Seriously, I do. I’m reading this report on CNN about Palin meeting with nine foreign leaders – including, and I’m not making this up, Bono from U2 – in a 30-hour blitz at the UN when I get to this quote:

“The first thing you do is burnish their foreign policy credentials. You buy them a Rand-McNally, you meet with generals, you get a lot of flags on the stage and you give a big speech on foreign policy to display you have some command of the world,” said Alex Castellanos, a Republican strategist and CNN contributor. [emphasis mine]

You buy them a Rand-McNally? I’m sorry, but if in a time of war your foreign policy knowledge is limited to the chief exports and total square miles of a country, chances are good you’re too inexperienced to be a 72-year-old’s heartbeat away from the highest position in the land. How substantive can a conversation with a foreign leader be when you need to cram nine of them into a 30-hour period? “Oh, Mr. Medvedev, I can see your hinterlands from my house in our hinterlands!”

CNN, by the way, isn’t taking any video or photos of Palin while she meets with foreign leaders (though they’re not above using photos from the AP on their web site) because the Republicans, apparently fearful of what should happen if Palin goes off script, have barred editorial staff from sitting in on the meetings, only allowing for photo ops. The tight control they’ve had over Palin – and the fact that she’s delivered the same damn speech no fewer than 14 times – screams volumes about their feeling about this candidate. They call her a barracuda, she says she’s a pit bull with lipstick, but they can’t leave her on her own for five minutes?

I was thinking about all this yesterday when I realized I had more foreign policy experience than the Stepford Veep. I spent two years in Model United Nations in high school, competing – and winning, along with my partner Kelson Vibber – at the national level in Washington D.C. I had to read actual resolutions drafted by UN committees and stick to my country’s stated policies (I represented China, Italy, the Ukraine and several other countries during my MUN days) while in committee. Along with my partner, we worked with other “national” representatives to come up with realistic solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems at the time – Libyan terrorism, the peaceful uses of Outer Space, Iraqi incursion into Kuwait. It was a fascinating experience that gave me a completely different view of the world. I have also had the opportunity to speak with actual diplomats to prepare for some of our competitions.

Sarah Palin, as has been noted, can see Russia from an island in the Aleutian chain. Marvelous.

I’m REALLY excited for the debate on OCtober 2nd between Biden and Palin. I’m a little concerned that Biden may come off as too patronizing, much as Bush Sr. did against Geraldine Ferraro in ’84, but, mostly, I’m hoping he’ll just cry havoc and rip into her on experience, foreign policy, hypocrisy and general ability to lead the nation. The GOP keeps trotting her out for the cameras, and she does cut a fine figure, but this country really needs something more substantive than a respectable Republican cloth coat model as its second in command.