Thursday, Alaska Gov. and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin granted her first interview since joining the McCain ticket two weeks ago. She provided articulate answers to Charlie Gibson’s questions, with one notable exception: She was not able to answer a question regarding the “Bush Doctrine” because she did not know the policy by that name. Gibson clarified that the Bush doctrine was “anticipatory self-defense,” and Palin was unequivocal: “[I]f there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.”

In response, what we do know about Palin is that she is on a fast-track learning curve, as is the case with any candidate who has not been drinking water from the Potomac for decades. Gov. Palin is a very bright understudy for an elder statesman like John McCain. More importantly, we know that Palin, like McCain, will listen to our commanders in the field. On the other hand, Obama and Biden have demonstrated that their approach would be to micromanage warfronts as if they are the field officers.

The Left is so anxious to discredit Sarah Palin that the day after her selection by John McCain, an army of reporters and other mischief makers in Alaska tried to overturn every rock and pebble looking for something—anything—that would bring her down. The best they have come up with so far is a “scandal” over the firing of Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. The story line is that Monegan was fired because he refused to fire State Trooper Michael Wooten, who had been through an ugly divorce with Palin’s sister. As was the case with the eight U.S. attorneys fired by President George W. Bush in 2006, Monegan served at the governor’s pleasure and could be fired for any reason, and, as it turns out, he disagreed with Palin over budget issues as well as strategies for using state troopers. Not only that, but Monegan had been fired from his last job running the police force in Anchorage by the Democrat mayor, Mark Begich, who is now challenging Republican Ted Stevens for his Senate seat.

Aside from the fact that there is no proof that the firing was illegitimate, in the words of The Wall Street Journal’s Brendan Miniter, “Trooper Wooten’s record would hardly seem to make him ideal state trooper material.” Miniter continued, “He’s a four-time divorcee whom Mrs. Palin says threatened to kill her father. He admitted to using a Taser on his 11-year-old stepson and to killing a moose out of season. He’s also had to fight allegations of drunk driving [in his patrol car] and other infractions.” So Democrats are in the position of arguing that Wooten should remain a trooper simply because he divorced Palin’s sister and Monegan should keep his job despite possible insubordination. That’s hardly a winning case.

At a campaign rally this week, Barack Obama took a shot at Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, saying, “You can put, uh, lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig.” Palin, memorably, had said in her GOP convention speech, “You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.” Obama’s comment—a worn-out political line if ever there was one—was clearly a rebuttal. And he wasn’t finished, attacking McCain, again in his usual eloquent manner, “You know, you can, uh, you know, you can, uh, you—you—you can wrap an old fish in a—in a piece of paper and call it change, it’s still gonna stink.” Is this guy ready for Comedy Central or what?

The next step was for the Obama camp to decry the “phony outrage” from Republicans. The funny thing is,the “outrage” appears to be mostly in his imagination. Few on the Right were actually outraged, but rather amused to see the Democrat nominee stick his foot in his mouth while being reduced to attacking his opponent’s running mate. I suppose that happens when one’s poll numbers are tanking.

Oprah Winfrey, the queen of daytime television, has announced that she would love to have Sarah Palin on her show... after the election. Winfrey, whose declared support for Barack Obama may have netted him a million primary votes (but lost her more than a million viewers), claims that she does not want to use her show as a platform for presidential candidates. She also claims that Obama’s numerous appearances on her show were prior to his candidacy, but then again we all know that since Obama’s short tenure in the Senate began he has been little more than a candidate for president.

It’s fascinating that Winfrey, who symbolizes to some the cultural epitome of female empowerment, has chosen to snub both of the female White House candidates this year in favor of a man. It will be interesting to see just how many more members of her audience Winfrey alienates with this latest move.

Also of note, Us Weekly magazine received between 3,000 and 10,000 subscription cancellations after its despicable “Babies, Lies, and Scandal” cover story of Sarah Palin last week. Although this estimate represents a wide range, Us naturally won’t comment on it.