Back to the subject of the post though: yes, Palin’s interview with Couric was lame. I think she was trying too hard to look out for “gotcha” questions and so performed poorly on questions that ought to have been non-issues like this one. The most generous assessment of her answer here that I can give is that she was worried that if she listed specific things she reads, people would insist that meant she endorsed all of the views of said sources. Still a poor answer, but given how people have been scrutinizing every aspect of her life from her decision to have an amniocentesis during her last pregnancy to the bizarre words of visiting pastors at a church she isn’t even a member of, it’s understandable.

She’s not the first politician to give a lame interview. If she can do well at the debate tonight and give better interviews in the future, McCain-Palin still has a chance of catching up. If the debate goes poorly tonight, I see no way for McCain to win this.

If you wish to refute a person’s statement, do it on the merit (or lack of merit) of the statement itself. The fact that someone other than the person you are addressing happens to have a similar opinion to that person is not a legitimate counterpoint.

“It’s a simple question doctor…would you eat the moon if it were made of ribs?

It’s not rocket science, just say ‘yes’ and we’ll move on.”

Are you just going to keep parroting right-wing talking points, or are you going to have something of your own to say? In what world does graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, being president and editor of Harvard Law Review, serving eight years in the Illinois State Senate, and four years as an US Senator count as “no experience”? Heck, Obama has probably had as much “executive experience” running his campaign than Palin has had as Governor.

None of that is the point right here, though. Even if Obama were a drooling idiot, Eric isn’t posting about him. He’s talking about Palin, and we have yet to see any evidence she can form a coherent reply on her own to anything. If she’s stumped by Katie Couric, how is she supposed to do anything her office would require of her? She’s a joke, pure and simple, but more people fortunately seem to be catching on.

(And, yes, I know Biden also has some gaffes to his credit, but there’s a difference between flubbing an answer and not knowing what the answer is. I’d take thirty-five years in the Senate and a foreign affairs resume as long as my arm over “I’ll have to get back to you, Katie” any day.)