And one result of all of the rumormongering is that it's had a 'boy who cried wolf' effect on me, so that nothing I hear about Palin (or any other candidates) right now is believable until there's incontrovertible evidence.

I think that what I see so far in Palin is that “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” vibe, where the common sense and decency of the common man (woman) can sometimes be preferrable to high intellect.

But you have to admit, even that story is suspect.

Check out this post from Andrew Sullivan: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily…

And from where I sit, there's a great leap of faith being taken by those who feel Obama is ready right now. You mention 'intellectual curiosity', a quality that seems to be highly prized by his supporters and I agree that he has that, and intelligence too. Palin may or may not be his equal in that, but those things alone aren't sufficient to be successful in the presidency. She may rank somewhat below him in those qualities, but not necessarily very far below- and then may make up for that with other positive qualities that he may lack.

I guess to better understand my POV there, it's helpful to know that in my family, my dad was fairly intellectual and my mom has common sense smarts. I've seen the positive and negative sides of both, and I think they complement each other (of course, I'd like to think I inherited a fair amount of both…heh.)

I think that what I see so far in Palin is that “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” vibe, where the common sense and decency of the common man (woman) can sometimes be preferrable to high intellect.

Palin may be okay. She may have great policy proposals. She may be more intellectually curious than she seems. But there is little evidence of that now, otherwise the McCain camp would have told us about it. And again, that brings up the big point, that McCain didn't know these things either, and he picked her anyways.

Exactly. And from what I've seen of her so far, she's a terrific debater. Even when she flubs an answer a bit, she bounces back up quicker than Misty May and Kerri Walsh in a beach volleyball tournament.

Chris: if she's as sharp as she seems, I don't care all that much whether she's learned things recently or in the past. I'll reserve final judgement, because I really don't know if she'll be able to get up to speed or not- but generally I'm not convinced that a lot of the guys who've been around a long time are any more knowledgeable than a newbie could be in a fairly short time, if he/she is a quick study.

True. Nothing arouses the GOP like the press being meanies (yes, Dems get upset at this too…but Republicans have Anti-Media chromosones in their DNA).

I think CStanley predicts this right: They will get Palin up to speed with briefing book after briefing book. Then she will smoke in the interviews (only without the “Uhm” of thought that Obama tends to show).

Chris, you are hardly alone in not being comfortable about Palin's qualifications . . . but if she can memorize enough data fast enough, she might pull it off.

Then the media will be happy. They will have a new narrative.

Then, in a few years, President Palin and her briefing books will be in the Oval Office.

Shouldn't this have been done already CStanley? One of Hillary's arguments against Obama was that he would have to learn while on the job (Biden said the same). I would agree with Marlowe that as soon as Obama went out there and started talking he did extremely well. Maybe Palin could go out their and do the same? It's just a guess, but it seems to me that it would be worth trying.

If I'm right, this is brilliant- they get to stall a bit in rolling her out, so that she can be briefed and brought up to speed on policy- and then after critics are worked up into a lather they bring her onto the interview circuit and everyone who was screaming about the 'bubble' begins to look like they were grasping at straws yet again in attempts to deflate Palin's image.

Obama has developed impressively in terms of his interview abilities.

In fact, one wonders why his team sheltered him the way they did. Look at Obama's performance when he finally sat down with Chicago newspapers – after avoiding their questions about Rezko for months – Obama knocked it out of the ballpark.

Personally, I doubt Palin has anywhere near Obama's abilities or intelligence in this regard.

But . . . Obama was sheltered from the press corps.
McCain is even more sheltered now than Obama ever was (and, for some reason, seems to be getting away with this . . . while Palin is being criticized for being in a bubble).

I vaguely recall Dan Quayle being a bubble as well. It is nothing new for campaigns to shelter candidates when they feel there might be a weakness.

jchem said: “By not going out there unscripted, she gives me (and I assume many others) the impression that she is either hiding something or just avoiding having to answer difficult questions.”

This was precisely the Clinton attack line against Obama.

For the reasons you note, I believe Obama's team adopted the wrong strategy in avoiding reporters during the primary . . .after all, Obama has since shown his true metal repeatedly in this campaign when he confronted tough questioning (he only seemed off-balance in the last debate with Clinton, under that withering barrage – but he held his own, as one must admit). . . and Obama has shown his strength.

It may also be the wrong strategy with Palin. . .she has to learn to walk the walk sometime. But it is not unusual for this to happen. Nor even surprising.