When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong

This, from Roger Simon, is the kind of political commentary that shoots for “outside the beltway” and just becomes patronizing. Mocking the media coverage of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska):

Listen to how “rambling” and “disjointed” she is. Once upon a time in American politics, this was known as being “plain-spoken,” but that time has gone.

OK. From Palin’s speech:

We need those who will respect our Constitution where government’s supposed to serve from the bottom up, not move toward this top down big government take-over … but rather, will be protectors of individual rights – who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it’s time so the team can win! And that is what I’m doing!

Leave aside the idea that you can “call an audible” in basketball, the sports metaphor Palin was using. What is she saying in this paragraph? Shouldn’t a “plain-spoken” politician be able to 1) convey what she means and 2) say, without spin, what she’s going to do? As ever, self-conscious Washington reporters give Palin a pass on this sort of thing in a manner that seems more lazy than insightful.