Sarah Palin gets crucial endorsement from…. her parents

Question to readers -- who should be more embarrassed by these paragraphs -- CBS News, or the McCain campaign? A month ago, Sally and Chuck Heath's third child, Sarah Palin, a self-proclaimed hockey mom and wildly popular governor of Alaska, was thrust into the national spotlight when John McCain picked her to be his running mate. In the time since, Palin's readiness to be president in the event she and McCain are elected and McCain becomes incapacitated has been widely questioned by Democrats and many in the media. But, in an exclusive interview at their home in Wasilla, Alaska, the Heaths told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith their daughter is, indeed, ready to occupy the Oval Office at a moment's notice. When asked by Smith about rumblings that Palin isn't ready to be vice president and a heartbeat away from the presidency, Chuck replied, "She's ready to do anything she wants to be. And she perseveres, she works so hard, she learns so fast. Yeah, she -- I -- I don't worry about that at all. That's what I'll tell 'em. Yeah. ... You want some honesty, yeah -- yeah, not a typical politician, get her. Yeah. Yeah." Sally added, "She's got that ability to relate to people. She's diplomatic. She can get her point across." I'm starting to wonder if the McCain campaign's strategy for Palin is to make her campaign so embarrassing, so Office-level awkward, that she starts to collect pity votes.  On the other hand, I congratulate Palin for earning the whole-hearted support of her parents.  If McCain had been stupid enough to pick me as his VP pick, here's how the story would have read:  A month ago, the Drezner's first child, Daniel Drezner, a self-proclaimed "blogger father" and tepidly popular professor at Tufts University, was thrust into the national spotlight when John McCain picked him to be his running mate. In the time since, Drezner's readiness to be president do anything remotely managerial in the event he and McCain are elected and McCain becomes incapacitated has been widely questioned by Democrats and many in the media everyone with an IQ over 80. But, in an exclusive interview at their home in Connecticut, the Drezners told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith their son is, indeed, ready to occupy the Oval Office at a moment's notice -- at least, once he cleans up the bedroom he occupied as a child. When asked by Smith about rumblings that Drezner isn't ready to be vice president and a heartbeat away from the presidency, Daniel's father replied, "Yeah, I don't blame them.  Have you seen this room?  Come over here, take a look.  If he can't organize his closet, how is he going to manage the federal budget?" Daniel's mom added, "It's my fault -- I didn't ask him to do enough cleaning up as a child.  Also, his posture is so poor -- he stoops over way too much.  Could you tell him that for me the next time you see him?  He's not calling us all that much right now.   "Would you like to see his bar mitzvah album?  Are you hungry, Harry?  Some nice brisket, perhaps?"