Cynicism, Palin and McCain

Tyler Cowen argues Palin is the new Perot:

There is one biographical fact about Palin's life that the critics (Drum, DeLong, Yglesias, Klein, Sullivan and Kleiman are among the ones I read) are hardly touching upon.  I mean her decision to have a Downs child instead of an abortion.  This is the fact about her life and it will be viewed as such from now through November and perhaps beyond.

If only for this reason, she will be seen as a candidate who stands on principle.  I don't think the critics are sufficiently appreciating how tired the American people are of candidates who say one thing and do another and who abandon their principles at the first provocation.  This is a deep and very strong current and it runs through virtually every group of American political voters.  Because of her decision to have a Downs child, many voters will not view Sarah Palin in a cynical light, no matter what the critics say.  No story about firing a state trooper will break that seal.

Tyler misses the point. I have no reason to believe that Sarah Palin is a cynical person. She seems like a nice person, with some personal vendettas, intense focus and an inability to understand where her public office starts and her family issues end. The point is not Palin's cynicism; it's McCain's cynicism.  And his choice is at once a concoction of pure recklessness and dumb cynicism.

Kara Hopkins differs.