Okay … so the new talking point making the rounds on the Left is that Sarah Palin is afraid of her lack of experience, knowledge, intelligence, accomplishment and basic humanity being exposed by those paragons and arbiters of honesty, courage, strength, fairness and objectivity. As evidence, they are pointing to Palin’s absence from the Sunday morning talk shows. What is she (and John McCain) afraid of, they sneer?

The Chicago Tribune’s Mark Silva (H/T: Don Surber) offers this hopeful possibility for the Obama faithful;

So, maybe putting Sarah Palin out there in public where she has to answer questions from a reporter, as opposed to running circles around a fast-reeling TelePrompTer, isn’t in McCain’s “best interests?’’

Palin, conspicuous by her mere absence: This booking strategy may speak volumes about the McCain campaign’s confidence in the governor from Alaska.

Most of the Democratic Press have already convinced themselves that she is an airheaded lightweight who will collapse and fold like a cheap suit under tough questions designed to test her “knowledge” and “experience.” They’re so convinced that [H/T: Erick] Jonathan Alter of the strongly Democratic Newsweek [sic] is confident enough to offer us a window into his thoughts of what is likely to happen should Palin make the mistake of coming face to face with er … “tough-minded” (read: in-the-tank-for-Obama) reporters;

Her lack of experience will only become an issue if it is manifested during the campaign. To decrease the odds of a gaffe, expect her to be carefully shielded from the questions of tough-minded reporters.

I’d imagine that Palin will dodge press conferences in favor of interviews with people like Sean Hannity, Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres. Then, when the media complain that she is being kept away, the McCain campaign will cite the half dozen or so interviews she has granted as proof that the campaign press is just bellyaching. Brief press “avails” on the plane will be useless, unless reporters ask open-ended queries designed to elicit proof of real knowledge.

Let us not be unmindful of the fact that the conventional wisdom in the Fourth Estate is that Sarah Palin has not been properly “vetted” – by them at least – for her ability to serve in the office to which she has been nominated. And as Roger Simon (not Roger L. Simon) of the Politico’s more recent attempt at snark reveals, they honestly do believe that airing wild-eyed accusations that she is actually her son’s grandmother, that she cheated on her husband, that her husband fathered her last born on their daughter, that she’s – at best – a neglectful mother of her children, and that her husband is an alcoholic because of a DUI 22 years ago, is all part of evaluating whether or not she has the “knowledge” and “experience” to serve as Vice-President of the United States.

Unlike Democratic politicians’ children, who are free to appear on stage with them, actively campaign with them, and pose on magazine covers with no fear of having their lives gone over with a fine toothcomb and all the warts and bumps discovered put on national television, Republicans’ children, according to this leading light at the AP are fair game should they be even mentioned by their parents – talk less of having the audacity of getting on stage with them.

This is not bias though, this is part of the essential vetting process for Sarah Palin’s knowledge and experience for the Vice-Presidency.

Anyway, I digress … I think.

The real question I want to ask is if the Left (and their media cohort) really wants to go this route … again? The attacks they launched against Palin before she unsheathed the sword on them and their “Community Organizer” (which makes him kinda like Jesus, you know) a few days ago led to a massive lowering of expectations that has dramatically altered the race’s dynamics … and it definitely wasn’t in their favor.

I understand that the official line is that she employed the services of a speechwriter for that speech so the question of her intelligence, knowledge and other essential qualifications (such as whether or not she really is the mother of Trig Palin) remains as yet unanswered.

But … lowering expectations after what happened on Wednesday (and I still think it’s rates a B+ – although the results are looking to be in A+ territory) just doesn’t seem that smart to me. I mean, when you look at her here being interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on CNBC, I think they’re in danger of setting, once again, a very low hurdle for her to clear when she’s at last face to face with Charles Gibson of ABC.

Oh well … I guess we’ll see. Personally, I’m getting ear-muffs … actually, scratch that – I think I’ll get some popcorn instead. I think I’m actually looking forward to the caterwauling and whining …

NOTE: Check out the rather insinuating headline on this latest front page story by the Obamaphile Washington Post – “Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home“. Sounds all sorts of corrupt and underhanded, doesn’t it? Except, of course, it’s all legal, ethical and of course the lady is costing Alaskan state taxpayers just 20% of what her predecessor was for her upkeep. Remember, this is just “vetting” for “knowledge” and “experience.“

UPDATE: Found this CSPAN interview of Sarah Palin from February … where, I have on good authority, she also used a speechwriter and teleprompter. Yep … she’s obviously so dumb the McCain campaign is keeping her away from reporters so it won’t come out. Yep yep yep ….