GOP: Battle Stations!

[NYCGirl]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/212844.php

Apparently realizing that the Sarah Palin rollout is going badly, the GOP is holding a series of press conferences here in St. Paul to push back.

Underway now is a presser with female GOP officials talking about the purported "smear campaign" against Palin. "The Republican Party will not stand by while Sarah Palin is subjected to sexist attacks," says McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina, comparing it to sexist comments endured by Hillary Clinton during the primary.

Still, the GOP is having trouble with its talking points. At an earlier press conference this morning, former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin was asked what Sarah Palin's position on comprehensive immigration reform is. Marin's response was that there will be no doubt what the "ticket's" position is, apparently unable to respond directly to the question.

This of course is all part of a convention schedule that today features Palin's acceptance speech.

Late Update: Chris Hayes of The Nation sees this for what it is:

One of the most bizarre spectacles in modern politics is watching the Republican Party attempt to reverse engineer the Chris Matthews/Hillary Clinton-in-New-Hampshire-moment as a means of stoking some kind of feminist backlash in favor of their extreme-right-wing, Eagle-Forum friendly, pro-life, creationist candidate. The same one who called Hillary Clinton a whiner when she pointed out the sexism of the coverage she faced.

Later Update: Faux outrage is not enough in and of itself. The full GOP battle cry requires an amorphous enemy accused of vague treachery. As usual the media is filling that role now.