By now I suspect many of you have seen the picture of Sarah Palin's left hand with her scribbled crib notes. I'd embed the picture but MyDD5 doesn't seem to allow that functionality but you can view the image over at Andrew Sullivan'sThe Daily Dish.

On her hand she scribbled four points: "Energy," "Budget [crossed out] Cuts," "Tax" and "Lift American spirits."

The fact that she wrote these points suggests that Q&A session with Judson Phillips was staged but that's not really the story here. The takeaway is that those notes were in response to the question on her three top legislative priorities.

Now think about that. It's not exactly a hard question and it's not like she was being asked policy specifics or hard facts. She was asked generalities.

How hard is that? Well for Sarah Palin anything beyond reciting talking points is an near impossibility. It's obvious that she can't think on her feet. Who among us couldn't name three, five or even ten legislative priorities without batting an eyelash? And note that the last one - "Lift American spirits" - isn't exactly something that can be achieved by an act of Congress.

Nor is this the first time that we have the moose in headlights Palin. She was stumped by Glenn Beck's question on who was her favorite Founding Father. It's not that she couldn't name one but can she  differentiate between them? Her answer implied that she could not. Now consider that former Colorado Congressman Tommy Tancredo bemoaned the lack of civic literacy among Americans in his speech. Is there any public figure who is as historically challenged as Sarah Palin?

Nor is it the distant past that befuddles Sarah Palin. Even the more recent leaves her gasping for answers.  Think back to Charlie Gibson's interview when she was asked about the Bush Doctrine. Her response was "Which one Charlie?" That suggests a complete detachment from the foreign policy debate that stemmed from the Bush Administration's decision to pursue a policy of preemptive war. In last night's speech, the Palin Doctrine of national security was "we win, you lose" with you being America's enemies. Gee whiz, now why didn't we think of that before?

I hate to be so blunt and publicly disparage an individual but she is little more than a talking chimpanzee incapable of critical thinking who wouldn't make it out of the Republican primary which is frankly a pity because if she were to win the Republican nomination it would doom the GOP to the worst electoral landslide in history.

Hey, let's give her credit. At least this time she got the Vice President's name right. During the Vice Presidential debate in 2008, she kept on calling him Senator O'Biden.

Now that's progress!