GOP Ticket's Disagreements May Be His Idea ... Or Hers

Sarah Palin has publicly disagreed with John McCain on several issues, from giving up in Michigan, to the gay marriage ban, to attacking Barack Obama’s connection to Rev. Wright. A VP hopeful’s job main job is to agree with the ticket, notes John Dickerson for Slate, so why is Palin so frequently off-message? A degree of her roguishness is probably campaign strategy—so McCain can appear above the fray of, say, Ayers-themed mudslinging.

But that strategy isn't working: Palin’s mud has instead tarnished McCain in the eyes of voters. So is she staking out a more conservative position to preserve her far-right credibility for the future? Who knows? "With so many permutations and mixed motivations, the Palin saga is starting to feel like a Restoration play," writes Dickerson. "I hope in the end all the characters come onstage and all is revealed." (More Election 2008 stories.)