http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7017940.ece

"Yet even as she was expressing solidarity with activists fighting against an “out-of-touch political establishment”, it emerged that she had agreed to campaign in Arizona next month for Senator John McCain, her former presidential running mate on the 2008 Republican ticket. McCain is facing a dangerous Senate re-election challenge from the former congressman JD Hayworth, a conservative darling of the Tea Party movement.

After months of acrimony between the McCain and Palin camps over who was more to blame for their defeat by Obama, Palin has evidently decided that the hatchet should be buried — and not in McCain’s back.

Yet her decision to endorse a notoriously moderate Republican stalwart over a Tea Party favourite drew gasps of dismay and a flood of bewildered complaints to Palin’s Facebook page, which has almost 1.3m readers. “I’m extremely disappointed that you would campaign for John McCain,” wrote Patricia Brown, one of her Facebook fans. “He is not a conservative. It makes me wonder if you really believe what you say.”

The Texan tea set have also been stunned by Palin’s support for Governor Rick Perry, who is running for re-election this year. Perry is being challenged by Debra Medina, a former nurse and businesswoman and an early Tea Party campaigner.

“I can’t believe you are backing Perry,” said Christi Cameron, a Medina supporter. “Something is wrong.”