Painful Palin: Not to belabor the point, but...

By Michael J.W. Stickings

So now the McCain campaign wants to postpone the vice presidential debate, too? There's a shock.

The excuse is the supposed financial crisis, of course, the one McCain is using to score political points by sort of but not really suspending his campaign. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Palin clearly isn't even close to being ready for anything even resembling a debate. (She met with foreign leaders again on Wednesday, but she isn't being allowed to answer questions from the press and what was actually talked about during those meetings is being kept under wraps. Though we do know that she and Karzai talked kids for a moment or two before the door was closed and that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari called her "gorgeous." Such is the extent of Palin's foray onto the world stage: small talk and photo ops. Seriously, it's not like she's in a position to talk substance or anything.)

After all, there she was talking to Katie Couric last night (see video below), the first part of an interview that, in Jonathan Martin's words, "won't give Republicans any reassurance that she's ready for prime time":

It will, however, reassure McCain aides that they're ollowing the right course of action by keeping her shielded.

Not only did Palin say the country could be facing another Great Depression without a bailout, but she offered a painful silence when pressed about campaign manager's Rick Davis's ties to Freddie Mac.

And, at the end, she had no good answer when asked by Couric for examples of what McCain has done to regulate Wall Street.

First, she reminded Couric that McCain had been "known as the maverick."

Pressed for details, Palin threw in the towel.

Here's the actual exchange:

COURIC: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

PALIN: He's also known as the maverick, though. Taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about -- the need to reform government.

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 you some, and I'll bring them to you.

What an utter embarrassment Palin is. Even the McCain campaign gets it. Hence the debate postponement plan. Though it could also be part of the attempt to lower expectations to such an abysmal level that even her showing up will be heralded by the media as a triumph. And then all she'd have to do is recite her lines like she did at the RNC to be proclaimed the winner over Biden (who will be torn down for not meeting the lofty expectations the media have set for him). Still, her performance so far in controlled settings with Charlie Gibson and now Couric suggests that she really is cluelessly dim. And at least, at long last, the media seem to get that, too.