I was just struck with this thought:  one aspect of the exchange between Palin and the Temple graduate student we might have overlooked is her very basic ignorance about geography. Much has been made of course of her statements about attacking Pakistan, but in a strange way it's worse: I think she thinks that one of the regions of Pakistan, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waziristan">Waziristan</a>, is itself a country.  Here is a transcription of the exchange (<a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/28/palincheesesteak.cnn">video here</a>):  

Grad student:  "How about the Pakistan situation? What are your thoughts about that?"
Palin:  "Pakistan?"
Grad:  "Like what's going on over there. Like Waziristan."
Palin: [unintelligible, probably no different with the background noise]
Grad:  "Waziristan is blowing up, you know."
Palin: "Yeah, it is. And the economy there is blowing up too."

This comes right before the 2:00 mark in the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/28/palincheesesteak.cnn">CNN video</a>.

Now, what I think is clear from this exchange is that she has no idea what Waziristan even is but thinks, perhaps because it ends in "stan," it is one of those countries, you know, over there. There are many things one could say about the current state of affairs in Waziristan, but among them would not be that the "economy is blowing up." This is a statement one makes about a nation-state, not about a region of a nation-state. It is also a mindless chit chat that could only come from someone who knows next to nothing about Pakistan, much less the world, and so relies on stock filler phrases. I even suspect that this is the very first time that she has heard the word "Waziristan" spoken out loud. No doubt in her debate prep they stay on the surface and speak only of "tribal regions."

Just adding to my own alarm.