Governor Palin did have national recognition among insiders, hard to believe that W. would not have known what I knew about a female republican dynamo that was firmly in place as the most popular Governor in America already.
I would be surprised if a Governor Bush did not keep up with Governors, especially emerging Governor leaders of his own party as President.
IN looking at the 2nd-hand description of what Bush “said”, I don’t think it shows Bush didn’t know her — it sounds like he did know her, and had met her. He joked about her obscurity, but she was obscure except to those who are insiders.
Even here at FR, many of us (me personally included) didn’t know much about Palin when she was chosen, and had to scramble to learn about her.
On the other hand, Bush, being the leader of the free world in the midst of a financial crisis and still fighting a war both in Iraq and with the Democrats, may not have had the time to spend learning all about Palin before she had been picked.
And since she lived in Alaska, it was less likely he would have had much chance to meet with her, because of the logistics of travel. And she had only been Governor for 2 years, so she was still somewhat of a newcomer — we could hardly blame Bush for not knowing her as Mayor.
Anyway, his comments about the first 5 days of her introduction to America being critical seem spot on, given what actually happened.
It's wrong to take an old quote and give it much current meaning.