Out of Her Depth

Well, this is what cramming for a test usually looks like when you get to the exam.

If you are reasonably adept you might, might, be able to pull off a C-. I'll be generous, Sarah Palin didn't bolt from the chair in abject embarrassment. But she should have.

ABC News' Charlie Gibson asked some very basic and very pertinent questions. The answers to two were predictable, and I am sure the questions were designed to elicit some nuance about the complexity of events: whether she would send troops into Pakistan to hit terrorists without Pakistani approval; and, whether she would support Israel if it decided to attack an Iranian nuclear site in the name of self defense.

Palin pretty much blubbered through those and spouted "a blizzard of words" but in the end delivered boilerplate stuff.

Gibson asked her about the Bush Doctrine and it soon became clear she had absolutely no idea what it is.

And, when discussing the situation in Georgia and Russia, she let the discussion drift to war... and was backed into a corner on that topic. An experienced person would have been able to parry and finesse this sensitive topic. Palin could not. I am sure in Moscow this interview is being dissected nicely. Note: Josh Marshall agrees with me

What we have here now on the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is another example of the double down on minimal talent and wisdom that passes for political leadership in this country. At a time when we absolutely need more qualified people.

The decline was certainly evident with Dan Quayle, slipped lower with George W. Bush and now has dropped to the bottom with this hockey-mom governor. Sarah Palin. Please. Wake up. This nomination is a pitiful fraud that puts the country and the world at risk.

Time for the "Amateurs"?

Senator John McCain went on a rant today, declaiming to a crowd of supporters how Barack Obama was "Wrong on Iraq, wrong on Iran.." But, Obama might be right on Pakistan. In fact, he called for a policy of attacks inside Pakistan if it meant attacking Al Qaeda and Taliban forces the Pakistanis would not attack.

Now, the New York Time is reporting that is exactly Bush administration policy. The president signed secret orders in July permitting special ops attacks inside Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government.

This is yet another foreign policy development that Barack Obama called for and anticipated as the GOP attacked him for being naive and inexperienced. The other? The withdrawal of troops from Iraq to press attacks in Afghanistan. Which is what the Bush administration is now doing.