What have you read today?

Given all the prime material available, I've written relatively little about Sarah Palin. In part because she's such a joke, but also because I'm waiting to write one comprehensive post about the disservice her mockery of a campaign has done to all women (and, frankly, all intelligent people). Stay tuned for that.

Last night, I saw a new clip from her interview with Katie Couric that has me absolutely at the end of my rope with this nitwit.

In case you missed it:

Katie Couric asked Palin what newspapers and magazines she read regularly before becoming McCain’s running mate “to stay informed and to understand the world.”

Here is her response, according to a transcript provided by CBS:

Palin: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Where do I even begin? Chris suggested that perhaps she's been over-coached to the point where she's afraid to answer even a simple question for which she has not been fed a canned response.

First, regarding her final paragraph. This nonsensical approach she's taking (here and elsewhere) that she's being unfairly maligned as a know-nothing hillbilly because she comes from a rural state is thoroughly offensive to anyone who has ever lived in a small town.

Palin has proven herself to be a know-little at the very least and has made some hillbilly choices, but speak for yourself, lady. No one I've met from an array of US and foreign cities has ever thought we don't get the news in rural America. I did encounter a cable installer in Rhode Island who was surprised to hear South Dakota had cable. But he did figure we still got the news somehow.

On to the larger issue of evading one of the easiest questions she's been asked, outside the Hannity interview. But I think given what we've seen from Palin in other instances - her frequent inability to string together a complete sentence, for example - it's plausible that she couldn't think of one newspaper or magazine she's read recently.

Or maybe all she could think of was Glamour, People, US Weekly and knew better than to say so. Hey, I'm not knocking these magazines. I read them too.

But within the past week alone I've read at least one article in: New York Times, Washington Post, Star Tribune, Financial Times, Detroit News, Salon and even the Ivanhoe Times. Not to mention hours of CNN and NPR.

I've been a news junkie (or, as some might say, nerd) since my dad introduced me to 60 Minutes when I was four. A love of news content and reporting is why I majored in journalism. I can't fathom that anyone would major in journalism if they weren't interested in news.

Certainly, Sarah Palin majored in something like Russian Studies, right? What? She majored in journalism? Journalism major who can't name a newspaper or magazine? That's like a political science major who can't name the three branches of government. Good grief, please don't ask her that question.

I also know that not everyone likes (or has time) to read about what's going on in the world. Or even to absorb it in small tv soundbites. To quote Palin on an unrelated topic* "that isn’t a choice I would have made. But I am not going to judge people."

What has our country come to, when the candidate for the second-highest office can't even name a single source from which she gets her news? Recent Pew Research Center data indicate that 81% of Americans report seeing, reading or hearing news on a daily basis.

Is anyone else shocked by this? I looked up that data expecting to find the number much lower and then concluding that Palin fits the "just like me" mold. While I've yet to actually meet anyone who votes for people they'd like to be friends/have a beer with, rumor has it they're out there. And that they love Palin for just that reason. She's just like them. They can relate to her.

Well, I can't relate to her for a hundred different reasons. Not the least of which is that she can't or won't name a newspaper or magazine she reads. I want - no, demand - the people I elect to be smarter than me. Keeping up with the world around you is a requirement so elemental in a national leader that it's ridiculous to have to even ask. It's like - to use a Palin-friendly metaphor - playing hockey with no puck. Without knowledge and information she's roaming aimlessly, carrying a big stick.

As you read, watch and listen to news today (since I know you're all part of the 81%), think about what it might be like for the country to be led by someone who doesn't read newspapers. Oh wait, we already know.

Now excuse me while I catch up on the news I may have missed while writing this post.

*this quote is from Palin referring to a long-time friend who is gay. While homosexuality is not a choice, I'm pleasantly surprised by her realtive openmindedness.