Palin, ABC Shoot Blanks

Now we know Sarah Palin is clueless about foreign policy, and even national security. Her answers in the interview with Charlie Gibson on the Bush Doctrine and war with Russia told us that. This is a person who, if elected, would be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and she muddled through an answer about whether the US has the right to send the military into Pakistan without telling them first. All in all, she was in over her head, but that's only part of the story as far as the interview(s) are concerned.

First, ABC ought to be ashamed of itself for the amateurish edits during the segment shown on World News Tonight. It looked choppy, and at one point there was an edit before a sentence was finished. For his part, Charlie Gibson didn't pitch softballs. But who decided to take parts of two different interviews and spread them over four shows on two nights? Sure you want to milk Palin's popularity and the nation's curiosity about her for all it's worth but isn't this overkill?

Yet coming out of this first broadcast test, another question looms. Are those people inclined to view Palin favorably going to be swayed because she doesn't know the Bush Doctrine? The answer may be no. Her Teleprompter answers and clumsy attempts at interview intimacy (how many times did she call Gibson Charlie?) may not matter as much as what she represents to the Religious Right, some women, and, if blogs and comment sections of newspapers are any indication, lustful men.

Those who look at Palin from a political perspective may be licking their chops, waiting for Joe Biden to deliver a series of knockout blows in their one debate. They may be missing something a very wise man once said to me.

"Be in error, but never be in doubt". Can that old adage save Sarah Palin?