You Can See Russia From There

Caribou Barbie got her first lesson in diplomacy today. McCain campaign operatives shuttled her around Manhattan to meet with GOP-friendly leaders like Hamid Karzai and Alvaro Uribe. Said Karzai:

"I found her quite a capable woman," Karzai said later. "She asked the right questions on Afghanistan."

What...you mean the scripted questions? Of course they're the right questions...you probably wrote them, Hamid. Or maybe your former employers at Unocal did.

Palin's living in a bit of a glass house these days, being sheltered from anything but softball questions:

John McCain's presidential campaign has shielded the first-term Alaska governor for weeks from spontaneous questions from voters and reporters, and went to striking lengths Tuesday to maintain that distance as Palin made her diplomatic debut.

The GOP campaign, applying more restrictive rules on access than even President Bush uses in the White House, banned reporters from the start of the meetings, so as not to risk a question being asked of Palin.

Control the media environment, only let supporters into your "town hall" meetings, and cut off the mic of anyone who dares ask a difficult or unflattering question? Yeah, sounds like the Gestap-O-Party to me. This next one's just plain embarrasing:

But Palin, who got a passport only last year, no longer has to own up to a blank slate when asked about heads of state she has met.

No longer? My ass. She's met two heads of state...after she was picked by the Senile Senator from Arizona...and under completely scripted and controlled circumstances. But she's got George W Bush beaten...he didn't get a passport until he became president.

McCain/Palin 2008: Incompetence, Lies, and Graft...but Country First!