In a column praising Sarah Palin, Pat Buchanan introduces the dumbest talking point yet — she’s governor of a state that is really big:

Liberals howl that Palin has no experience, no qualifications to be president of the United States. But the lady has more executive experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together.

None of them has ever started or run a business as Palin did. None of them has run a giant state like Alaska, which is larger than California and Texas put together. And though Alaska is not populous, Gov. Palin has as many constituents as Nancy Pelosi or Biden.

It must be exhausting governing all that empty land! Clearly she is ready for the vice presidency.

PS By this standard, Palin’s job is more than seven times harder than Tim Pawlenty’s. No wonder McCain picked her!

PPS I hear being governor of Siberia is also very challenging.

PPPS Delaware actually has about 25% more people than Alaska according to 2007 Census estimates.

Update 9/3 12:14 AM: TNR’s Jonathan Cohn reports that Fred Thompson made a similar claim in his RNC speech tonight, saying that Palin is “a tough Alaskan governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the union — and won.”