Dissing your own handpicked vice-presidential candidate on national TV has probably never been done before. Which is probably why John “Maverick” McCain thought it was a good idea for him to rectify that omission. In a rare two-fer, he (and Baby Sarah, too, to be honest) combined that with some kind of all-time whining record.

So all voters should be forewarned: it’s not safe to ask McCain or Palin a question.

If you ignore this public service warning, and McCain and/or Palin flub the question on tape, you are going to be the subject of much gratuitous vilification, and will be declared guilty of all kinds of things, including but not necessarily limited to practicing gotcha journalism. Other things you can and may be taxed with include: conducting voodoo rituals, not putting your country first, wanting the terrorists to win, being an illegal immigrant, or — what the heck — being an ignorant America-hating voodoo witch-doctor who illegally entered the country to cheer on the terrorists to victory and is now living off the proceeds of gotcha journalism.

First off, here is the AP‘s bowdlerized version:

Gov. Sarah Palin said Monday that her comment about attacking terrorist targets in Pakistan, which appeared to contradict the position of GOP presidential nominee John McCain, was a response to a “gotcha” question from a voter.

“This was a voter, a constituent, hollering out a question from across an area asking, ‘What are you gonna do about Pakistan? You better have an answer to Pakistan.’ I said we’re gonna do what we have to do to protect the United States of America,” Palin told the “CBS Evening News” in an interview about her exchange with a voter Saturday at a Philadelphia restaurant.

The Republican vice presidential candidate’s answer was similar to Democratic nominee Barack Obama‘s statement that he would support sending U.S. troops into Pakistan to attack high-value targets like Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaida leaders who are thought to be hiding in tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,” Palin told the voter during the exchange, which was captured on video.

Except McCain chided Obama during Friday’s presidential debate for saying publicly that he supports striking terrorist targets inside Pakistan if the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to do so.

McCain, who sat with Palin, said in Monday’s interview that he understands “the day and age of ‘gotcha’ journalism. … In a conversation with someone who you didn’t hear the question very well, you don’t know the context of the conversation. Grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don’t announce that you’re going to attack another country.”

Palin added that “as Sen. McCain is suggesting here, also, never would our administration get out there and show our cards to terrorists, in this case, to enemies and let them know what the game plan was.”

Asked what she learned from the experience, Palin said: “That this is all about “gotcha” journalism. A lot of it is. But that’s OK, too.”

Or to be fair to Palin and McCain, maybe they think the voter was just a conduit? That the question itself was planted by a rogue network or some scurrilous rag calling itself a newspaper?

But here’s how the same story sounds when you’re not punch-drunk on the Straight Talk Express Koolaid:

When I heard that Couric was doing another interview with Palin — and even McCain too — I was figuring this was some kind of make-up, ‘we’re sorry you did so poorly the first time’ retake. But not exactly. If you watch, Palin starts by not having any answer for why she told a voter something that McCain has attacked Obama for saying. And as she’s stumbling McCain jumps in and tries talk for her (sic), making a bunch of excuses for her that make her sound silly or like someone who’s too out of it to be held responsible for something she said. The gist of what he seems to say in her defense is ‘Hell, look who we’re talking about. You can’t hold her responsible for her answer to a question like that just out of the blue, c’mon.’ And then when he’s done he goes with ‘But I’ll let her speak for herself’.

I can guarantee you that if her husband did this to her, she’d punch his lights out. (Unless she shot him in the gonads.) Johnny McCain may not know it, but he — or a certain body part that he is attached to — is living on borrowed time.

(Friendly note to AP—who titled their story “Palin: Pakistan remark was a response to a voter“: today, it’s “just a voter’s question”; tomorrow, it’s going to be “just another question from a wire-service reporter”.)