... with Bill Ayers.
Except, it was Nicolle Wallace of the McCain campaign - and not Palin - that came up with the "palling around" bit.
That allowed the mainstream media to mislead about the relationship between the two, dismissing that relationship by pointing out that they weren't close friends and using that distraction to cover up the series of past links between them. See the contemporaneous...
... campaign and George W Bush employee Nicolle Wallace offers "Republicans Get on Board/Even some former Bush aides are smitten with the new president. Now, will lefties let the GOP inside the tent?" (link). I am fighting very, very hard to avoid screaming out the first appellation that comes to mind. So, I'll just say that she and her friends are simply political opportunists, and the Republican...