not quite sure why a response is warranted at all

Obama pushes back on Palin criticism

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama snapped back at Sarah Palin and her criticisms about his nuclear defense policy, calling the former Alaska governor "not much of an expert on nuclear issues."

Obama's comments came when asked for a response about a Palin critique that he was like a kid poised for a playground fight who said 'Go ahead, punch me in the face and I'm not going to retaliate. Go ahead and do what you want to with me."

"I really have no response," Obama told ABC News. "Because last I checked, Sarah Palin's not much of an expert on nuclear issues."

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Why would the president of the United States have to answer to some uneducated clown with no foreign policy knowledge and almost no governing experience?
It's truly insulting...

Daily Kos agrees with me:

Responding to a "conspicuously unintelligent right-wing media personality"

Much is being made of President Obama's dismissal of George Stephanopoulos' question about Sarah Palin's criticism of the New START treaty, but let's face it -- that was as easy as swatting a fly. The really important question was asked by Steve Benen at The Washington Monthy:

... why is George Stephanopoulos using an idiotic quote from a dimwitted former half-term governor of a small state as the basis for a question to the president?

In effect, the "GMA" host was saying, "Some conspicuously unintelligent right-wing media personality said something stupid about a subject she knows nothing about. Mr. President, how do you respond?"

Not so fast says George Stephanopoulos:

Whatever you think of Sarah Palin, she’s a former VP candidate — and a potential challenger to President Obama — with a strong following in the GOP. She made a pointed critique of a new Presidential policy. By getting the President’s response, I was doing my job.

Well, Ron Paul is a potential challenger to President Obama too, but his every utterance isn't breathlessly reported. And while Palin may have a strong following in the GOP, the fact is, a majority of Republicans don't think she's qualified to be President, along with 71% of Americans overall, making her potential challenge nothing more than a starburst in the tea party movement's collective eye.

And a "pointed critique" of policy?

It's kind of like getting out there on a playground, a bunch of kids, getting ready to fight, and one of the kids saying, 'Go ahead, punch me in the face and I'm not going to retaliate. Go ahead and do what you want to with me.'"

That's not a pointed critique, it's a Fox News contributor and future reality T.V. star, peddling her patented brand of folksy hate.

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