I originally wrote this column the night the Bristol Palin pregnancy story broke. Exactly one month later, it is oddly relevant again.

Nobody ever accused the Republican Party of being bad at the political game, but the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate raised many questions. After repeatedly questioning Barack Obama's preparedness, how could he nominate a woman who just two years ago was mayor of a town 1/20 the size of Obama's state senate district? After repeatedly questioning Obama's foreign policy experience, how could he nominate a woman who admits her foreign policy experience derives solely from her state's proximity to Russia? It seemed a little hypocritical.

We all know Sarah Palin is a hockey mom, but she is no advocate for women's rights. If she were, how could she allow Wasilla to begin making victims pay for their own rape kits while she was mayor? Does the McCain campaign think women are stupid? No liberal woman is going to vote for a pro-life ultraconservative just because she and Hillary are the same gender. As the Daily Show, my own fair and balanced news outlet of choice, put it: Sarah Palin may be the ideological opposite of Hillary Clinton, but she's her gynecological twin. Only women like Samantha Bee, whose "lady brain" cannot process Palin's desire to overturn Roe v. Wade (the only Supreme Court case she knows), are that shallow.

There was also some confusion as to how thorough McCain was in selecting Palin, whom he met only twice before deciding she was his "soulmate." The pregnancy situation subsequently discovered also seemed like the kind of thing that the VP vetting process would unearth (but it didn't show up in my Google search either). The McCain campaign insisted they knew about that private matter all along and that her daughter's pregnancy does not make Palin less qualified to be vice president (one could argue this is a moot point; few things would). Yet what looks like questionable judgment could instead be a new page in the infamous GOP Electoral Playbook.

Imagine you are John McCain: The Democratic National Convention generated a lot of positive press for your celebrity opponent, especially after Obama nailed his acceptance speech. Yet you have on sStaff some of the greatest political gamesmen in our nation's history, so you were prepared. You revealed as your vice presidential nominee a young, conservative woman woefully unprepared for the job at hand. But she was a breath of fresh air, a glimmer of (dare I say it) hope, and let's be honest, something to look at-check out the YouTube video of McCain inspecting the goods for his approval of this message. As warranted criticism descended upon the hapless Alaskan governor, you were able to spin the attacks as sexist to rein in disenchanted Hillary supporters and simultaneously energize the evangelical base with her extremism. And then the pregnancy hit the news.

Begin Phase II. The media smelled blood in the water as a conservative candidate's 17-year old daughter was revealed to be five months pregnant. Obviously she's keeping it (anything else would be murder), and she and her own soulmate are getting married. A month ago, I predicted that Palin would take a principled stand for family privacy and step down. Today, we find her similarly poised as she backpedals in defense of her meager record. The McCain campaign decries the most basic questions about Palin as sexist, and the GOP cries foul and bashes the liberal media for discrimination. And finally the trap is sprung.

With her popularity tanking and a full hour and a half debate spent repeating the same four lines (and "maverick"), Palin steps down, ostensibly to protect her daughter. McCain selects his new, true VP pick and low and behold, he is very well qualified for the position and just the kind of man Republicans are ready to elect. As the dust settles, the McCain campaign looks back on its accomplishments: a remarkable $8 million jump in campaign contributions right before the public financing deadline took effect, a revitalized political base (initially with the support of ex-Hillary supporters, now not so much), and the Democratic party backpedaling from a month of wasted attacks that have suddenly backfired.

All this brilliant strategy would need is a name, and I'm on top of it. If I might borrow the term from football, we may yet witness Palin's flawless execution of the "Play Action Fake:" at first it looks like she's going to run... but then she passes.

Jamie Friedland is a Trinity senior.