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Today it was revealed by Fox News that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent but instead thought it was a country, and that she didn't know the countries involved in NAFA.  If this story is true, I am outraged that such material facts about this VP nominee's qualifications for the job were hidden from the public.  So blind to party loyalty were these aides that they allowed this eminently unqualified person get close to the highest office in the world.  If it weren't for Tina Fey and Katie Couric helping America see the totality of Sarah Palin's lack of  basic qualifications for the job, this woman with her embarrassing lack of basic professionalism could have been Vice President.  (She lost any respect I had for her when she repeatedly winked at the cameras during the debate - what professional woman does that?!) 

During the election cycle, instead of leaking critical information about her lack of education on even the most basic geography, we got leaks about shopping sprees.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  What a sad commentary on on Republican cynicism that these aides kept this quiet until after the election.  Putting party loyalty so wholly over the safety of America feels almost - dare I say it - treasonous. 

I'm all for the very ideal of America that "anyone can become president."  But can we agree that passing a basic civics and geography test would at least ensure that they have some level of minimum qualifications?  Many professions have basic qualification exams - how about having any and all candidates for office at least pass the test we require of immigrants before they become citizens?   Sadly this also showcases our broken educational system - We apparently allow people to get high school diplomas without knowing that Africa is a continent, not a country.  A recent Roper poll for National Geographic cited by MSNBC found that:

• One-third of respondents couldn’t pinpoint Louisiana on a map and 48 percent were unable to locate Mississippi.
• Fewer than three in 10 think it important to know the locations of countries in the news and just 14 percent believe speaking another language is a necessary skill.
• Two-thirds didn’t know that the earthquake that killed 70,000 people in October 2005 occurred in Pakistan.
• Six in 10 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.
• While the outsourcing of jobs to India has been a major U.S. business story, 47 percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia.
• While Israeli-Palestinian strife has been in the news for the entire lives of the respondents, 75 percent were unable to locate Israel on a map of the Middle East.
• Nearly three-quarters incorrectly named English as the most widely spoken native language.
• Six in 10 did not know the border between North and South Korea is the most heavily fortified in the world. Thirty percent thought the most heavily fortified border was between the United States and Mexico.

I wish this poll had been given to Palin - and every other candidate - with the results made public.  But frankly, becoming a VP candidate who isn't competent enough for the job isn't Palin's fault.  If anything, she did what many ambitious yet unqualified people do move their careers forward, which is to have an overly inflated sense of their own competence to perform a job.  As when filling any open position, it's the interviewers that must distinguish whether a person simply talks a good talk or can actually be counted on to perform the job responsibilities well.  So the blame goes to John McCain and his team for choosing to put forth an unqualified candidate rather than choosing from among several highly qualified republicans, including some very qualified women.  (But they were pro-choice, and apparently this was a deal-breaker for this clearly broken party.)  McCain either didn't ask the hard questions - or if he did, and he got the gobbledy-gook answers we heard in Palin's interviews with Curic and Gibson but selected her anyway, then he deserved an even larger ass-whooping than he actually got (by popular vote). 

Thank god this national embarrassment is over.  We dodged a bullet this time - possibly even a "newculer" war.