I'd question who produced those initial sources you read. At least some voices in Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News for example, has been calling out Palin for problematic issues in regards to ethics and her living up to her public statements. I was deluged with information, from jump, about her willingness to publicly ridicule political opponents, about "troopergate" about her insane pastor and about her involvement in Ted Stevens' 527 organisation.

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Yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he’s president he’ll take on, and I quote, 'the old boys’ network in Washington.' I’m not making this up. This is somebody been in Congress for 26 years, who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign. And now he tells us that he’s the one who’s gonna take on the old boys' network,” he said. “In the McCain campaign that’s called a staff meeting!- Obama, 9/17/2008