Deborah Leavy: The real Sarah Palin
CAN YOU name a Supreme Court case, other than Roe v. Wade, that you disagree with? Maybe, maybe not.
CAN YOU name a Supreme Court case, other than Roe v. Wade, that you disagree with?
Maybe, maybe not.
Cite John McCain's record on deregulation? Hmmmm.
Know enough about the Bush Doctrine to say whether you agree with it? Uhhhh.
Well, Sarah Palin has trouble with those questions, too. Then again, you're not running for vice president of the U.S.
Would you confuse our economic crisis with health-care reform? I doubt it, but Palin did.
And I bet you could name some newspapers and magazines you read (at least this one). She couldn't.
None of this was "filtered" by the mainstream media, as she claims. These gaffes were all in interviews you can see yourself on YouTube.
Yet some relieved Republicans would have us believe that Palin's performance at last week's vice-presidential debate should erase all memory of her utter ignorance of the grave issues that the next administration will face.
It shouldn't.
It is true that Palin exceeded expectations - the lowest expectations of any candidate in a vice-presidential debate. She proved she could memorize - but we knew that from her well-delivered acceptance speech at the Republican convention.
What she didn't do is identify any policies, foreign or domestic, in which she or McCain differ from President Bush. She said flat out that she wouldn't answer the moderator's questions, obviously preferring to repeat the talking points she'd been given.
Sure, she smiles, she winks, even crinkles her nose. She'd be great as a personality on a morning news show. As Palin herself might say, "Darn right. You betcha."
That's not enough to perform the responsibilities of a vice president. And she wants to expand those responsibilities beyond those claimed even by Dick Cheney, the most powerful vice president in history!
I didn't want to write about Palin again. She's already been too much of a distraction when voters should be focusing on McCain, closely examining his record and comparing it with his campaign promises. The veep candidate is usually just a footnote in the campaign, not the main story.
But McCain is 72 years old, with a history of melanoma. He refuses to release his medical records, leaving us in the dark as to his condition. We must consider the possibility, if not the probability, of Palin being sworn in as president at a moment's notice.
It's bad enough to contemplate McCain being in charge during the greatest economic crisis this country has ever faced. The same McCain who's admitted he doesn't know much about the economy. The same McCain who has relied on the King of Deregulation, lobbyist Phil Gramm, for advice.
(Gramm is the guy who called us a "nation of whiners" because we were only in "a mental recession" - it's all in our heads.)
IT WOULD BE EVEN more dangerous to have Palin at the helm. It's not that I don't think a woman could be president. Hillary Clinton could - and perhaps someday will - be a great president.
But Palin has not thought seriously about the complex problems our country faces at this pivotal time in history. The economy, globalization, the war in Iraq and volatility in the Middle East and elsewhere, the spread of nuclear weapons, global warming and conservation of limited resources, education, health care - she knows not much more than what's been poured into her head by McCain's campaign staff in the last five weeks.
Palin did well in reciting the lines she was given. So did actress Geena Davis in her portrayal of MacKenzie Allen, the vice president who was suddenly elevated to president on the TV series "Commander in Chief."
So let's not be mesmerized by Palin's down-home charm at the debate.
She's simply not qualified to be vice president. She just played one on TV. *
Deborah Leavy is a regular contributor to the op-ed page and an associate member of the Daily News editorial board. E-mail her at