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How do you claim something is a variable for one person, but not the rest? If it's a variable, it will operate at a generalized level as well as the specific. If it doesn't, then it's not a variable.
If the basis of her lack of political knowledge is a function of the class of education she participated in, then that same deficiency will hold true for others taking the same class of education, as well.
If the basis of her lack of political knowledge is not a function of the class of education she participated in, then it drops out as a causal variable and shouldn't be included as a factor at all.
You are claiming you are only specifically referring to her and not other people attending JCs. Earlier, however, you posted that you saw a distinct difference in the types of people who attend the various classes of education. In fact, you specifically mentioned that you didn't see "someone" who "wanders around a bunch of JCs as someone who values her education." Your logic led you to use those generalized claims as you were developing your argument. That's not something I did, that's a function of the fact your premises lead you to conclude what you wrote.
Let's operate as if wandering around junior colleges is a variable in knowledge of foreign affairs. I'm at a loss as to how that operates. It looks to me that Palin was interested in pursuing a career in media. Very few students take classes outside their field of interest. The fact that Obama and Biden focused on political science tracks says more about their interest than their intelligence. The fact that they have a broader knowledge about foreign affairs says more about the information they were exposed to than about where the exposure came from.
Another problem with your analysis is that you are trying to apply what you think in general to fill in the holes about what you don't know specifically.
For example, without knowing the interaction between the junior colleges Palin attended and the four year university she ultimately graduated from with a degree, you are just speculating as to the reasons she moved across a number of colleges before finalizing her education trajectory.
We don't know in this conversation whether some of her courses were unavailable at the colleges she was attending. Or whether some operate as satellite colleges to the university. Many universities off-load their students to junior colleges because classrooms don't have enough seats. Sometimes a course is full and it's better to drive 20 miles to the next open classroom than it is to wait a semester/quarter for the course to open. Some courses are just flat out not even offered at other colleges or universities, even though they may be a requirement of the degree. If she sat down with an education advisor and they plotted out a plan to obtain a degree she wanted, then that would explain what you are considering a haphazard movement across campuses.
She could also have moved around due to her husband or her own job requirements.
The fact of the matter is that none of these speak anything about her ability or desire to expand her knowledge about what she was interested in--media.
If you want to start using foreign affairs exposure in college as a basis for distinguishing between candidates, you're going to end up with a very short list. Well, I think you've pretty much named them: Obama and Biden. I'm not sure why you include McCain's Naval Academy as an authorized agent of quality education in foreign affairs, other than it seems to me that you think it's a reputable institution. Applying that general premise to McCain's education without knowing the classes he took or how he performed in them seems about as non-sensical as faulting Palin for her educational decisions.
If you conclude she's dumb because of how she behaved, I don't fault you for that. But trying to root around in her past and using her educational background as fodder to validate your conclusions is not logically sound.
While I agree with you that a teenage pregnant daughter demonstrates the ineffectiveness of abstinence only education as a means to prevent pregnancy (assuming that's the policy the household adhered to, which I also agree is a reasonable assumption if Palin is to be consistent), I disagree it says anything about any parents' moral or value system or ability to impart one's values to the rest of their family members.
Seventeen year old children are capable of and desire to make their own choices in life. Values are guiding lights, but they do not prevent children or adults from making mistakes that conflict with one's value system. If you meant that you disagreed with abstinence only policies, and that her daughter's pregnancy is one example of it not working, then I agree with you. But that's not what your posts were claiming. You made a moral and character assessment based off her daughter's pregnancy, and I think that's not supported by the evidence you've posted.
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"The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann
"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman
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