…is the gor­geous phrase cooked up by John Dick­er­son in his story today at Slate for the Palin vice-​presidential pick. It’s a good arti­cle, and in it Dick­er­son neatly cap­tures what seems to be the quick-​setting con­ven­tional wisdom about Palin, at least among non-​hardcore Republicans:

Each new fact we learn about Sarah Palin—her rever­sal on the bridge to nowhere, her dis­agree­ments with McCain on issues from wind­fall prof­its to global warm­ing, emerg­ing facts about troopergate—contribute to the feel­ing that this whole Palin thing is being made up as we go along. It may be fun to read about, and it sure is fun to cover, but it also sup­ports the judg­ment of the Palin pick that I first heard from a Repub­li­can vet­eran shortly after the announce­ment: “Reckless.”