An interesting take on the Gibson foreign-policy interview from a Republican friend who knows f.p., and who's generally moderately bullish on Sarah Palin:
I would give her a B or better, B-. I liked her confidence, combativeness but the answers were scripted, she had to repeat one mantra over and over again. What it shows about the way McCain's people are handling her is worse: they are trying to get her to memorize answers rather than being honest, within limits, about what she doesn't know. She should have said about NATO article 5, "We relied on the protection of our NATO alliance for so long that people took it for granted, I'm just learning now precisely what membership involves."
I suppose her preppers felt she should, above everything else, never utter the words "I don't know," lest that dread three-letter sentence become the banner headline. Still, "memorized" is just the right word -- that's how her delivery sounded.
--Eve Fairbanks