The Buck Stops Where?

As we noted earlier today, several prominent Republicans--including Fred Thompson--have taken to mentioning Harry Truman when asked about Sarah Palin's skimpy resume. Turns out that the references to 33rd president are part of the GOP's latest talking points--as NEWSWEEK's Jonathan Alter reports. "Look at Harry Truman, where he stood, how much experience he had before he was chosen as vice president," said Thompson this afternoon. Alter did--and what he found doesn't exactly flatter Palin. Here's Jon:

The GOP talking points on Monday instructed all surrogates to compare the selection of Sarah Palin to FDR's choice of Harry Truman in 1944. The idea is that a plain spoken candidate who isn't an expert can become a great president. In some iterations, the surrogates mention that FDR and Truman met only briefly before Roosevelt died, and that he never told Truman about the atom bomb.

The Truman-Palin comparison is a bad one. By the time of the 1944 Democratic convention Truman was an experienced U.S. Senator from Missouri who had reached national prominence by chairing an important committee that examined profiteering and other contractor abuses during World War II. Not only was Truman no rookie, he had studied history and government for many years on his own and was thus extremely well-versed on the issues of the day and their historical context. Time and again, Truman impressed friends and colleagues with how much he knew.

Perhaps Palin has been reading history for years and boning up Truman-style on public issues. If so, we don't know it yet.