
truth of the Bush years.

McCain's real running mate is George Bush and the failed policies of
the Republican Party. Even if they are dressed up in a skirt,
lipstick, and Tina Fey glasses.