When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate in the 2008 presidential election, she was seen by his own team as something of a wildcard; a Hail Mary for a campaign that was losing steam.
The former Alaska governor and self-described “hockey mom” was a rarity at the top tier of national politics: she was notoriously averse to facts and policy detail, she fully embraced culture war issues, and smeared her political opponents with innuendo and falsehoods.
