The would-be-Empress has no clothes.

While the mainstream media must all too often be taken with a grain of salt, (too little reporting, too much circus sideshow) there are certain reporters and commentators that I respect. Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek is one such reporter. His work is more often than not, concise, free of extraneous bullshit, and has a style that does not insult the person reading it.

This week, he covers the case of Sarah Palin. Is she ready to lead? Of course the answer to that question depends on which side of the political spectrum you happen to lean towards, but Zakaria makes a reasoned, sensible argument as to why she is nowhere near ready. Consider this snippet from the piece, surrounding Palin's response to Katie Couric's question regarding the proposed bailout and health care:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

Zakaria responded: "This is nonsense—a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN's Campbell Brown, have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that's causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb."

He could not be more correct. The gibberish that spouted from Palin's mouth was beyond the pale. I've seen first-graders form a more coherent thought that she did.

You can catch the entire article here:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/161204/page/1

(P.S. - A friend recommended this piece from Slate, and it too is a winner: http://www.slate.com/id/2201330/)