What happened to the principled campaign I was expecting from McCain?

I hate that this video ends up being so snarky, because I think it undercuts what is actually a very valid point with trivial sarcasm. But the point is valid. Also interesting is that even though I've not really been paying attention, I've still heard her line about "We told the federal government 'Thanks but no thanks' for the Bridge To Nowhere", which also turns out to be a big fat lie. Here you can see the actual timeline, where she campaigned in Alaska as a supporter of it. Basically, Congress halted the project over a year before Palin decided it would be politically advantageous for her to withdraw her support. Even then, the money for the project had already been received, and did she return the money to Congress with a principled "Thanks but no thanks"? No, she kept the money to spend on other pet projects, including building a road to the site where the bridge would have been built. Look, I can't blame her for working under the system that is already there, any more than I can blame her for getting meal and housing per diem payments for nights where she was actually staying at home, if that is ok under the existing rules of Alaska. But I can certainly be upset at the hypocrisy when she then turns around and tries to lie about what she was actually doing.

Palin is new to the global stage, so I expect her to make mistakes. But John McCain should know better than to be letting her campaign on lies. He has taken his campaign into the gutter, doing anything he can to win. And the sad thing is that it just might work. I just wonder how much he is going to respect himself in the morning.