THE NEW BENCHMARK

John McCain to Don Imus on the question of Sarah Palin's network TV interviews:

She did fine in the interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. If I called you up and said, "What's the Bush Doctrine?," I doubt if you would know what it is. I think you'd probably have a pretty funny answer. She did a great job in those interviews.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there's your new standard: If Imus doesn't know it, then screw it -- the vice president of the United States doesn't need to know it, either.

Bonus lunacy from McCain:

I think she's the most qualified of any that has run recently for vice president, to tell you the truth.

Yes, really. Sarah Palin: not only more qualified to be VP than, say, Dan Quayle, but more qualified than Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, John Edwards, Al Gore, Jack Kemp, Lloyd Bentsen -- and, of course, McCain's first choice this year, Joe Lieberman.

****

AND: one more (and note that Imus really, really wants you to know he's not a racist):

IMUS: ... if you were not in this race and Senator Obama was running against someone else, divorcing yourself from policy considerations, would his election, given the history of our country -- slavery, the Civil War, civil rights battles of rthe sixties -- be a demonstration to the world that America is indeed the land of opportunity, that anything's possible, and all men actually are created equal, and that a black face in the Oval Office of the White House would redefine this country's role in the world?

McCAIN: Well, I think it certainly is an affirmation that, in America, that anything is possible. I think that Governor -- I think that President Bill Clinton was an example of that. I think that Ronald Reagan was an example of that. I think we've had many, many examples of, that, if America, in America you can come a long way, and especially impactful is Senator Obama's success, but, again, I again view this race as a contest that would be decided by who Americans think is the best qualified to be president of the United States. I believe I am that....

There you have it. Ronald Reagan: according to John McCain, he was the first black president. Basically there's no real difference between electing him president and electing Obama.