"It's over": Behind the spin on McCain-Palin

By Michael J.W. Stickings

This is beautiful -- the truth behind the bullshit. (Although I think it's premature to say that the race is over.)

Here are political consultant and McCainiac Mike Murphy and WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan, two Republican mainstays, talking about the Palin pick after a segment with NBC's Chuck Todd today. The segment is over, but the mic is live.

Josh Marshall has the transcript -- and it's a good read.

Noonan is the one who says "it's over," adding that Palin is hardly "[t]he most qualified" and that the pick had to do with "political bullshit about narratives." Todd, generally a very good analyst (and not a Republican mainstay, says it was a "cynical" and "gimmacky" move. Murphy also calls it "cynical" and says "[t]hey're all bummed out," presumably meaning Kay Bailey Hutchinson and other Republican women far more qualified than Palin.

Watch it: