Palin Thought Africa was a Country, Not a Continent

Sarah Palin was obviously not prepared for many of her media interviews.  There are 2 PR lessons to be learned from the FOX news post-mortem of the internal rumblings in the Palin-McCain campaign:

1- Be prepared during public appearances, especially media interviews.  Don't stray from your area of expertise.  And, study what you need to know insteadn of winging it.

2- Remember that your internal audience - employees, vendors, etc. - are also part of your "public".  This post-mortem coverage of the Palin-McCain camp was contained during the campaign (barely), but the unflattering stories on Palin's lack of knowledge about the world outside Alaska will damage her reputation even further.  I'm thinking there is more to come.

Another point is how quickly news like this can spread on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs and other social networks. People just love to send around humiliating video or audio (remember Alex Baldwin's voicemail to his daughter?). Nothing spreads faster.