Specifically to your point about Palin and Bush: Neither of them are stupid. But both of them appeal to a disappointingly large proportion of the American electorate who think that Stupid is Good.

BTW, criticizing Biden on getting the constitutional article reference wrong is IMO stooping to criticizing a typographical or gramatical error on an e-mail exchange -- it's juvenile. At least Biden has some idea of how the constitution is supposed to work. I would predict that Sarah Palin would fail the civics examination that this country requires immigrants to take to become Americans. Mind you, I think most people who are already Americans would also fail that examination.