You've made me wonder if this was purposeful. I have a truly hard time understanding why the campaign staff seemed to go out of their way to make her canadicy so questionable.
McCain is not the type to run an an aggressive campaign and some of the things she touched on such as Obama’s terrorist pals was probably crossing the line in McCain’s mind. McCain did pick up the gauntlet a bit but only because he saw the enthusiasm for Palin. IMHO, McCain was taken aback by the voice of the silent majority, he didn’t expect it.