I know that some may have seen this already, DemfromCT linked to the Newsweek version yesterday I think, but this commentary from Mr. Zakaria is truly a watershed event.
He titles his piece this way:
Palin Is Ready? Please.
and starts out with the request straightaway: "Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"?"
But it is the analysis that strikes me as powerful. Not for the actual analysis, but for who is saying it.
I don't know how Zakariais perceived around here. From my perspective, his background is quite pertinent - he grew up in Mumbai, India, attended Yale and Harvard and is extremely knowledgeable in foreign affairs, having been editor on the periodical of the same name. He is a centrist and I certainly disagree with him on some issues, but in all things I find him thoughtful. He is always measured in his tone and I've had the feeling at times that he respects institutions too much to be as critical of those in power as much as he would like.
I've never seen him speak in the way he does in this commentary/article. Never.
He quotes the two most disturbing portions of the Couric interview (we can see Russia, and the run-on sentence where she blathers on about the bailout and seems to simply start uttering every talking point she's been drilled on), and then goes on to say what I've been looking for others of his stature to actually come out and say:
This is nonsense--a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN's Campbell Brown, have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that's causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb.
Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start.
Amen. And Amen again.
I think that his is the watershed event of the campaign because, quite frankly, he is simply not someone who does this kind of thing. It is like Jim Lehrer had said, in response to one of McCain's lies last week, "Are you fucking shitting me? That's bullshit and we both know it." When Fareed Zakaria comes out and sounds like KO, you know it is all over but the recriminations on the Rethug side.
He closes with what many around here has said, in pretty much the exact same words that I've seen uttered by many a Kossack:
In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.
Remember this week, we will tell our kids about it. This was the week when anyone with a shred of self respect came out and called bullshit on McCain. No, you can't just pull someone off the street and roll the dice on whether or not they could run the country if the actuarial tables call you up to the POW camp in the sky.
Update: Edited headline to avoid confusion with many who thought this was a Terry Schiavo incident in the making.