Ilan Goldberg has an important post on Sarah Palin’s lack of understanding of a basic foreign policy term, “precondition.”  In short, Goldberg makes a convincing case that Palin doesn’t know what the word “precondition” means, as evidenced by her interview with Brian Williams this week.

Josh Schrei takes the Things Palin Doesn’t Know game a step further and writes a post about the perspective he’s gaining by being in Florence, Italy now  while watching the election. Schrei starts his post with a note*:

authors note: for the purposes of this blog post, I have marked with an asterisk any fact or reference that I believe — out of pure conjecture — that Sarah Palin does not know or would not get.

He then begins:

Im sitting in Florence, Italy as I write this. I came over to Zurich to visit my Mom for her 60th birthday, and as Ive never been to Italy and with everything being so close here in Europe, I decided to take a couple of days to visit this beautiful country that Ive wanted to see for so many years.

Florence is an amazing place. According to UNESCO*, this one city contains roughly a third of the important art in the entire world* including Michelangelos David*, Botticellis Venus*, and countless other masterpieces.  Florence, for many years was the center of Western civilization*. The birthplace of the Renaissance,* it is where — literally and figuratively, human beings gained… perspective*.

Literally because this is where Brunelleschi* — in addition to constructing what must be the most beautiful building in the world* — with the help of his mathmetician pals* built on the work of his predecessors and completed the transormation of human figures from flat two dimensional objects whose only purpose in art — and life — was to serve God in submission into living, breathing, three dimensional beings. Figuratively because after centuries of living in fear and darkness and illiteracy, this is where we entered an era in which thoughts, intellect, individuality, artistic expression, and the human being as a whole became paramount.

Its interesting to be here in the cradle of human enlightenment in the midst of our current debacle of a Presidential race, because, to be frank,  it really puts things in… perspective.

As for my perspective, this is an effective way of bringing out the underlying anti-intellectualism in Sarah Palin’s life. We’ve repeatedly seen a lack of intellectual curiousity and outright dismissiveness of those who do show interest in the wide world from Palin. From Iraq, to foreign policy, to reading the news, Palin just won’t be bothered to know what’s going on in the world around her. Schrei’s speculation about how deep Palin’s ignorance goes provides real insight into what her world might be like.

Andrew Sullivan says Palin is “burying [conservatism] as an intellectual tradition.” He notes:

Here’s one way to look at the question [of How Anti-Intellectual Is Palin?]: how has Palin brought up her own kids? Her eldest son is a high-school drop-out. Her eldest daughter has had, so far as one can tell from press reports, very uneven attendance in high school, and no plans for college. Her other daughters seem to spend a lot of time traveling the country with their mom at tax-payers’ expense. I’ve seen them at several rallies with the Palins this fall. Are they not in school?

The least one can say is that none of her children seems to have been brought up thinking that college is something to aspire to. And her new son-in-law just dropped out of high school as well.

Am I piling on in this post? Sure, because Palin’s brand of willful ignorance as is dangerous a force as any other that exists in the United States today. Willful ignorance, anti-intellectualism, and the tribalization of these forces against those who seek betterment through education are the shortest paths to the decline of the US as a great nation. If we want a strong economy, we need education. If we want to be a respect player in the global community, we need to understand foreign cultures. If we want to be safe from terrorist threats, we need to understand the root causes that drive people to hate us and discover new ways to stop them from being successful.

America is a diverse country and people here believe many different things, some of which are demonstrably wrong. I don’t have a problem with that. But there’s a big difference between teach people to open their eyes and learn about the world, whether they like what they see or not, and teaching ignorance and anti-intellectualism.  Sarah Palin represents a dangerous trend in American life. I’m glad to see the voting public is on the verge of rejecting it in an unprecedented scale.

*One thing to note, as Josh is writing on an Italian keyboard, punctuation isn’t perfect. I think it’s a technical hurdle, not an intimation of Palin’s typing accumen.

Sarah Palin’s vice presidential candidacy has not been kind to her in Alaska. While her pick assured John McCain of Alaska’s three electoral college votes (which Republicans haven’t lost since 1968), Palin’s time in the spotlight has not been kind in-state. She’s dropped about 20 points in the polls and while approval ratings in the 60s would be the envy of most governors, they represent a precipitous drop for Palin. Moreover, in the two-odd months that Palin has been McCain’s VP pick, Palin has experienced a much higher degree of vetting than she received both as a gubernatorial candidate and as governor. The focus of the national vetting has included Troopergate, Palin’s quasi-dictatorial tenure as Wasilla mayor, her misuse of government funds to pay for travel for her children and husband, her charging state taxpayers for time she spends in her own home, and the extra-legal role Todd Palin has played as his wife’s advisor.

Today we can add to this list an even greater understanding of how Sarah Palin billed Alaska taxpayers for non-state related travel by her daughters. The AP reports:

Governor Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and she later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old daughter Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls. …

Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters – Bristol, 14-year-old Willow, and 7-year-old Piper – by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor’s schedule. After she was picked by John McCain as his running mate and reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports. In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as “First Family attending” and “First Family invited” to explain the girls’ attendance. …

But some organizers of the events said they were surprised when the Palin children showed up uninvited, or said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend. Several other organizers said the children accompanied their mother and did not participate. [Emphasis added]

Vacations, luxury hotels, long flights, and uninvited children. Sarah Palin treated the Alaska treasury like a blank check for vacationing with her children. Worse, she initially hid disclosure of these expenses related to her children and only disclosed this outrageous expenditures when the national spotlight of the vice presidency was focused on Alaska following her pick.

Sarah Palin has not made many friends in Alaska politics since joining the McCain ticket. Stories like this one by the AP is certain to ensure that she continues to hemorrage support in Alaska. While the $150,000 in RNC-paid clothes will surely get more attention in the Lower 48, I don’t think many Alaskans will care too much. However $21,012 of AK money going straight to the vacation funds of Bristol, Willow, & Piper Palin…that will piss people off.

Palin will likely return to Alaska next month as a defeated vice presidential candidate. She will continue to face the aftermath of the Branchflower report, which showed multiple ethics and legal violations by her and her administration in the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The multiple stories of the Palin’s misusing public funds to live a lavish lifestyle, like the one out today by the AP, ensure that Palin will not be coming home to a friendly environment. Frankly, when you’re facing the consequences of a major ethics violation, everything else that comes out only increases your political vulnerability. As I said before, Palin isn’t making friends in Alaska as a vice presidential candidate. As a result she can expect that her enemies, both Republican and Democrat, will come calling when the next legislative session convenes.

I would be surprised if there is the political will to impeach Sarah Palin for Troopergate alone. As long as the various travel and reimbursement scandals continue to emerge, I won’t rule out impeachment on whole. Regardless of impeachment, Palin will have a very difficult time getting her agenda through the Alaska legislature. Her VP run has given a far greater statewide platform to her political opponents. I wouldn’t be shocked if Palin’s approval numbers continue to drop and she fails to win reelection in 2010.