Palm reading: Nashville, we have a problem

The speech by the former Mayor of Wasilla in Nashville Saturday night was everything I'd predicted. She demonstrated (again) that she's an insubstantial neo-con Barbie and, by putting her on the speakers' platform, the Tea Party showed itself for what it is.

But wait, there's more.


As she gestured during her address, sharp observers couldn't help noticing something on the palm of her left hand -- crib notes, for cryin' out loud, like those scribbled by high-school sophomores who can't quite remember state capitals or the formula for proportions.

Because she was spewing prepared [sic] remarks, she didn't need the cheat-sheet for her speech. But during the Q&A that followed -- a scripted Q&A, no less -- the cameras caught her studying her palm for talking points, with all the subtlety of a 12-year-old trying out Mom's high heels for the first time.

Oh, and what was it that the Queen of Denali needed help with?

Energy
Budget cuts
Tax
Lift American Spirits

This from the woman who'd just chided Pres. Obama for relying on a TelePrompTer.

Despite everything that this intellectual black hole showed us before the election, she got a frightening number of votes from people who judged her qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

And now this.

Scariest of all is knowing that millions of numb-from-the-neck-up Americans still idolize her.