It's not. What is unreasonable is, say, suggesting that one must graduate from a particular set of Universities in order to be widely read and well-educated.
It is also unreasonable to suggest that a college graduate, entrepreneur, former mayor, commissioner, and Governor is not widely read or well-educated. Only so much can be excused as luck before it looks like you're grasping at straws.
Will's “standards” became evident the moment he took time to point out a college degree from the University of Idaho as a weakness. It is precisely that Plutocratic attitude that one needed blue blood to govern that compelled the Founders to pen “Of the people, for the people, by the people.”
The Founders did not show anywhere near the disdain for the common man that the so-called GOP “elites” have for any candidate who made a name for themselves without having attended Yale or Harvard.
Perhaps you have a point, however, and folks like me and many of the Freepers at FR should accept that the standards of the GOP are too high for our liking, and that there is perhaps a better fit for the pitchfork and banner crowd. If Sarah Palin is beneath them, then so are we; and I would sooner back an intelligent person of genuine Conservative principle that an intellectual with no genuine connection to the grassroots.
No one said she had to graduate from a specific set of universities. One does not have to even graduate college to be well-educated and well-read. It's what's in the person's mind, not the paper that counts.
It is also unreasonable to suggest that a college graduate, entrepreneur, former mayor, commissioner, and Governor is not widely read or well-educated.
Sorry, but none of those things guarantee education or wide reading. I've none complete known complete ignoramouses who somehow managed to graduate from Harvard, and history is replete with those who somehow managed to get elected to high political office.
What's important is what's in a person's head, not on her resume, and I'm sorry to say that Palin's interviews and speaches don't reveal the mind of an individual who is particularly knowledgeable or even curious about political philosophy, economics, or world affairs.