A reader in Colorado takes issue with my Palin-Stepford Wives hypothesis:

Dear John,
I think you need give Sarah some slack on this one. After all, it’s 13 days before the election and this was said in an interview with Univision. I realize pandering is annoying but it is nonetheless necessary in this election if we even are going to have a chance to stop Obama.
Remember, she actually sent Alaska National Guard units to the Mexican border. How many other governors did that? As far as I know, no-one except the actual Mexican border states. I think her heart is in the right place. She is being very loyal to John McCain right now, but I expect her to take a hardline on this when (not if) she becomes the GOP nominee in 2012.

[Me] Hngh. First off, the National Guard website says that “49 states and two territories, Guam and the Virgin Islands, have served in the [Operation Jump Start] mission in Arizona since it began.”

And then, you’re durn right, pandering is annoying. It’s worse than annoying: it’s obnoxious and dishonest. Where would my reader draw the line here? Should a candidate say anything he thinks his audience wants to hear, if he’s behind in polls with 13 days to go? If Sarah’s going to come back in 2012 with a different line, what will she then say about what she just said? “Oh, I was just, you know … pandering”? Why not just give a clear, frank policy line, stating what you believe and what your party stands for?

Which, I am very much afraid, is what she did.