IS PALIN REALLY THE PERSON YOU WANT TALKING ABOUT STEADINESS IN THE FACE OF A GLOBAL CRISIS?

Joe Biden said over the weekend that there's likely to be an international crisis early in the term of Barack Obama, if he's elected -- and (this is the part the New York Post leaves out of its story, as do other McCainiacs) Obama's going to handle the crisis with "steel in his spine."

The McCain campaign has seized on this -- one member of the ticket in particular.

Um, if I were the McCainiacs, and I wanted to highlight a statement about my opponent inviting a foreign policy trial by fire, would I really want to send out ... Sarah Palin?

We know that, in a crisis, Obama will be deeply informed. We know he'll have smart, thoughtful, seasoned advisers. And we know he'll be cool as a cucumber.

To say the least, we don't exactly know this about a possible Palin presidency.

Yet there she is, delivering the campaign's response. And I say: thank you, McCain campaign.

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Here, by the way, is Palin's list of possible crises early in an Obama presidency:

Our opponent wants to sit down with the world's worst dictators. With no preconditions, he proposes to meet with a regime in Teheran that vows to "wipe Israel off the map." Let’s call that crisis scenario number one.

So what, Sarah? The meeting will be a crisis? Is Ahmadinejad going to nuke the conference room?

Senator Obama has also advocated sending our U.S. military into Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government. Invading the sovereign territory of a troubled partner in the war against terrorism. We'll call that scenario number two.

Yes, Sarah, please keep telling the voters what a terrible thing it would be for President Obama to kill bin Laden.

He opposed the surge strategy that has finally brought victory in Iraq within sight. He's voted to cut off funding for our troops, leaving our young men and women at grave risk. He wants to pull out, leaving some 25 million Iraqis at the mercy of Iranian-supported Shiite extremists and al Qaeda in Iraq. By his own admission, this could mean our troops would have to go back to Iraq. Crisis scenario number three.

Right, Sarah -- America loves the war. America would hate to see the troops withdrawn. America really wants to police Iraq forever.

After the Russian army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence – the kind of response that would only encourage Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine next. That would be crisis scenario number four.

Yeah, Americans really want to take a bullet for Georgia and Ukraine. Got your finger square on the pulse with that one, Sarah.

But I guess the looming crisis that most worries the Obama campaign right now is Joe Biden's next speaking engagement. Let’s call that crisis scenario number five.

And that's really how you want to hammer home that "We're all gonna die!" message -- with a big yuck about Joe Biden's speaking style. The gravitas is awe-inspiring.

Here's what I don't get: the McCainiacs went to all this trouble to write up a list for Palin, yet they couldn't come up with one scenario that was actually frightening? You know, something even remotely like the Cuban Missile Crisis or 9/11? OK, maybe Palin's first one -- if they meant Iran actually nuking Israel, yes, that's a huge deal, but the bullet point is written as if the talks would be the crisis. Does anyone in the McCain camp actually read this stuff before it goes into the Teleprompter?