Gotcha journalism?

No matter what sort of scoring system you use, the contrast between veep candidates Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in their respective responses to Katie Couric's query about Supreme Court decisions is, uh, stark.

As Hilzoy says, this isn't about being a legal scholar. It's simply about providing one example of something that most of us learned in high school, some in middle school. (If anything, this is an indictment of the public school system in Alaska.)

But according to Palin and the McCain campaign, this is gotcha journalism. And Palin would presumably know, with a degree and professional experience in the field, right?

No.

(I'm desperately trying to make this post my official round-up of Palin links for the day. I don't want her to overwhelm this spot when there's too much other stuff to get into).

UPDATE: Biden should be careful not to underestimate Palin during tomorrow's debate (though, like, TCU against SMU, it must be hard not to), warn Palin's former rivals in Alaska.

UPDATE 2: Andrew Sullivan is a little more brusque in his critique of Palin: "She makes Stephen Glass look like George Washington. It's pathological."

UPDATE 3: About time.

UPDATE 4: Joe Six-pack? Really? "Their combined income of nearly a quarter-million dollars last year was five times the median household income for Wasilla's 7,000 residents. They own a single-engine plane, two boats, two personal watercraft and a half-million-dollar, custom-built home on a lake that is worth three times the average of other homes in town."

UPDATE 5: If the Good Governor was looking for a Supreme Court case to reference, she probably should have just stuck with the one she issued a statement about a few months ago. Just saying.