The American Spectator

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Palin Qualifications?

By Lawrence Henry on 9.13.08 @ 1:12PM

I've been musing over some history, with William Buckley's jape in mind that he would gladly be governed by the first 1000 names in the Manhattan phone book.

In terms of plain, unadorned experience, Palin compares favorably with Theodore Roosevelt (who, of course, was a genius), Ulysses S. Grant, and Woodrow Wilson. The Obama people have from time to time compared their man to Lincoln, conveniently forgetting Lincoln's scholarly discussion of the main issues of the day in the Cooper Union speeches and the Lincon-Douglas debates.

Chances are, given her record of rapid mastery and achievement, Palin will probably pull her talents together with the proper information in a big hurry, and she'll probably do well. I watched three of the Gibson broadcasts, and was mainly impressed with the obtrusiveness -- the really obvious obtrusiveness -- of the editing. I think anybody could see it.