Palin's gullibility during prank call indicates she would be national security threat as VP

People laughed out loud upon hearing the audio tape of Quebec comedian Marc-Antoine Audette talking to Alaska Gov. Sarah PalinSarah Palin as he pretended to be Nicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy, the president of France.

Audette was hard to understand at times with his exaggerated French accent, so perhaps Palin didn’t hear everything he was saying. But most of what he said was clear enough, at least on the tape the public heard. It’s not so much that Palin got pranked – Audette has succeeded in pranking other international figures, even Sarkozy himself – it’s that Palin was so gullible. How could she continue to hold the phone after hearing the Sarkozy imposter utter such lines as she’s “so hot in bed” in reference to Sarkozy’s real wife or talk about how much fun it would be to shoot animals from a helicopter?

"We can have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. We could kill two birds with one stone,” Palin said at one point in her naïve voice, still entirely unaware that she was being played from afar by someone with comedic motives.

Thank God the motives were comedic and not terroristic.

Punditty began having suspicions about Palin’s National Security credentials when her husband’s involvement in the secessionist-oriented Alaska Independent Party came to light. Todd Palin, an AIP member from 1995 to 2002, is said to be a close adviser and confidante for his wife not only in marital and family matters but governmental ones as well. He is reportedly in attendance (in an unelected capacity) at the governor's side during many "offical business" meetings in Alaska. What kind of Republican presidential nominee picks a running mate whose spouse has been actively involved in secessionist politics? Someone who didn't do an adequate vetting job, that's who.

This alone would have been enough to disqualify any other candidate from serious consideration for the vice presidency (and possibly many lower-level government jobs, too) but the Big Money Media (BMM) felt obliged to treat Palin with kid gloves after going a little overboard when news of her daughter’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy dominated the first day of the Republican Convention in early September. If Barack ObamaBarack Obama had been married to a woman who had so recently held such a radical separatist cause so close to her heart, everyone in the United States would know about it.

Another example of the BMM overlooking the potential national security problems a Palin vice presidency would likely bring is the case of David Kernell, the Tennessee hacker who broke into the Yahoo e-mail account she was using for official Alaska business. Rather than ask Palin serious questions about not only her judgment but the legality of using a private e-mail account for state business, the BMM generally focused on Kernell’s punishment.

But now, coming as it did just before the election, Palin’s obliviousness during the prank phone call cannot be overlooked. If she is that easily duped by some joker obviously dropping clues to let her off the hook, then what does this reveal about her judgment and political street smarts? Reasonable observers can only conclude that she’s naïve, easily manipulated and not even close to being ready for prime time.

Palin’s heart may be in the right place, but her head is in the Alaskan clouds. Inattention to detail and gullibility are not exactly qualities that help the vice president do a good job. In 2008, at least, Palin simply represents too much of a threat to national security for voters to let her get any closer to Washington that she already is.

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