This Is Too Much, Part I

The Times reports that Sarah Palin used a cheat sheet during her speech and interview at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville last weekend, writing "energy," "tax cuts" (with "budget" scratched out before "cuts"), and "lift American spirits" on her left hand, and routinely glancing at it as she answered questions. This is reminiscent of the "Seinfeld" episode when George can't remember the steps of Jerry's famous "move" so he writes them in Sharpie on his hand, except Palin's maneuver covers affairs of state, rather than sex, and happened in real life, not on a sitcom.

Apparently, absurdity and Palin's dimwitted personality know no bounds. The only time she'll ever be in front of a friendlier audience is her kitchen, yet she was so nervous, forgetful or unintelligent that she required crib notes. Wow. Perhaps this was a cheeky, sarcastic in-joke about the public's fascination with Palin's ignorance or a play on when artists write provocative hand-written messages on their clothes or themselves onstage (see Eddie Vedder at the end of Pearl Jam's "Unplugged" performance), but I don't think she and her advisers are witty enough to think of that and pull it off.

Much is written about how Democrats froth at the mouth just at the utterance of Palin's name, and not surprisingly, every liberal blog has jumped on this one. But there's a rational, valid explanation for why Palin provokes such disgust: Her mounting record suggests nothing except that she's wholly unqualified to hold a job that requires serious thought -- apparently the governor's seat of Alaska doesn't make that cut -- and her ascendancy the past 18 months confirms we've become a public more taken with contrived appearance than intelligence.

Thanks to every photographer who caught the notes on Palin's hand. (The above photo of her looking at her hand is by the Times' Stephen Crowley.) Like George's bedside cheat sheet, which quickly sent him from hero to goat when his girlfriend discovered them in a sweaty Sharpie mess on his hand, her speech initially produced speculation about her presidential prospects in 2012, but now makes her look very foolish.