If McCain goes down badly, then Palin is damaged goods. I don’t see her presence on the ticket as a consolation, in that sense.
After about a year or two of Obama’s tactics and outcomes, like the Carter administration early on, the American people (assuming Obama wins, Lord forbid) will catch on and Governor Palin will look like the breath of fresh air she is, I would think. She is standing up tall and telling the truth. McCain is so much the “gentleman of the Senate” that he seems to have gotten confused. Obama’s no gentleman and would swat him like a fly.