Joseph Isadore Lieberman prepping Sarah Louise Palin on foreign policy

By GottaLaff

See Sarah Cram. Cram, Sarah, Cram!

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is among several national security experts helping brief Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on foreign policy issues as she prepares to hit the campaign trail while cramming for a debate with her Democratic opponent, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), in less than a month, according to officials from Sen. John McCain's campaign.

Lieberman, who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee but is now an independent, has helped introduce Palin to officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby. [...]

But privately, some in the GOP foreign policy establishment voiced concern that McCain has turned to a relative neophyte on national security matters at a time when the United States is facing challenges ranging from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea.

"Her speech wowed the pro-family and anti-tax groups, but can she handle complex foreign and defense policy decision-making?" asked one leading conservative foreign policy thinker who is concerned. He spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to be publicly critical of the pick.

Democrats offered a more scathing assessment. "As much as Joe Lieberman might be trying to give her an information dump on what he knows, he can't infuse her with the expertise that she's sorely lacking," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) said in an interview, adding that vice presidents often serve as foreign emissaries during international crises. "The problem with her lack of foreign policy experience is she's running with a man who's 72 years old and, God forbid something happens to him, it's frightening because this is someone who would have the tiller of America's foreign policy."

Noting that the vice president sits on the National Security Council, Wasserman Schultz added: "What advice could Palin possibly offer McCain? There might as well be an empty seat at the table." [...]

The McCain campaign has tapped Stephen E. Biegun, the national security adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), to be Palin's principal foreign policy adviser. Campaign aides said Biegun, who is currently a vice president of Ford, is not serving as Palin's tutor but is merely briefing her on details of key issues in a way that is similar to what other candidates are receiving.

"The attempt is not to turn her into a professor of foreign policy but trying to get her up to speed on all the nuances of foreign policy issues that are hot and John's positions," said John Lehman, a former Navy secretary who is one of McCain's advisers. "She's surprised everybody at how current she is on Middle East issues. She doesn't pretend to be a foreign policy expert, but neither is she somebody who hasn't thought about the issues."

What all this says to me is, she is woefully inexperienced, she memorizes lines well, she knows where Israel and Iran are, and she'll be able to parrot the McCain team's (that includes you J Iz!) talking points as well as you or I could ... enhanced by lots of personality and snotty little quips.