"Governor, do you believe that Russia constitutes a threat? And if so, what have you commanded the Alaskan National Guard to do about it?"

Suddenly, everyone loves Sarah Palin. She can deliver prepared text! She can belittle Barack Obama's resume! She can make a joke without including either a liberal or a rabbi in the setup! Fine - I'll grant you that she performed well last night. Here's where I diverge from the fawning, shallow praise. Answer a question, Governor. Just one. To start. Then another. They hid you for a few days to prep and weather questions that might distract you from last night's speech. But over the next 60 days you'll need to answer a whole bunch of queries to fill in the gargantuan gaps in your public exposure on the issues you seem to believe we shouldn't be able to know your views on. Like how a woman who got a passport just last year so she could go visit Alaskan National Guard troops in Kuwait has anything to say about the two wars we're currently stuck in or the multitude of landmines we're trying to avoid worldwide. Or how a woman that slashed funding for teen pregnancy support agencies feels about that decision given her daughter's Senior Year date with destiny. Or how the City Manager in Wasilla actually controlled the budget and the Mayor (her "executive" position) was a part-time gig. Or how she intends to bring a federal budget back into balance given her experience running a state budget surplus almost entirely supported by oil and gas revenue kickbacks. Or...well, let's just say that the list of questions will expand as the days go on. Attacks are okey-fine if you're speaking to a crowd that already drank the Kool Aid. In the broader debate of what's unquestionably one of our Nation's broadest debating seasons in history, you don't get a pass because you can make a joke about hockey. What's the real difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Hockey moms think they deserve to be on the ice, cross-checking with reckless abandon those on the other team without possibility of penalty time. Pitbulls are just dogs.

Hope your own convention bounce has something remotely to do with substance today. Rock on.