Not according to the Republican Party. Apparently, Sarah Palin lacked even the most basic knowledge of world geography. How basic, you ask? Well, she though Africa was a country, not a continent. But far worse, at least for an American, she couldn’t name all of the countries of North America. That’s right. She couldn’t name the three countries of North America, one of which she lived in. I’m assuming she got that one at least but you never know.
I know. I know. I shouldn’t beat a dead pit bull, I mean horse. But come on. What the hell were they thinking? What if McCain and Palin were elected? Isn’t nominating a person with the intelligence of a third grader to be next in line for one of, if not the most, powerful position in the world gross negligence on the part of the Republican Party? How can she discuss foreign policy issues if she doesn’t know where countries are or if they are in fact countries? As if Americans don’t already look like rubes to the rest of the world with eight years of Dubya at the helm. How would we look with the brainchild Palin in office?

Be sure to check out the video.
 
Palin Didn’t Know Africa Is A Continent, Says Fox News Reporter
Nicholas Graham
November 5, 2008

Now that the 2008 election is over, reporters are spilling all the juicest, and previously off the record, gossip from the campaign trail. Much of it is about the infighting between Palin and McCain’s staff, as Newsweek’s treasure trove of post-election gossip reveals. However, perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked “a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency,” in part because she didn’t know which countries were in NAFTA, and she “didn’t understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.”

***UPDATE*** Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron appeared on The O’Reilly Factor tonight and described in much fuller detail the truly astonishing behavior, and lack of knowledge, of Sarah Palin on the campaign trail, as well as the nasty infighting that resulted from, some would say, Palin’s “diva” behavior. (Earlier today, Palin said reports of her “diva” behavior and any tension within the campaign were “absolutely false.”)

Cameron relates how McCain aides were terrified of Palin’s lack of knowledge of international and national issues, and even basic civics. Cameron reports that Palin was unfamiliar with the concept of “American exceptionalism,” and that not only did she not understand that Africa was a continent rather than a single country but also that during debate prep Palin was unable to name all the nations in North America.

Palin was apparently a nightmare for her campaign staff to deal with. She refused preparation help for her interview with Katie Couric and then blamed her staff, specifically Nicole Wallace, when the interview was rightly panned as a disaster. After the Couric interview, Palin turned nasty with her staff and began to accuse them of mishandling her. Palin would view press clippings of herself in the morning and throw “tantrums” over the negative coverage. There were times when she would be so nasty and angry that her staff was reduced to tears.

Link.