Sarah Speaks!

The McCain campaign has held Sarah Palin in virtual purdah since McCain named her as his running mate -- she's given lots of speeches, in which she has stuck strictly to the text, but absolutely no interviews. No extemporaneous comments. No diverging whatsoever from scripts written for her by others.

And now we know why.

Tonight Sarah Palin gave her first interview since being named to the Republican ticket, to Charlie Gibson of ABC News (full disclosure: I worked briefly for ABC News). Even with extensive coaching, she still came off as someone who -- how shall I say this politely? -- is no Hillary Clinton.

Sarah Palin can't even lie convincingly.

Here is what I felt was one of the most interesting parts of the interview:

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?
PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.
GIBSON: Exact words.
PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words when he said -- first, he suggested never presume to know what God's will is, and I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words. But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side. That's what that comment was all about, Charlie.

Do I really have to point out that Governor Palin was lying through her teeth? Not only that, but she can't even lie convincingly. It's one thing to be a liar. It's another thing to be a bad liar.

First she tries to wriggle her way out of it by claiming that she didn't say what she said (only to be shut down by Gibson, who reminds her that it was an exact quote). Then she tries to claim that what she said was only what Abraham Lincoln had said before her.

The only problem with that is that it's a bald-faced lie. What Governor Palin said was the exact opposite of what Lincoln said -- and anyone who knows the Lincoln quote knows it. And she doesn't even get the quote right.

This, according to Jim Wallis, the author of God's Politics, is what Lincoln said:

"Our task should not be to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God's blessing and endorsement for all our national policies and practices—saying, in effect, that God is on our side. Rather, we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God's side."

For those of you who are into irony, John Kerry quoted the same lines of Lincoln in his acceptance speech at the Deomcratic convention in Boston four years ago.

Now, anyone who can read and is capable of comparing the two statements knows full well that Palin was not "repeating" Lincoln's words -- if she'd wanted to do that, she just could have quoted him, the way John Kerry did.

She said the exact opposite of what Lincoln meant. And thinks the American people are too stupid to know the difference.

I'll skip past the part where she encourages Ukraine and Georgia to join NATO, serenely ignorant of the fact that such an alliance with those two countries would oblige us to go to war with Russia if Russia attacked either one of them. And I'll move on to my favorite part -- so far (there's going to be more on various ABC News shows in the next day or so):

GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?
PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?
GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you -- what do you interpret it to be?
PALIN: His world view.
GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.
PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that's the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better.
GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?
PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.

Did you get it? The woman didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was -- and she's running for Vice President of the United States! And by the way, don't you love Charlie Gibson explaining it to her: "as I understand it" -- that was really priceless.

Sarah Palin makes Dan Quayle sound like Thomas Aquinas. And it'll be interesting to see what the G.O.P. does with her after this. Do they stick her back in purdah, away from those nasty beasts in the mainstream media? Or will Americans buy the bullshit that she's selling?

I guess we'll find out soon.