Yikes

A new book about Palin coming out by McCain campaign strategist:

PALIN THOUGHT VP BID WAS 'GOD'S PLAN': McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt apparently has an endless stash of these things: He told 60 Minutes that Sarah Palin believed that John McCain chose her because of "God's plan." That wasn't the only jab aimed at her on the televised segment, which was linked to the much-anticipated release of Game Change, a book about the 2008 presidential campaign by New York magazine's John Heilemann and Time's Mark Halperin. During the campaign, Panicked Republicans evidently forced Palin to take a crash course on 20th century American history because she didn't understand basic policy facts, like why there is a North Korea and South Korea. Palin also distorted the truth on a regular basis. As Heilemann put it, during the campaign "she was still regularly saying that Saddam Hussein had been behind 9/11."

Oy Vey. How far have we sunk? These guys should be quitting in protest before prepping someone this unqualified to be Vice President. There is a certain level of trust, we, as a citizens, must have in professionals. We trust our doctors to diagnose our ills, in our accountants to provide legal tax advise, our architects to design sturdy structures. We can't be experts in everything and can't go around our whole lives questioning everything - is this building safe? Is this road safe? Is this computer secure? We'd never accomplish anything. We need to trust our professional political strategists that our VP candidates meet certain basic requirements - such as knowing American History. Seriously, this is a joke. There is a difference between Joe Biden making gaffes, or general slips of the tongue, and Bush mispronouncing words, than what is described above. Palin seems to be an actual ignoramus. That is scary.

People like me are partially to blame. I didn't realize the depth of Palin's stupidity. Perhaps I was blinded by her hotness. But I don't think it was really that. I guess I figured she was a governer of a state and didn't run it into the ground, and was vetted by some professionals who thought her qualified, McCain included. It's hard to move up and make it in the world. You have to be pretty darn good at something. Is it such a stretch to think that she was pretty good at what she did to get where she did?

And further, remember, we'd be listening to the press for 8 years yammer on and on about how stupid George Bush was. And that really wasn't and isn't true. He was inelegant and brash and smarmy and maybe not a great President. But stupid, he was not. Criminal he was not. The devil he was not. Yet, this was customary talking points for the left regarding Bush. So was I a bit hesitant to listen to lefties rail on and on about Palin's stupidity and lack of qualification.

The real disappointment, here, however is the Republicans sucking up to this woman who by the accounts coming out now, her quitting the governership, and her new deal with Fox, is that our country is becoming so completely unserious it is worrying.