Sarah Barracuda is turning up the heat

Well, Sarah Palin didn’t get booted off the ticket. Instead, she’s back in full force. And she’s in attack mode. I guess you could say Palin did “well” in last week’s debate, in terms of looking self-confident and strong. She was sure to appeal to the right-wing Republican base, but most other people were turned off by her performance. She didn’t stumble the way she did in her Couric interview, but that was only because she set her own rules and chose to ignore the moderator. She bluntly stated that she wasn’t going to answer the questions; she was just going to talk about whatever she wanted. And she did. She talked about “mavericks” coming to Washington to “shake things up” (as if McCain hasn’t already been there for 26 years), and she talked about “energy policy,” as if she actually has something to contribute to this discussion.

Joe Biden tried to catch her on her evasive responses on several occasions, but moderator Gwen Ifill hardly ever followed up. Perhaps she was subdued by the pre-debate discussion of her possible bias, or perhaps it was simply the debate format, which only allotted a short time for each answer.

Biden may have looked old and tired compared to Super Sarah, but his answers were substantial and meaningful. He did a very good job of presenting the Obama/Biden ticket and what they stood for. When Palin ventured away from uttering catch phrases (“maverick”, “energy”), she managed to get herself into trouble. As, for example when she talked about climate change. First she states that it’s not manmade. Then she says that we need to take action by reducing emissions. Why would that help if man-made emissions haven’t contributed to the problem in the first place?

She’s also stunningly unprofessional. As when she gave a shout-out to her brother’s third grade class, telling them they would get extra credit if they watched the debate. That’s about as mature as saying “Hi Mom” and waving at the camera. Does she realize that she’s running for the second-most important office in the nation, not for VP of the local PTA?

What is really appalling about her performance is her over-confident attitude combined with her complete lack of knowledge. I cringe when she says, in that scornful voice she has mastered to perfection, that Obama is “beyond naïve” in wanting to meet with leaders of hostile nations. She has absolutely no credibility in anything relating to foreign affairs, and she can only get away with such statements because she is taking no questions from anyone who might challenge her statements.

True ignorance is not knowing how much you don’t know. And that is truly dangerous.