Dean Barnett:

…the media has credulously treated Biden as a serious figure, a courtesy they did not extend him during either of his presidential runs. One can only imagine how inquisitive reporters would handle a Republican nominee for vice-president who graduated 86th in his law school class of 95 as Biden did. As for Biden’s unfortunate history with plagiarism, the less said the better. At least that seems to be the media’s view now that he’s on the ticket.

Somehow I doubt that 36 years in the senate would wash away such stains for a Republican. Speaking of 36 years, that’s almost the exact length of time that Joe Biden has also served as a garrulous gaffe machine. And yet no one from the New York Times or Washington Post has yet mined his greatest hits and reported the comedy gold that lurks within.

Of course, Sarah Palin will get no such luck. Because it’s difficult to argue that Barack Obama has more experience or has achieved greater accomplishments than Palin, the Democrats are left to fall back on their old Obama standby–Judgment. As Judgment is applied in the Obama context, it means Obama can serve as president because he’s extremely intelligent. After all, here’s Howell Raines’s dream candidate–a guy who really did get good grades in school.

So in order to bring down Palin, her malefactors on the left will have to argue a lack of “readiness,” which with the thinly credentialed Obama on the other ticket can only serve as a shorthand for lack of intelligence.

Chances are, ink-stained wretches are plumbing Palin’s every past public utterance desperately seeking the evidence that proves she too is an amiable dunce. Of course, any misstatement on the campaign trail will serve as prima facie proof of her dim intellect. True, political observers have formed gambling pools wagering on when Joe Biden will make his first hilarious gaffe as Barack Obama’s running mate. While that gaffe, inevitable as it is, may do damage to the ticket, no one on the New York Times editorial board will conclude from it that Joe Biden isn’t that bright. Sarah Palin will not receive the same benefit of the doubt.

In some ways, being Sarah Palin for the next two months and change doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. In spite of her many and notable self-made successes, an entire intellectual industry has already sprouted up with the sole intention of proving that she’s a moron. The left wants to Quayle-ize her, and their efforts to do so won’t be half-hearted.

On the humorous side, there’s this new site Palinfacts.com with gems such as these:

  • Sarah Palin once carved a perfect likeness of the Mona Lisa in a block of ice using only her teeth.
  • Sarah Palin will pry your Klondike bar from your cold dead fingers.
  • Sarah Palin’s finishing move in the VP debate will be pulling Biden’s still beating heart from his chest & taking a bite.
  • Sarah Palin doesn’t need a gun to hunt. She has been known to throw a bullet through an adult bull elk.