Northern Exposure of the Day

Gaylord Parkinson, the former Chairman of the California Republican Party, once remarked that "Thou shall not speak ill of any Republican". In this day and age of a highly partisan political climate, it is apparent that not everyone received Parkinson's memo. During a recent interview with "Newsmax" magazine, Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida, discussed a variety of topics, including Sarah Palin and her viability as a presidential candidate. And while Bush attributed Palin's appeal to the conservative base to the fact that she is "a natural" and "charismatic", the praise for the former Governor of Alaska stopped there:

• "For Governor Palin to be a successful candidate for higher office", she needs to add "some depth of understanding of the complexity of life that we're living in today".
• "I don't know what her deal is. My belief is, in 2010 and 2012, public leaders need to have intellectual curiosity."
• "The world is really an amazing place but it is very complex and it's very fast moving. And to think you've got it all figured out, the minute you start thinking that is the first day of your demise. And so if she has those skills and she wants to run, she'll be a great candidate."

Ouch. To paraphrase Bush, Palin would serve as a strong candidate for higher office if she possessed any amount of "intellectual curiosity". In other words, she's not smart enough for the White House. (Finally a member of the Bush family that I can support, at least on this topic.) What is ironic about Bush's assault on Palin's intelligence is that, in an interview with the magazine last year, Palin uttered the following comments: "Let me start off by thanking you so much for your daily updates. If it weren't for Newsmax, there'd be a lot of us wondering what the heck was going on that day. It is very valuable, very helpful and I appreciate all that you guys are doing to get a good message out there." So why couldn't she at least list Newsmax as a news source she read when she was interviewed by Couric in 2008?