Glenn Greenwald points out that the “when will Palin face the press?” issue is beneficial for Palin:

When they decide in a couple of weeks that Palin is ready to do so, she’ll go and sit down with Brit Hume or Larry King or Charlie Gibson or some other pleasant, accommodating person who plays a journalist on TV and have a nice, amiable, entertaining chat about topics that are easily anticipated. Having been preceded by all sorts of campaign drama about her first interview and the excitement that she’s not up to the task, her TV appearance will be widely touted, score big ratings, and will be nice entertainment for the network that presents it. It will achieve many things. Undermining propaganda isn’t one of them.[...]

Moreover, Sarah Palin isn’t Dan Quayle. She is extremely smart — much smarter than the average media star who will eventually be interviewing her — and she is very politically skilled as well. She didn’t go from obscure small-town city council member to Governor to Vice Presidential nominee by accident. She’ll be more than adequately prepared for the shallow, 30-second, rote exchanges that pass for political interviews in our Serious mainstream discourse.

That’s pretty much it. Palin is smart, telegenic, and driven; she also seems to have absolutely no compunction about lying morning, day and night. Our media culture is perfect for her. She’s like a dog being challenged to eat an enormous steak; and when she wolfs it down, this will be spun as a terrific victory.

Right now it seems ludicrous to say that someone unable to face Larry King is prepared to be President. But in our media atmosphere, what on earth does being “prepared to be president” mean anyway?

Suppose John McCain dies in a freak teleprompter accident days after being sworn in as President. What would happen? The White House would announce that President Palin will address the nation that night. The chattering monkeys in the media would say “this is her first major test as President, isn’t it?” to each other, and then say “yes, yes, it is, you’re so right” to each other. On the 24-hour news stations, they’d repeat that exchange, over and over, for hours, between bouts of crying for the Late Great McCain. (Given the choice between eating dried dog shit for a living or being forced to watch cable news for 40 hours a week, I’d reach for my fork.)

Palin’s excellent, professional writers would write a speech in which Palin showed an appropriate mix of gravitas, mourning for beloved mentor Yoda Late Great McCain, and determination to serve this country just as well as any plucky hockey mom can. Palin will successfully read this script in front of cameras. Then it’s back to the chattering monkeys. “She certainly passed her first major test as President, didn’t she? Yes, yes, she did, you’re so right” will be repeated for hours on end.

The chattering monkeys, by the way, will adore President Palin. How could they not? She’s a faux-feminist version of Dave. An ordinary hockey mom, through an absurd set of circumstances, becomes President Hockey Mom, facing adversity with pluck and fortitude and small-town common sense. How could they not love her? It’s a great story if she thrives; that says that ordinary Americans can do anything, if they just have spunk and look nice on TV. No one wants a story of an ordinary American coming to Washington, becoming President, and then drowning in the suck, so that’s not the story the media will tell.

Then comes governing. Sure, Palin may not know the difference between Shi’ite and Sunni, but then, neither did Late Great McCain. That won’t matter. Like Bush, Palin will be surrounded by a relatively (relatively! I say) sane right wing (her administration’s counterparts of Powell and Rice) and also by a war-loving right wing (counterparts of Cheney and the Cheneyites). Whichever faction succeeds in gaining her ear and trust will set policy — and those people do know the difference between Sunni and Shi’ite, although they probably don’t care.

(Just to be clear, I don’t think Palin is stupid. She’s obviously smart. I suspect, however, that like President Bush and Senator McCain, she combines arrogance with lack of curiosity, leading to surprising gaps in what should be basic knowledge.)

It doesn’t really matter how President Palin governs, because no matter what she does, the media will report it the same way: Republicans say Palin’s administration is bacon-wrapped steak dipped in chocolate, Democrats say Palination is a failure, but boy doesn’t she look great! And bearing up so well under adversity! And so plucky! And please stay tuned for these important messages.

As eight horrible years have made clear, there is absolutely no level of incompetence that will cause Republicans to criticize a Republican president, or even to admit that anything has gone wrong. If on Monday Sarah Palin accidentally nukes LA, on Tuesday William Kristol will hail her for her fortitude and leadership in helping Americans past this time of crisis and mourning, and by Thursday Phil Gramm will dismiss people mourning over lost relatives as “whiners.”

But what if Palin’s Presidenthood is practically perfect, providing peace, plentitude and a popsicle in every pot? It won’t happen. Palin is ideologically committed to policies that produce disaster, just as they have for the past 8 years. Palin is as capable of good government as I am of jumping from Shea Stadium to Mexico.

Yeah, but what if?

If by some miracle things go well, that won’t change the media narrative, because the Democrats will still be saying President Palin sucks, because Democrats have no plausible route to power other than criticizing any Republican in office. Nothing in our political discourse permits a reasonable assessment of success or failure. It can’t happen, because that sort of talk won’t assist anyone’s rise to power.

Eventually, of course, things may collapse beyond the ability of even Republicans to pretend everything’s swell. The bill for endless deficit spending eventually comes due; someday people might notice they’re working more, paying more but living less; and eventually the country’s standing in the world may sink so low, even CNN will be momentarily tempted to report it.

But by that time, President Palin will be a retired stateswoman, basking in million-dollar speeches to Japanese executives and Sunday morning talk show appearances in which she blames it all on the Democrats while the chattering monkeys nod wisely and thank her for her time. That’s how it goes.