I have to wonder why mccain picked her. Were they afraid she was an up and comer and they wanted to clip her wings?The same reason Romney picked Paul Ryan, to bolster his conservative bona fides.
But they wanted someone they could control; what the got was a force of nature.
They knew long before that she couldn't be controlled! They knew her reputation in Alaska. They started trashing her right out of the gate in Aug '08 - they/GOPe were prepared to do this.