All the hubbub about the Republican vice presidential nominee, while entertaining, may have greater significance that we cannot appreciate in the middle of a very competitive campaign. I am confident that no one, including John McCain and Sarah Palin herself, thinks the governor of Alaska is ready to be the leader of the free world, at least not in the way the public conceives of that job. She is, however, plenty capable of being the Republican president of the United States. None of her embarrassing gaffes to date have been any more frightening than those routinely committed by George W. Bush, and while his tenure has been a bad one, the significant failures (and successes) of the last eight years are primarily the result of his political philosophy, not his character or intellect.Click HERE to read the rest of the story.