Is there an honest soul out there who can say that Sarah Palin is fit to be Vice President? There isn't. And the steady horrified/embarrassed drumbeat of disdain, dismay and fear about John McCain's reckless choice of running mate is getting louder and louder. All day and night yesterday TV pundits couldn't hide their smirks whenever "Palin" was uttered.
Yesterday the right wing's Kathleen Parker called her "out of her league" and called for her to step down. And in his Saturday column ("Palin’s Words Raise Red Flags"), Bob Herbert has made the most cogent and fair TM argument, that I've seen, as to why McCain needs to "find a replacement for Ms. Palin on the ticket." His doesn't use kid gloves at all but does implicitly set up the Veep debate as a make or break moment, a last chance. He doesn't lower expectations, but rather gives an ultimatum:
The country is understandably focused on the financial crisis. But there is another serious issue in front of us that is not getting nearly enough attention, and that’s whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president — or, if the situation were to arise, president of the United States.
...
Gently interrupting, Ms. Couric asked, “Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?”
“We have trade missions back and forth,” said Ms. Palin. “We do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to our state.”
It was surreal, the kind of performance that would generate a hearty laugh if it were part of a Monty Python sketch. But this is real life, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. As Ms. Palin was fumbling her way through the Couric interview, the largest bank failure in the history of the United States, the collapse of Washington Mutual, was occurring.
The press has an obligation to hammer away at Ms. Palin’s qualifications. If it turns out that she has just had a few bad interviews because she was nervous or whatever, additional scrutiny will serve her well.
If, on the other hand, it becomes clear that her performance, so far, is an accurate reflection of her qualifications, it would behoove John McCain and the Republican Party to put the country first — as Mr. McCain loves to say — and find a replacement for Ms. Palin on the ticket.
Well her first, next and last chance to prove she is competent and thoughtful enough to step into office is the debate, because we can be pretty sure there won't be any other interviews before that. The debate is the big, last chance interview. The problem for her and her running mate is that even with general expectations lowered, the voters, the TM and quite likely the McCain ticket itself don't seem likely to be able to claim victory for Palin if she simply forms a few good sentences, tosses a couple of clever zingers and manages not to have a heart attack against Biden on Thursday.
That won't be enough, as long as she struggles to speak in coherent sentences with thoughts of her own on the urgent issues we face as a nation she will be derided as a failure.
It is just too painfully obvious to everyone that Palin is incapable and just plain not smart enough to hold the high office she is running for. And nobody, not even the McCain campaign, is arguing any more that sexism is behind the wall-to-wall criticism of Palin.
And it is a lose-lose situation for McCain of course: Keep her on the ticket and the campaign grows as a laughingstock. Replace her, which is the right thing to do for the country, and he will be thunderously derided for his failed original choice and lose the excited base of his party.
What a shame.
Personally, I'm surprised she has made it this far.
More from Herbert:
The McCain campaign has done its bizarre best to shield Ms. Palin from any sustained media examination of her readiness for the highest offices in the land, and no wonder. She has been an embarrassment in interviews.
But the idea that the voters of the United States might install someone in the vice president’s office who is too unprepared or too intellectually insecure to appear on, say, “Meet the Press” or “Face the Nation” is mind-boggling.
The alarm bells should be clanging and warning lights flashing. You wouldn’t put an unqualified pilot in the cockpit of a jetliner. The potential for catastrophe is far, far greater with an unqualified president.
Watch for the drumbeat to become louder and louder between now and the October 2 debate and deafening afterwards.