Back in August 2008, ABC analyst Cokie Roberts echoed the McCain campaign's talking points which painted Barack Obama as an out-of-touch elitist and a foreign sounding one at that. As the Obamas vacationed in his home state of Hawaii, Roberts complained:

"I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should be at Myrtle Beach and if he's going to take a vacation at this time. I just think this is not the time to do that."

Of course, now that governor turned best selling tell some author Sarah Palin has taken - and cut short - a family vacation there, Roberts has been silent. Apparently, as she repeated to NPR 16 months ago, only Barack Obama's time off in Hawaii "makes him seem a little bit more exotic" in a state which was "a somewhat odd place to be doing it."
To be sure, "odd" describes the Palin family escape to the sun and surf of Hawaii. Just two weeks ago, Palin's own father described his daughter's brief college career there being truncated by her aversion to the "minority type thing" she found there. Then yesterday, John McCain's running mate was photographed wearing a campaign visor with McCain's name blacked out. And today brought word from the Quitta from Wasilla herself - and an unlikely explanation - as to why she defaced her McCain hat and was now abandoning her trip as well:

"In an attempt to 'go incognito,' I Sharpied the logo out on my sun visor so photographers would be less likely to recognize me and bother my kids or other vacationers.
"I am so sorry if people took this silly incident the wrong way. I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago.
"Todd and I have since cut our vacation short because the incognito attempts didn't work and fellow vacationers were bothered for the two days we spent in the sun. So much for trying to go incognito."

"Incognito?" Now that's exotic.
UPDATE: In other news, Sarah Palin - the woman Cokie Roberts proclaimed last year could become the "white Oprah" - won the Politifact Lie of the Year award for her bogus claim about "death panels."