Last night I watched Charlie Gibson interview Sarah Palin on ABC News.  It was a little light on the tough follow-ups.  A little long on her generic aphorisms about victory being in sight and being vigilant.  Short on facts, and answers to the actual questions asked.  And a teeny bit too perky. But overall, she wasn’t terrible.

Here’s what I saw:  a clearly intelligent, poised, perky(again), well-spoken, appealing persona telling America her opinion on politics.  She was not dumb.  She was not stuttering, or using malapropisms…she sounded like the Republican version of me, at a dinner party, talking about politics.  I know what I think and everything — I just don’t quite have all the facts.  You know – I just think stuff.

But there is one huge difference between me and Sarah Palin – aside from the fake glasses, the twang, the creationism and all that horrid gun stuff — I’M NOT RUNNING FOR VICE PRESIDENT! (though you can click here to read why I should be.)

So she’s not stupid.  So she can speak in front of a crowd.  So what?  Everyone has an opinion.  My doorman, the taxi driver, the guy on the bus this morning talking the driver’s ear off. (Hello? do you not see the sign that reads “do not talk to driver while bus is in motion”?) Everyone is entitled to an option.  But opinion isn’t enough. You need knowledge, experience, command of the facts. Do I think she can learn a lot of the things she needs to? Absolutely.  Clearly, the woman’s no slouch.  But do I think that she should be learning on the job? Ummmmm….NO.

What upsets me most about all this is that even though I completely disagree with John McCain about just about everything…I thought he was a decent guy.  Turns out, he’s a guy who picks as his running mate, not someone who would make a good vice president — much less president — but someone who can get him elected.  That’s shameful.  And insulting. And it’s certainly not putting “country first.”