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146 Teaching Minds The schools make the same distinction. They do not seriously de- bate foreign policy in high school, but they do teach how to do num- ber sequences. There might be those who would say that Palin and her supporters probably didn’t do well on the math SAT either. But to me this is just a nonsensical way to look at intelligence. Plenty of smart people don’t do well in, nor do they care about, math. But smart people do well in reasoning logically from evidence and in presenting a coherent argument for their beliefs. This is the essence of what it means to be smart and to be educated. We expect leaders to be coher- ent in what they say and to be able to justify their beliefs and actions. One can assume that those who are bad at number sequences present no problem for the country in any way, but being bad at detecting faulty reasoning has its consequences in a democracy. Here is a bit from the Katie Couric interview with Sarah Palin that was shown on CBS during the 2008 campaign: Couric: Why, in your view, is Roe v. Wade a bad decision? Palin: I think it should be a states’ issue not a federal government-mandated, mandating yes or no on such an important issue. I’m, in that sense, a federalist, where I believe that states should have more say in the laws of their lands and individual areas. Now, foundationally, also, though it’s no secret that I’m pro-life, that I believe in a culture of life is very important for this country. Personally that’s what I would like to see, um, further embraced by America. Couric: Do you think there’s an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution? Palin: I do. Yeah, I do. Couric: The cornerstone of Roe v. Wade. Palin: I do. And I believe that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that. Couric: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with? Palin: Well, let’s see. There’s, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that’s never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but... HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023892