Kevin Hassett's comment to Bloomberg television, in reaction to Sarah Palin's comments on the Federal Reserve's QE2, that Governor Palin's "comments were actually surprisingly thoughtful," tingled my super-sensitive American Enterprise Institute-scholars being condescending about Sarah Palin and monetary policy antennae (see here for an earlier example).
So I emailed Mr. Hassett, who is director of Economic Policy Studies at AEI, to ask just what he found so surprising. He wrote back: "Politicians very rarely opine about monetary policy nuances, and almost never do so intelligently. It surprised me to see her doing so, but I would have been equally surprised if just about any other major political figure weighed in. I certainly meant her no disrespect."
