Did Palin Really Say That?

Sarah Palin is new to the media interview routine. McCain handlers shielded her from interviews for weeks after her VP announcement. Just last week, I asked readers "Why?"

Palin seems like she could speak for herself. Her speech at the RNC was a success according to her supporters. Yet, she wasn't hitting the interview circuit to pump up the McCain campaign.

Well, now we know why. Her train wreck interview with Charlie Gibson should have been the signal of the trouble to come. But I thought that was just because it was her first big interview.

Katie Couric's interview with Palin is filled with memorable moments, just not the kind for someone suited for high office:

• When Couric asked Palin for examples of McCain supporting financial regulation, Palin seemed flustered because she can't think of any. Couric: "I'm just going to ask you one more time, not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation. Palin:  "I'll try to find some and bring them to you." (See video clip below.)
• When Couric asked Palin about the state of our economy, Palin says we "might be headed for another Great Depression." (So comforting to hear from a future leader.)
• When asked about the conflict in Gaza and what will happen if the goal of democracy doesn't produce the desired outcome? It's one of the vexing foreign policy qestions of the day that even freshman congressman know how to answer. Palin's answer was so strange that I'm not sure if Palin even knows where Gaza is or what happened in Gaza? Palin tells Couric, "Yeah, well especially in that region, though, we have to protect those who seek democracy and support those who seek protections for the people who live there. What we're seeing in the last couple of days here in New York is a President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who would come on our soil and express such disdain for one of our closest allies and friends, Isreal ... and we're hearing the evil that he speaks and if hearing him doesn't allow Americans to commit more solidly to protecting the friends and allies that we need, expecially there in the Mideast, then nothing will." Hmmm. I'm not sure I know what she meant there... This interview doesn't say much for her foreign policy insight. But, at least she can see Russia from her backyard.