Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m completely in the tank for Obama. I’ve phone banked for him and I’m heading to Roanoke later this week to work as a volunteer to get the vote out. If you’ve read any of the other entries on this blog, you know that I’m a flaming liberal.

I don’t support John McCain for many reasons, chief among them his decision to add the incredibly unqualified Sarah Palin to the ticket. Well, the truth is I wouldn’t have supported McCain no matter who he named as a running mate, but his decision to tap Palin made me feel a lot better about it.

It’s late and I don’t have the energy to go off on Sarah’s shortcomings — her fake reformer credentials, her questionable ethics, her lack of intellectual curiosity, her inability to form complete sentences, her eagerness to incite the fear, hate and insecurities of the mob. Shit, there’s really not anything I like about her.

Which is why what I’m about to write feels sort of weird: I’m bothered by this whole “whack job” blowup. In case you missed it, Politico’s Mike Allen says an unnamed McCain staffer used the words to describe Palin. Actually, it’s probably best to describe it as a partial quote:

***In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless “diva” description, calling her “a whack job.”

That’s it — one, unattributed sentence inserted in the middle of his Playbook column. But that pithy description caused a furor on the blogs today. Of course, it comes as most major media and bloggers are preparing their autopsies of the imploding McCain campaign, which, in its final days, has turned into a back-biting snake pit. It’s everyone for themselves. People are pointing fingers and laying blame wherever they can.

So, in this type of atmosphere, a “top McCain adviser” calling Palin a “whack job” is certain to ignite the blogosphere, as well as earn mentions in the main stream media.

Does anyone see the problem here? If a top adviser actually callled the Republican nominee for vice president a whack job, don’t we deserve more than this one little sentence? And why bury it deep in the column? Can we get a little information on the circumstances behind this remark?

I’m not doubting that someone said it to him. And I’m certainly not saying the description doesn’t apply.

But allowing top advisers to hide behind anonymity to throw these kind of caustic remarks around is a slippery slope. Politico is a respected, credible news organization, which is one reason the “whack job” comment had such currency. But where is the next anonymous accusation going to come from?

Politico should have known the firestorm that reporting this remark was going to cause. In this case, the public would have been much better served with a little less gossip and a little more context.

[Updated: I meant to add these last night but opted for sleep, instead. Here is what bloggers are saying about the whack job comment.]

Joe Sudby @ Americablog:

Nasty. Probably true, but nasty. Just glad the Republicans are putting so much time into hating each other.

Rich Lowry @ The Corner on National Review Online:

This is part of the problem with Palin getting assigned aides with no loyalty to her. I’ve never been a “Free Sarah Palin” type. I’m in the Krauthammer school that the McCain campaign probably let her do big high-stakes media interviews too soon and should have waited while she was more fully briefed-up. But the mishandling of Palin that’s been evident over the last week—from the clothes fiasco that wasn’t her doing to the sniping at her from within the campaign—has been appalling.

David Mizner @ The Daily Kos:

Whack job. It’s a good charge, cause it’s true! This is one of my favorite leaks from the anti-Palin forces working for McCain, right up with the claim that she’s “going rogue.” Like Iran?

I’ve never seen a breakdown in discipline like this on a presidential campaign. It testifies to McCain’s lack of leadership and to the state of his campaign. Knowing they’re going to lose, Mittens’ kittens are angling for advantage against Palin going into the 2012 primary.

Clark Kent @ Sarah Palin Must Be Stopped:

It’s getting to the point where we have to say this stuff is too good for us to be making it up. With every passing day, new insults are being foisted upon Sarah Palin — by John McCain’s own staffers. Yesterday, she was a diva. Today, according to news reports, she’s a “whack job.”

Melvin Crabtree @ Crabbie’s Hollywood:

This was probably the kindest term he could think of. McCain’s campaign is in full meltdown mode. The sad thing is that, if he’d just stuck with his old McCain Straight-Talk Express routine and picked a decent running mate, he might’ve actually won. But he sold his soul to the Rovians and now he’ll have to drag his gimpy arms back to Arizona. Poor old, muddle-brained putz.