Watching Sarah Palin's first big interview.

I watched it. She was OK on stuff she was familiar with - Alaska, etc. She was evasive on stuff she didn't want to talk about - banning abortions even in case of rape and incest, her use of earmarks, the bridge to nowhere, etc. She was really bad on stuff that she doesn't know much about, in particular foreign policy. I mean REALLY bad.

"When Palin brought up her proximity to Russia ("They're our next-door neighbor," she proclaimed), Gibson asked what insights she derived from this fact. She replied:"

Well, I'm giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relations with all of these countries, especially Russia. We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relations with our allies, pressuring also, helping us to remind Russia that it is their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.

"What does this mean? I have no idea, and I doubt that she does, either. It doesn't help her argument of wisdom-through-osmosis that she has never been to Russia—or, shockingly really, any country outside North America, until last year, when she visited the troops in Kuwait and Germany. (Her P.S. after admitting she's never met a foreign head of state—that probably a lot of other vice presidents hadn't, either, before taking office—turns out to be untrue. ABC reported Friday morning that every VP since Spiro Agnew had taken such a meeting before getting tapped to be a running mate.)"

Watching Sarah Palin's first big interview. - By Fred Kaplan - Slate Magazine