George Will doesn't think Sarah Palin should have her finger on the button

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I don't much care for Mr. Will, and I don't even have any grudging respect anymore, but he's one of the few major conservative pundits who goes after Palin, and for that, I suppose, he deserves some credit -- yes, let's at least give him that.

Yesterday on ABC's This Week, Will asked the key question about Palin:

The threshold question, not usually asked, but it's in everyone's mind in a presidential election. "Should we give this person nuclear weapons?" And the answer [in Palin's case], answers itself.

I'd say the answer also answers itself for Michele Bachmann, if not necessarily so much for Romney and Pawlenty, Giuliani and Gingrich, Pataki and Huntsman, or even Paul.

I'd also say there any number of other such threshold questions not just for all presidential candidates but for the increasingly extremist Republicans and especially for Palin, questions such as:

-- "Should this person be allowed to nominate Supreme Court justices?"

-- "Should this person be given the keys to the country's national security apparatus?"

-- "Should this person be given control over U.S. foreign policy?"

-- "Should this person be the country's chief diplomat, the person advancing America's interests around the world, the person most responsible for America's reputation and credibility globally?"

-- "Should this person be put in charge, as much as any single person is in charge of, the economy?"

For Palin, it's clearly a NO on all questions. It doesn't take George Will to tell us that, but it's good that at least some Republicans understand what lurks in their midst. 

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Will is a frequent critic of Palin. For some background, let's head back to those heady days leading up to the '08 election: