Palin Didn't Know Africa Is A Continent, Says Fox News Reporter (VIDEO)

Now that the 2008 election is over, reporters are spilling all the juciest, and previously off the record, gossip from the campaign trail. Much of it is about the infighting between Palin and McCain's staff, as Newsweek's treasure trove of post-election gossip reveals.

However, perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself."

Palin was apparently a nightmare for her campaign staff to deal with. She refused preparation help for her interview with Katie Couric and then blamed her staff, specifically Nicole Wallace, when the interview was panned as a disaster. After the Couric interview, Fox News reported, Palin turned nasty with her staff and began to accuse them of mishandling her. Palin would view press clippings of herself in the morning and throw "tantrums" over the negative coverage. There were times when she would be so nasty and angry that her staff was reduced to tears.

Watch the clip from The O'Reilly Factor below.

Cameron also reports, along with CNN, that McCain's senior foreign policy adviser was fired a week before the election for attacking, in defense of Sarah Palin, various McCain aides who he felt were undermining Palin.

Comments

[kwijibo]

03:47 AM on 11/14/2008

We now know that this "story" was a hoax. If you believed it, you've been had, hook, line, sinker.

The only reason you believed it was true is because you wanted it to be true.

This is not an I Told You So, it's just a reminder that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. It's also a reminder that just because a story turns viral, it doesn't somehow gain in veracity.

[Souse]

09:15 PM on 11/12/2008

The 2008 election offers incontrovertible proof that Ms. palin cannot see the White House from Alaska.

[Souse]

09:09 PM on 11/12/2008

The 2008 ection offers incontrovertible proof that Ms. palin cannot see the White House from Alaska.

[sxg]

05:01 PM on 11/12/2008

Hhmm,

May be she also thinks that ALASKA is a country. Didn't her husband and her have ties with the AIP?

[xxandichanxx]

02:27 PM on 11/11/2008

"She can be tutored." Uh, excuse me if I seem a little "elitist" here, but I DEFINITELY didn't want a VP that NEEDED to be tutored in things that my fifteen-year-old brother already knows, especially one that supposedly lashed out at her staff like some kind of bridezilla who was told she couldn't spring for roses and had to go with peonies instead. Good grief.

[MyWaterpark]

08:53 PM on 11/09/2008

This was mentioned before in this thread, but I had to chime in: “Quotable: Sarah Palin's Top 10 Bloopers” is hilarious. If you want a good laugh, go to http://politicalnewsconnection.com/ and check it out.

[HelplessDesk]

12:46 PM on 11/17/2008

You are so right! I needed a good laugh after a long morning and this really brightened my day.

[gnomerroamer]

05:52 PM on 11/09/2008

Oh, good God. Someone please put a noose around this expired theatre of unconstrained banality. Palin's strong reactions only reaffirm the possibility of the fundamental truth of the claims about her, so why does she perpetuate her own scapegoating? It's beyond all comprehension. Please make it stop. It's a story for the sake of a story for the sake of mere boredom. Sigh...

[Scholar in Training]

05:16 PM on 11/09/2008

Wow, she really is a nitwit, isn't she? The truth is really coming out now.. http://www.acouplethings.com/blog/2008/11/the-truth-starts-to-come-out-about-palin/

[ceasespin]

04:48 PM on 11/09/2008

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[Habitant]

01:07 PM on 11/09/2008

Seconding stimaque. Also, Indymaggie, there is no reason to capitalize continent or people. Those who live in glass houses...

[stimaque]

12:17 PM on 11/09/2008

To indymaggie:

Don't act like you are an authority on grammar. The first error by xjerseyx was a typo and the other error is common to a lot people who don't pay too much attention to grammar. To err is human.

[indymaggie]

11:54 AM on 11/09/2008

To xjerseyx:

You shouldn't talk about Palin's intelligence. You need grammar lessons. Your rant which read: shes a governor she should of know that africa is a continent, she tried to con her way into been the vp, she underestimated the american people

should have been written thusly:

She's a governor. She should have known that Africa is a Continent. She tried to con her way into being the VP. She underestimated the American People.

[xjerseyx]

11:30 AM on 11/09/2008

shes a governor she should of know that africa is a continent, she tried to con her way into been the vp, she underestimated the american people

[indymaggie]

11:26 AM on 11/09/2008

Gossip and hate. That's all this blog is about. Fox was reporting rumors. No one knows if it's true or not. Wonder how many readers of this blog (who would never admit it) knew Africa is a continent. A lot, I bet. They certainly didn't learn it in schools where they barely teach geography anymore.

[Snagsby]

02:52 PM on 11/09/2008

"Gossip and hate", ay? Sounds more like Palin's campaign... what goes around, comes around. C'est la vie!

[stimaque]

11:22 AM on 11/09/2008

The reality on the ground is that many Americans think Africa is a single country instead of a continent with 50 plus countries. Palin never dreamt of being in such a position so she never bothered to learn about the outside world just like many Americans. Now will they give her a break?