A HEARTBEAT AWAY

I can't embed the video, but, about a third of the way through, watch Sarah Palin, at a bar in Philadelphia last night, say the words "City of Brotherly -- and Sisterly -- Luuuuve."

Yikes. This is the potential forty-fifth president of the United States?

No. This is a sidekick. This is someone who comes on at the top of the hour to do traffic and weather and read a few headlines on a Stern-wannabe drive-time radio show.

Or an overly enthusiastic waitress -- the kind who incessantly asks, "Hey, how you guys doin' over here?" In fact, Politico has Palin's full statement at the bar -- it's 210 words total, yet it includes the phrase "you guys" four times. ("Thank you for being here for rooting on John McCain tonight in the debate even, you guys, thank you. Yeah.")

As Steve Benen and Ezra Klein note, Joe Biden was on TV right after the debate, but Palin wasn't -- Rudy Giuliani was substituting for her. Palin wasn't taking questions at the bar in Philly before the debate, and then, as noted in the video clip linked above, she left before the debate began. And that was a private party full of her supporters. Were her handlers afraid to have her take questions even there?