Instead of saying the now famous, "What is Aleppo?" with that awful sing-song tone, he could have asked for clarification, "What specifically would you like to know?" He would have gotten more context that would have jogged his memory. (I haven't seen the full interview, so I don't know if there was any context leading up to it. He has said that he thought Aleppo was an acronym for something. If there was no context, I could see how he might think it was a drug, or a law, or something.)
The "pick a favorite leader" question should have been dodged, "You know Chris, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to list any current leader as my favorite. I plan on working with all of them in the best interest of the United States." It was a stupid question.
Same with Palin's favorite news magazine question. She should have said, "Who reads magazines for news? This isn't the 1980's." Instead, she felt constrained to answer the question. She probably got zero news from magazines, but felt like she had to come up with one. The first step of the politician should be to analyze the question, not work on the answer. Don't give the journalists so much power.