I wasn’t even going to write about this but it kept bugging me so here I am. Yesterday the Politico wrote a slam piece with tons of unattributed and derogatory quotes about Sarah Palin, saying that the GOP Establishment’s first order of business after the election is to destroy Palin’s presidential aspirations.

While I completely believe that some in the party are afraid of Palin I question the timing of the piece.

As a guy who’s done p.r. I believe it was a classic case of changing the subject by The Politico which leans juuuuuuuust a tad to the left. Two days before an historic election and they write a piece with unattributed GOP sources dissing Palin. This is meant to put distance between the Tea Partiers (who are generally sympathetic to Palin) and the GOP establishment (which is not.)

You can say the media hates Palin 365 days a year and need no other reason to attack her but the fact is they chose two days before an election to manufacture a huge piece. Two days before an historic election they take the time to look ahead to after the election?

So who understood what the media was trying to do? Sarah Palin, the supposed dunce of the universe, saw it for what it was and called the media on it.

Who didn’t get it and fell right into the media’s trap? Michael Steele, the head of the RNC. Two days before an election where GOP enthusiasm is running high, Steele does all the morning shows to denounce the Republican establishment telling them to “Shut up.” He aided and abetted the media’s efforts to change the subject from GOP landslide to the GOP at war with itself when he should’ve been denouncing the media.

Steele lambasted unattributed uknown Republicans for attacking Palin when all along it was the media doing it and by going on the morning shows, Steele only exacerbated the problem.

Now, I can only think of two reasons for this. One -Steele just doesn’t get it and he’s in way over his head. Two – he knows that someone’s going to make a serious run at his position after the election so he’s aligning himself with the grassroots Palin enthusiasts against the establishment. In that case, he’s putting his own political survival above that of the party’s electoral chances. Either way, it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with.