If you can, John. Did we just hear a collective Homer Simpsonesque "D'OH!" from the whole McCain campaign?

Remember, she's willing to go against her own party, including McCain, if she thinks she is right. This is how the Republicans will spin it. That Sarah, she's got her own ideas, that's for sure!

Already her supporters are decrying gibson for asking intimidating questions. They also accuse ABC of editing out her good responses!

But take a look at the way ABC wrote up the exchange. They made her sound like James Baker! then you watch the video and you go, wha????

ABC is apparently running scared because Palin did so poorly, so they are writing her up in a more credible light.

What happened to journalism?

... is that she attributes a motive to terrorists, that of being "hell=bent" on destroying the United States, that is probably rather simplistic.

Once you take away the assumption that the people whom you are hotly pursuing intend to, and have the capacity to destroy the United States, then you are on shakier ground.

Are drug dealers escaping into Mexico hell-bent on destroying the youth of America? Can we go after them in hot pursuit?

Anyway, everyone knows that Palin knows jack-shit about foreign policy, so playing gotcha is probably pointless.

Don't worry about Sarah Palin making any more interview mistakes. After Charlie Gibson we won't see her interviewed again until after the election.

Simple, really -- here's how McCain and company will do it:

"But Obama called her a PIG! And did we remember to tell you? OBAMA WANTS COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION -- FOR KINDERGARTNERS!!!"

Palin is an extremist & too stupid to be diplomatic. Sad thing is, she'll still get a lot of votes from extremely stupid people.

And she did not appear cognizant of the McCain flip-flop on the issue.

I wish I could agree that her viewpoint on crossing the border into Pakistan to go after terrorists was in line with Obama's, but it's painfully obvious she doesn't know what she's talking about.

She can barely repeat the answers she's been given by her foreign affairs coaches, let alone understand the players and complexity she would be facing should she, through some dark twist of fate, become president.

I think Palin was probably thinking to herself: (a) if I take the position that we can carte blanche invade Pakistan, that is probably a diplomatically incorrect answer and certainly not one we would wish to publicize and (b) if I say we will NOT cross into Pakistan to take out Bin Laden (assuming Pakistan says no), that's not quite right either. So, she punted, but survived with a decent summation.

The bigger question is: why didn't dopey Charles Gibson spend time trying to elicit real information that might tell us something new about Sarah Palin. These professional journalists are vastly overrated. I would have asked her: are you a fan of nonfiction history and if so what books have you enjoyed and how did they help you develop your view of the world? That would have been much better than a hypothetical re: cross-border incursions into Pakistan.

were going to vote for McCain any way...

... where he says with that trademark easy grin of his, "I'd like to thank Gov. Palin for her endorsement of my position ..."?

He just said, "... I believe that makes America exceptional!" Whatever "that" is here, he is making a point that he accepts the doctrine of American Exceptionalism. He knows that term.

It means that we are special, and we can do whatever we want. Even people who believe it usually try to cover it up. It's sort of a racial superiority doctrine.

As we said below, many average bears will not get it. But it is an intentional middle finger to rational progressive foreign policy people, and red meat/strong amphetemines for the bomb-bomb-bomb, drill-drill-drill folks.

Recent attacks into Pakistan tribal areas were authorized by the President. It sounds like Governor Palin has it right.

What a ridiculous charade ! As Matt Damon so aptly said...Palin's candidacy reminds us of a bad Disney film. Nothing against Gibson, but it was clear that Palin was in over her head and would have swiftly drowned has she not been coached and scripted by the McCain campaign minders. For all you folks who actually thought that you were watching a genuine interview with a knowledgeable and experienced candidate, well, let's just say that someone has a gigantic bridge to nowhere just waiting to be sold. If you think things were bad under the Bushies, just wait until the John and Sarah show gets on the road. As Sinclair Lewis wrote many years ago..."when facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross" and in this case wearing a whole lot of make-up as well.

Then, does McCain have it wrong?

"Daniel Dvorkin" asked the right question a couple posts back -- shouldn't Obama point out Palin's apparent agreement with HIM, and her disagreement with McCain?

Alex, I love you, but your spin is easily twisted. "Everybody knows that America should attack foreign countries who are an iminent threat. Only Washington elites call this obvious principal 'the Bush Doctrine.' Real Americans call it 'common sense.'"

You're missing the point. It's not that she didn't know "the Bush Doctrine." It's that she agrees with it. It's that she would push to have Georgia and Ukraine enter NATO, and provoke Russia into a military conflict to which she would respond with force. It's that McCain already wants to bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."

But neither wants to raise taxes. And so in four years, you have two more wars, a bigger defense budget, and an even bigger deficit. The current accounts deficit and the national debt are already destroying the economy. We have Lehman Brothers failing today, we lost Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bear Sterns already gone.

The only difference between George Bush and Sarah Palin - - - is lipstick.

That's how to scare the "heartland." That's how to scare Joe Six Pack. Who gives a shit about "the Bush Doctrine."