The Specific Danger of Sarah Palin

Bradley Burston, as usual, gets to the heart of the Sarah Palin problem. Israel provides a useful contrast, he writes. It is impossible to imagine the Israeli public supporting a politician for a top leadership position who quite obviously, and without apology, knows virtually nothing about defense or foreign policy:

Israel is far from a model of good government, wise policymaking and exemplary leaders. But here, at least, voters and the politicians... relate to politics not as if it were a spectacular bowl game or a reality show, but for what politics really is, in America and Israel both: a matter of life and death.

As Burston suggests, it's almost enough to restore your faith in Israeli politics. Almost.