As he's been using it, the word "lies" to describe McCain/Palin's BS is an apt response theme for Obama in his ads and on the stump. But using the word "masquerade" also gives fresh visual possibilities: McCain and Palin holding up their cheery-faced "reform" masks and "change" masks that, when pushed away, reveal a smirking Bush and Cheney and a more disturbing right-wing agenda...an agenda to which McCain and Palin are - now more than ever - beholden.
As information emerges on Palin's more outlandish beliefs, and as it becomes clearer that the hardcore evangelical side of the GOP - the side that propped up Bush/Cheney - is the wind beneath McCain's and Palin's wings, Obama can build on the theme that McCain and Palin are right-wing captives masquerading as mavericks with the wink-and-nod support of Bush and Cheney. The latter two enthusiastically support Palin and have solidly backed McCain, so there's clearly no "shake up" of Washington in store. And well-known hardcore right-wing advocates such as Limbaugh and Focus on the Family are strongly backing McCain/Palin and will expect a huge return on their investment.
The masquerade goes on, but it hides a religion-injecting, war-continuing, creationist-teaching, global warming-denying, rich folk tax break-providing, Roe v. Wade-overturning, lobbyist-driven, book-banning agenda. And we know that's not what middle America wants to see.