Sarah Palin's Cheat Sheet

Sarah Palin gave a speech to the Tea Party Convention on Saturday night, followed by a question and answer segment after her speech. During the prepared speech, Sarah used note cards and mocked Barack Obama for using teleprompters. During the question and answer segment, Sarah answered pre-screened questions from audience members. At one point in her first answer, Associated Press reporters took pictures of Sarah staring down at her left hand. On her left palm, the words "lift the American spirit, budget cuts, taxes, and energy" were clearly visible in black magic marker ink. Sarah Palin had to write key word answers on her hand in order to respond to pre-screened questions. To clarify, Sarah couldn't remember the answers to questions that had been pre-approved for her and that she had read in advance before the speech, so she wrote out a cheat sheet on her hand. Who gave Sarah this profoundly stupid advice? Was she consulting with 7th graders that had flunked a spelling test? Did she really not see the irony of complaining that Barack Obama uses teleprompters to give speeches (like every other President since Dwight Eisenhower) while writing answers in magic marker on her hand? Would a chocolate Labrador outscore Sarah Palin on a standardized test? These are all reasonable questions.