Remember all those stories about the McCain campaign protecting Baby Sarah from all those grown-up questions about foreign policy?

Well, thankfully we can say goodbye to that whole stream of embarrassing behavior. Women everywhere no longer have to cringe at the McCain campaign’s treatment of Sarah Palin. The McCain campaign has moved beyond that position. Baby Sarah was allowed to take a huge step today. The press was allowed to ask her one whole question. On foreign policy.

It’s too bad Baby Sarah wasn’t allowed to answer the question, of course. But I’m sure the McCain campaign is working on that. Or they will be, as soon as McCain pulls himself together to unsuspend his campaign. Before you know it, Sarah Palin will answer one whole question on foreign policy, carefully enunciating every word, just as if she were reading the answer from some teleprompter.

Meanwhile, here’s what went down yesterday, when McCain and Palin met with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvilli and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko:

McCain then looked around the room and gestured as if to welcome questions. The AP reporter shouted a question at Gov. Palin (“Governor, what have you learned from your meetings?”) but McCain aide Brooke Buchanan intervened and shepherded everybody out of the room.

Palin looked surprised, leaned over to McCain and asked him a question, to which your pooler thinks he shook his head as if to say “No.”

Easy does it, baby. One step at a time. You heard that question just great. Grandpappy is so proud of you. And just to be able to pronounce those horrible names is a huge achievement. You’ve come such a long way, baby. And in such a short time, too.