Charlie Gibson’s attempt to sandbag Pallin, an attempt that failed IMHO, gives useful intelligence on the prevailing concerns of the Democratic elites and their allies. The AP hit piece on the interview, with the offensive title “Pallin tries to defend qualifications in interview,” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080912/ap_on_el_pr/palin_interview_7, largely read as if it was written before the event it purports to chronicle, can be considered a list of talking points for party operatives to use in coming days. There are two big items that stand out. First is the effort to demonize allowing Georgia and the Ukraine into NATO by casting Pallin as reckless to the point of being deranged for being willing to warn Russia, as every President has since Harry Truman, that invading a NATO ally means war. Second was an effort to get Pallin to speak preemptively about a possible Israeli strike on Iran when the candidate prudently stuck to US policy as recently stated by the Secretary of State. Gibson repeated this three times in an effort to make Ms Pallin look foolish.