I am Alaska, Alaska is Russia, Together we are airspace!

She might as well have said that. In an interview with the none-too-aggressive Katie Couric, (read highlights in this NY Times article) Palin floundered when asked to explain her previous claim that Alaska's proximity to Russia qualified as foreign affairs experience. That she wasn't prepared for the question  is a bit surprising, given that she's been widely ridiculed for the comment (by none more expertly than Tina Fey, in the SNL skit I linked to on the September 22 post: "I can see Russia from my haaoouse." ) I mean, I thought that was the idea of cramming her with soundbytes in the days (weeks?) when she was sequestered from talking to the press: if she wasn't particularly intelligent on matters of foreign affairs, she was rumored to be pretty good on the rote memorization front. 

The question grows more obvious, and more urgent: what will it take to convince voters who are drawn to Palin for her charisma, her womanhood, her motherhood, her Christian-hood, that she is, quite simply, not qualified to be vice-president? Will Biden, in their debate, come armed with quotes like: "It is from Alaska that we send those out (what "those" are she never explained) to make sure an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to - to our state."  Or will the dems continue to buy into the notion that calling Palin out for her (not-even) bluffs will make them seem sexist and elitist? 

Maybe they'll leave it to the press. In this case, it clearly doesn't take a hard-hitting interview to confound this candidate. Palin's words come out, according to the Times reporter (a far-reaching simile, but hey), "like an outboard motor loosened from the stern." Her interviews should speak for themselves, right? The only problem with this assumption is that I can't help but think about how our current president talks, and the fact that his talking that way made a whole lot of people like him a whole lot more than if he'd talked like a guy who went to Yale. Those same people liked the fact that he was a bad student at Yale. They might even have liked his DUI charges. These are also the same people who must not have cared about Dan Quayle's obviously pitiful IQ. 

Oh right - hadn't you just managed to forget about Dan Quayle?