It is a Republican tradition in modern times to carve a pit beneath the previously-known floor of public discourse and then to occupy it. Candidates Nixon, Reagan, Dole and both Bushes all demeaned their opponents’ motives and reflated their own respectability in a way that was utterly unnecessary to debating the genuine differences between the parties.
But it would be a mistake to see the VP selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as one more dot on that particular continuum. Instead, it falls on the "the suckers will stand for anything we sell ’em" line of advertising industry, PR-driven hucksterism that led Eisenhower to pick Nixon, Goldwater to pick Miller, Nixon to pick Agnew, Reagan to pick Bush Senior, Bush Senior to pick Quayle, and the Republican Party to pick Bush Minor.
It’s a Republican thing. We Democrats wouldn’t understand.