something that's been irking me since last week...

I call myself a radical. Is that okay?

 

Sure. As long as you don't shorten it to "rad."

 

Palin is no more a "maverick" than basso is. She is bigoted, incurious, clever, ruthless, and not terribly intelligent, in my opinion. How typical of Palin to throw labels around until they have no meaning.