Fox News: Palin Thought Africa Was a Country, Not a Continent

Carl Cameron talking to Bill O'Reilly just now on Fox reveals that McCain aides were truly "shocked" at the "gaps in knowledge" Sarah Palin displayed once they were stuck with her.  He said that, in the most startling shortcoming, she actually didn't "understand that  Africa was not just a country, but a continent."  This led, among other things, to her asking how, in that case,  South Africa could be a separate country.  She also could not name all of the countries in North America, he said, not even the NAFTA partners.  And she did not know many of the basics of civics and local/state/national duties.   O'Reilly pooh-poohed all of this.

But the "gaps" explain, Cameron said, why tensions erupted as McCain aides were truly alarmed by all of this --  yet Palin wanted to speak out freely.  So in the closing week or so, they reveal, she took to yelling and screaming at aides over her press clippings, even "tossing papers" around.  She was so out of touch she actually refused coaching before the Katie Couric interviews, then yelled at staffers for not preparing her better or warning her off the interviews.  "Temper tantrums," etc.  Then there were the clothes bills and greeting McCain aides in a bath towel....UPDATE: Anchorage Daily News asks her to confirm above, she refuses to discuss it at all.

Below is an earlier Cameron interview on Fox today.   Shep Smith at least asked, how could they name someone as veep who didn't know that Africa is a continent? -- Greg Mitchell

Comments

[Bill Young]

Whew, what a close call! You media types, especially Faux News, nearly put Another Idiot into the White House and I mean John McCain! His choice of Palin is the proof!

[William Trent]

Palin's behavior is not surprising -- what can you expect from a Trailer Park Queen? If she had become VP it would have been like a 4-year
long episode of "Jerry Springer".

[RAYMOND B]

YES,SARAH PALIN MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT AFRICA AND ALL THOSE OTHER COUNTRIES ,WELL, THAT ARE ON THOSE CONFUSING MAPS;HOWEVER, WELL,OK, SHE REALLY CAN'T SEE RUSSIA FROM HER HOUSE EITHER. SHE RAN ON CHANGE AND LOST BECAUSE THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO CHANGE. WE ALREADY HAD A DUMMY IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

[Deborah Williams]

Shock, horror....an American who doesn't know that Africa is a continent. Please, don't tell me you're surprised.

[Carol Burns]

McCain had plenty of time to make his choice of running mate while Obama was battling it out with Clinton, so it's obvious that he was waiting to see which way the wind blew before he threw his "hail Mary" in the selection of Palin. This betrays the shallowness and superficiality of the McCain campaign and a lack of respect for the intelligence of the voters. "All style and no substance" sums up not only Palin but the total bill of goods McCain tried to sell to the voters. "Country First", indeed. McCain should have stayed out of the spotlight; he couldn't take the heat. Palin? Well, "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

[Rich Stout]

Makes Ted Stevens look appealing.

[Karen]

Go back and look at some of Joe Biden's
comments and God forbid he could be the President.

[Green]

McCain lost to a superior candidate and he ran a negative campaign regardless of his initial claim that he would not do that. To the voters, that alone exposed him as a hypocrite.

In the words of President Gerald Ford succeeding the corrupt Nixon presidency: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over."

[dr. luba]

"Go back and look at some of Joe Biden's
comments and God forbid he could be the President."

Really? Which ones? Like correctly referring to Bosnian muslims as Bosniaks? The press had a field day with that until they realized HE was right.

[maddy]

What gets me is the very beginning of this clip.

FOX News reporter:"I wish I could have reported it earlier, but all of it was put off the record until after the election"... what the hell does that mean?

You are a reporter. "Put off the record"??? That is yet another blatant example of Fox News heavy-handedly imposing its Republican agenda on its reporters.

We all know it, but still, it's startling when they are so lost in the fog of their own bias, that they don't even realize they are admitting it....

[Bridget]

It does not surprise me that a number of Americans identified with Palin--she is on the same page as they are with knowing what is going on in the world. It is a shame that we now look for people who are like us to head up top offices in our government instead of the people we look up to any more. I am just glad that more of us picked the intelligent, truly compassionate person to lead us for the next 4 years, Barack Obama.

[Cole...]

Seems to me that george w also stated that Africa was a nation. It appears that the GOPhers have a litmus test and a need for 'stupidity' for access to high office.

[R Richter]

She probably heard about a "frican" continent and thought it was a naughty word. And if she ever goes there she may find, as many do, that she is incontinent.

[JoshuasGrandma]

Some would attribute these examples of ignorance to our poor education system - but I think it is more likely to stem from deficiencies in the person's brain development - they don't have the attention span to focus for any length of time - or comprehend complex concepts. We are lucky that the majority have finally recognized that we need leaders who are intelligent, articulate and can speak in complete sentences!

[giddy]

really too bad for McCain, he showed class on tuesday evening.. but thank god he didn't get this ignorant person elected to VP! it could have been terrible.

[giddy]

really too bad for McCain, he showed class on tuesday evening.. but thank god he didn't get this ignorant person elected to VP! it could have been terrible.

[PuhLeeze]

These comments came from a couple of people within the campaign who were bitter about her choice, are still bitter, and are trying to smear her. You can't seriously believe this stuff, can you?

[Tina]

Maddy, it is appalling, but it wasn't just Fox. A Newsweek reporter was just on MSNBC saying basically the same things about the infighting, etc., and how she spent even more than $150,000. That reporter also said it was off-the-record until after the election.

This makes no sense to me, that they would all collude to hide the severity of the situation from us. She was almost *our* VP, but they opted not to tell us all of her failings until after the election?

It seems the politicians and the journalists have forgotten that their role is to serve the *public's best* interest, not their own.

[M@]

"You are a reporter. "Put off the record"??? That is yet another blatant example of Fox News heavy-handedly imposing its Republican agenda on its reporters."

Actually, it was Newsweek magazine, I believe, that was granted full access to the campaigns, on the condition that they not publish until after the election.

[Stenotrophomonas]

She probably thinks America is a country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04f2UJOPJfQ

[Luke]

Off the record is reasonable. If you're a journalist, the last thing you want is to anger your sources.

[Nancy Thompson]

Give me a break!!! Drop it. America chose a president-elect. Why are we spending our time (and intelligence?) bemoaning what WAS? Let's move on and get behind our new president...even if we voted for the opposition.

[laila]

Sarah is dumber than a sack of hair.
I want to thank you, my fellow Americans, for not sending this incompetent, uneducated, hillbilly no-nothing to the White House.

[Carl]

Hmm... not a single name, not a single direct quote, not a shred of documentation. Sounds more like snarky little teenagers bad-mouthing the popular kid behind her back than an actual news story to me. Have a little skepticism, will you? Try not to be so gullible.

[E. Joones]

Sarah was the "token" woman who McCain thought would appeal to all the woman who backed Hillary. Sorry, but the women in American are not that stupid. She certainly isn't just like any of us except the know nothing Barbie Dolls. Sha has a Net Worth of over a Million Dollars and Most of the women I know struggle just to keep a roof over their head and food on the table to feed their family.

Yes let's put her far, far, far out of the picture and never hear from her again.

We have a great new President Elect, let's all get behind him and help him change this country. He can't do it all alone and he is counting on everyone of us (Democrat and Republican) to help make the changes.

Repbulicans and Democrats need to stop George Bush and his lame duck bunch enacts laws against nature and the environment that will destroy the future of our environment and the animals. STOP BUSH ABD GUS CRONIES NOW!