Someone stop me I can't help myself

I'm sorry. But I can't resist the latest gem from the Couric/Palin interviews. In their previous encounter, Couric quizzed Palin about her lack of foreign travel. Palin responded that her world-view had instead been shaped by what she read in the newspapers. So Couric followed up.

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?

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

COURIC: But what ones specifically? I’m curious.

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

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news...

Let's be charitable for a second and assume that she really does read many newspapers and magazines, but couldn't remember which ones. (I doubt it. Forgetting which newspaper you read is like forgetting your own name but whatever). The question now becomes: how come she couldn't even recall a single newspaper title even for the purposes of bluffing? USA today would have done. Or her local newspaper, The Juno Empire. It's like flunking "name a single American newspaper."

Let's be clear about this: there is nothing wrong with people being uninformed. It's tedious having to keep up with all the stuff that goes on in the world, or even just a fraction of it. So how do I make my way through the world every day without embarrassement? By not pretending to know more than I do. By knowing my limits and sticking within them. By relying on friends who are better informed than I am. But primarily I do it by not running for vice president of the United States.