Disgraceful On So Many Levels

TW: I would assume this will be a significant sideshow tomorrow. This video bothers me on so many levels.

One, am I surprised that Palin has a knowledge of history, geography and geo-politics barely consistent with a well-tutored middle-schooler? No. Was it negligence bordering on criminal that she was foisted as a major party VP nominee without proper vetting? Yes, to the deep shame of John McCain.

Two, once they actually realized she was materially unqualified to run for VPOTUS why did the Republicans cover-up her gross lack of qualifications? Obviously for political reasons but again this deserves some kind of sanctioning, I mean that campaign was running a grossly unqualified candidate and attempted to cover it up.

Three, they apparently fired a key campaign advisor last week and covered it up. Their motivation to do so is obvious but what does it say about how they operate and would have operated if elected?

Four, I think the line of drivel put forth by many Republican pundit Palin fans that the McCain campaign should have just "let Sarah be Sarah without the handling" has been exposed as either wishful thinking, gross pundit ignorance or willful pundit head-faking to misdirect the Republican base (note I do not recall any Republican officials pitching that line, they likely knew the truth, but again covered it up).

Five, Bill O'Reilly is pond scum. I would not expect him to hop around the set in glee (as Olbermann would have if say Richard Wolfe had been playing the Cameron role) but to attempt to deflect most of the criticism indicates to me his gross hypocrisy and lack of any journalistic credentials. Furthermore to the extent Fox or any other network had these details (as they almost certainly did) and sat on them just goes to show how scary reality can be relative to the small doses of info the American public is served by the MSM.