Another hilarious bit from the Embarracuda, via Think Progress, wherein she says that the vice president is "in charge of the U.S. Senate":
For the record, the source of her confusion is this. The Constitution calls the vice-president the presiding officer of the Senate, but the veep casts a vote there only in the event of a tie. Other than that, the vice-president actually presides over the Senate only on ceremonial occasions.
But here's the thing. As ThinkProg notes, she made the same mistake back in July. One of two explanations is possible: 1, she's a real ignoramus who can't retain a piece of rather relevant information for three months, or 2, the McCain people haven't really bothered to try very hard to make sure she learns this stuff.
I choose 2. And along these lines, Lauren Wessler, my colleague her in the Washington office, makes a very perceptive point. Could it be that Palin is the victim of some kind of internal subterfuge within the McCain campaign? That is to say, assuming her ticket loses, she's clearly preparing to run for president in 2012 and would have a lot of support. It's not a stretch to think that some people in the McCain camp, horrified that he picked her, are also thinking ahead to 2012 -- political operatives, after all, tend to go from campaign to campaign -- and they don't want her anywhere near their party's nomination. So, convinced now that this election is probably lost, they're letting her make an ass of herself in order to further discredit her for the future.
