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

[KarelS]

Running Sarah as a "viable" candidate in 2012 would be funniest thing since Barnum & Baily featured a two-headed midget sitting on the lap of the world's tallest man (sorry all of you little people out there, but I just couldn't resist that comparison).
I mean, couldn't you just imagine what one of her three interviews on national TV would be like . . .

Tell me, Ms. Palin, what do you think of the current crisis in Russia over border disputes with all of its former satellite countries? What's that? You're not interested in discussing the Russian space program and that you'd rather talk about Obama's failure to give free medical care to Bill Gates?
Or . . .
Ms. Palin, as you know, your political supporters throughout the nation are hoping that your policies as president will bring on The Rapture. Do you intend to honor their wishes as President of the United States? What's that? No. The Rapture is not some kind of exotic perfume. Huh? You'd rather talk about your favorite ice cream, polar bear-flavored Melting Artic Ice? I see . . .

As you can see, the possibilies for kicking around Sub-Standard Sarah for a year or two would be limitless . . . and so much fun!

[MerhabaAbi]

...border disputes with all of its former satellite countries? What's that? You're not interested in discussing the Russian space program ...

Karel,

That was brilliant! I wish you could've given that line to Tina Fay back when Sarah palin was relevent.

Respectfully,
Mike

[MYSTERIOUS]

I just absolutely love stuff like this. You reap what you sew. When the Republicans were in control, they completely disrespected (and ignored) everyone else. For instance: "If you are not with us, you are against us...." I'd like to believe that we can agree to disagree, but still move forward together. They chose to leave others out. Divisive. That is why things are like they are. Karma.

[AlligatorShuz]

How dumb is a person who went to six colleges and supposely graduated from an accredited institution. This is truly sad that the McCain and GOP didn't know that this woman was illiterate in geography. Sarah Palin thought THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA WAS A SERIES OF COUNTRIES now this is just sad. I am glad the American people knew this woman was a fraud...

[ccpostman]

What is sad is she is still governor of Alaska!

[ebanks84]

So the true e.v.i.l "w^ itch of the north" behind that incessant smile has finally been exposed. I knew from the beginning she was a "fake" and a nasty one at that. She should have said she was a "b!t ch in lipstick" because that would have been more befitting. Can you imagine this thing yelling, screaming, and ranting in the White House?

Oh, my goodness, all is well in America today. I'm so glad we fought to get sanity back in our country.

[Bibbo]

e3banks84
You "my friend" are exactly the type of person that scares me. I'm conservative and I'm a little afraid that an America under Obama has no place for conservatives who hold the beliefs that are found in people who attend church at least once per week. Yes I know you people talk about tollerence but I dont believe it. The attacks on Palin are a case in point of how your side is tollerent. She is a pro-life conservative female and thats what Sally Quinn dispised so much that she went on Bill O'Rielly in an attempt to destroy Sarah. I'm not a violent person but for the first time in my life I now want a personal firearm for self protection.

[Borgman]

Just wondering. Did she graduate from high school?

[AlligatorShuz]

Yes she graduated from high school and went to six accredited U.S. institutions of higher learning and she got a degree in communication.

[mbrook4949]

And she has the curiosity of a rock.

[Amalek]

She did in Alaska.

Alaska just elected a felon to the senate, and a representative who will soon be a felon. These people are not the pride of the American gene pool.

[beck]

Now it seems that the word is getting out that McCain has been making jokes about Palin. One is:
Question: What's the difference between Sarah Palin and a pit bull?"
Answer: "The friendly canine eventually let's go."

[IgIzBliss]

Really. We need to email the press a ton about not doing their jobs. They should have pressed harder to interview her, to see what she knew. It's like the run up to Iraq all over again, with the Media failing to ask hard questions. We should really make a stink about this, because she could've been moving her 5 kids into the White House in 80 days, and they would have tutored her up on the down low.

Really scary. What's even scarier is that the reporters covering her KNEW about this stuff, but because they had book deals in the works, they SAT on it. Some free press we've got. Those sycophatic suck ups were hedging their bets, in case Mac gained the White House. Didn't want to lose their access privileges, like David Gregory dancin' on stage with Karl Rove!

this is a national crisis of the press, I think. It needs a TON more light.

[ebanks84]

I absolutely agree. The MEDIA should be ashamed of themselves to throw Americans to the wolves like that. She could have made all our lives he-ll on earth and she would have actually destroyed the media also. That's why I'm so pissed at them for protecting her when their careers were in as much danger as the rest of America. All of them could have been out of jobs forever and they are too stupid to see that.

MEDIA when are you going to wake up to real life which can destroy each one of you also. You are not protected from a b!t ch in the White House and I don't know why you thought you would be.

[luziannagirl]

Yeah. Though I'm no Palin fan, it is very unseemly for the most complicit of media to now pile on her as a flock of vultures to juicy roadkill.

Where were they when America needed to know stuff like this BEFORE voting Tuesday?

How about 2004?

2000?

I'm ready to take back my friggin' airwaves, any shred of commonwealth support, and let these partisan propagandist jokers fend for themselves completely on their own time & money, in true AynRandian fashion.

[kathy001]

You hit the nail on the head. The shroud of secrecy surrounding Palin was a huge red flag to many of us that there was something wrong with her. But the fact that the media didn't talk about it and kept many things secret left us all in the dark about her. What happened to journalistic integrity? When did it die?

[AZTrueBlue]

Oh come on, why is this different from Bush? Palin is being trashed to elevated McCain. Mac picked her for her "Hillary Appeal", in other words, the criteria was having a uterus. Being clueless is something that should be blamed on MacCain. McCain the Shame, McCain to Blame!
Get rid of him too!

[BlueZoo]

Say what you will about Palin but it really all comes down to John McCain's severe lack of judgment in selecting this woman as his running mate. If this is how he would have chosen his cabinet, then we are lucky indeed to have President-Elect Obama today!

[tjslo]

True that, Blue.

McCain was the 'executive' and 'decider in cheif' of his campaign. The final decision for vp was his and his alone. The fact that he chose Sarah without knowing anything about her says more about him than anything.

The fact is that the McCain campaing was Never about McCain - it was either about parading out Sarah as the 'woman'; the constant drama (I have suspended my campaign); always negative about Obama, then finally about JTP. McCain never really broke out what his plan was, other than he 'had a plan'.

And now he is trying to blame her for the loss.

[luziannagirl]

Right-wing O'Rielly is wrong again.

It is simply not possible to in a couple of quick briefings, impart to a person the foundation knowledge provided by a lifetime of learning.

Knowing that Africa is a continent comprised of a myriad of countries is just a basic foundation upon which so much other knowledge and conclusions about the world has to hang, like leaves and fruit on a tree. And as it takes time to grow a tree, it takes time for that sort of layered knowledge to grow and mature and be nurtured. It takes a decade or more of growing for some trees to flower and fruit, and it takes at least that long to grow a strong base of knowledge.

At what point in their lives did many HuffPo readers know many African countries' current and former names and their geographic placement?

What about knowing some aspects of those countries' histories, many of their main attributes and challenges?Their natural resources, and conservation challenges?

By high school? Fifth grade? Earlier? Right.

And we know it mainly because we found it interesting.

Sara Palin appears to have no knowledge framework upon which to build, and she appears to have little intrinsic curiosity about the world. She's already over 30, and her brain will start operating differently now?

Don't think so. That's why it would have been impossible to have briefed her adequately prior to interviews.

[IgIzBliss]

boy was Colin Powell right on the money! Redemption for him might not be far away. If he were appointed Secy of Defense, he'd extricate us from Iraq appropriately (even though he has been vilified by the far, far left). He is still a military genius of a general. Period. O might want the Powell doctrine workin' on his Cabinet. For my money, he's the man.

[boing007]

I really don't think her brain operates in such a way that she can learn anything. She shut it down years ago when she sold it to the Wasilla Assembly of God, the AIP, Pastor Muthee, Mary Glazier, etc.

[LJinFla]

That's a mouthful, and you are correct. I myself learned this as a child watching Tarzan for crying out loud.

For Palin not to know this, says so much about her and her philosophy.

It is truly frightening that republicans want her to run as president, to be the leader of America. It's frightening because you can teach ignorant people, but stupid is stubborn and does not want to learn, stupid fears knowledge and knows that knowledge shines a light that all can see.

Palin is afraid of the light, she is not ignorant and does not need "tutoring" she is stupid and shuns knowledge.

[MarryAnn]

Really? She's a self-proclaimed voracious reader.

[jeamar]

My son is in the third grade in a rural county in Virginia (ie. the "Real" Virginia?!?) and his class is learning about the different countries in Africa right now. I doubt Sarah Palin would be able to pass the third grade SOL (Standards of Learning) test here in Virginia. Maybe she can make a guest appearance on Jeff Foxworthy's show and announce to the world that she is "Not Smarter Than A Fifth-Grader"

Scary to think that the media knew about all of this but agreed to keep it under wraps until now. Scary, but not surprising. So much for the "Liberal" media. They should take Amy Poehlers advice and "Grow a Pair".

[tatianalensky]

as long as there are space guerillas like O Reilley defending her, she will be back.
Unbelieveable, but true.

[DuPageDem]

The real news here is that Faux Noise knows Africa is a continent. Must have decided to start looking things up, post election day.

[spankythelovechinchilla]

To all those who want Sarah in 2012 -- be careful what you wish for. Yes, the O-man would run circles around her intellectually, but this could backfire. Americans love the underdog, hate the "smart kid," don't see the need to study history or geography anyway and, if the economy is back on track by then, might want a President who isn't smarter than they are. We could be back to "who'd you rather have a beer with" -- the guy who can discuss the foreign policy of Frederick the Great or the chick who can field dress a moose?

[ebanks84]

Yeah, because you just might get it!

[kiki1966]

Sad, but true.

I would rather just not hear from her again. Ever.

[kathy001]

I think that, in the next 2 to 3 years, there's going to be a big change in the way the majority of Americans make their choices for President and for any other political office. I think Obama's incredible intelligence is going to have a very big, very positive effect on the way the country runs and the way the country thinks. It's going to take time and it won't be some big epiphany - it'll just happen gradually as people see the intelligence of his policies and as they see how well those policies work for their lives. They'll want more people that work and think like Obama to run their government.

[Veneita]

Don't be surprised. Most of my students don't know that either. And by the way, there's this public figure as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII

[Amalek]

Stop homeschooling your kids and send them to public school.

[mamala4]

That is why our public school system needs a major overhaulin­g....anoth­er Obama issue that he addressed during the campagin...

[soonerdem]

My dream ticket for 2012 woud be Sarah Palin and Dan Quayle.If their brain power represented wattage they couldn't light a flashlight bulb.

[truthsforsaken]

No No... Palin - Bachman 2012

[ladybug7]

Palin /Coulter

[LemonMeringue]

Palin/Hasselback - keep the white Republican men off center. They have no taste.

[Amalek]

McCain/Palin II

Keep doing reruns until McCain gets to 100.

[boing007]

How do you get Sarah's eyes to light up? Shine a flashlight in her ear.

Courtesy of PatBurns a couple of weeks ago.