Irresistible, especially the very end. So appealing is her “ordinary gal” persona that she’s bound to be a factor in 2012 whatever happens this November if she can keep from turning herself into a national punchline. Can she? The latest from Kurtz, for what it’s worth, is that “the worst may be yet to come for Palin; sources say CBS has two more responses on tape that will likely prove embarrassing.” I’m where Moran is right now: I’d love to “free Sarah” or “unleash Palin” or whatever the current line is at NRO. Just tell me what it is we’re unleashing. What hidden store of knowledge is waiting to be tapped that hasn’t been yet?

As for McCain trying to clarify what she says in the clip about cross-border raids into Pakistan, it’s high time for him to knock off this dopey little game he’s playing with Obama about not telegraphing our moves. Everyone knows we’re already conducting those raids. Everyone knows we’ve sent drones over the border repeatedly to try to decapitate Al Qaeda. Persisting in this nonsense when his own running mate and George Bush agree with The One only lets Obama outhawk him, which isn’t something McCain can afford, needless to say. Exit question via Tapper: If Joe Biden’s rope-line comment about clean coal was fair game, why isn’t Palin’s chat with the cheesesteak crowd?

Update: A little more on that Kurtz scoop. And also from the “for what it’s worth” file, Marc Ambinder: “Gov. Sarah Palin has lost control of her public image, several top-level McCain advisers said this weekend, and even a baseline performance in Thursday’s debate with Joe Biden may be too late to recover it.”