Palin Foreign Policy Experience

Alaska is next to Russia.


McCain's arrogant choice:

TNR: It may be John McCain's birthday, but it seems like he's the one giving out gifts today. The selection of Palin doesn't simply, as others have pointed out, undermine the notion that Obama is too inexperienced to be president; it gives Obama the chance to actually take the edge on national security while making John McCain's age a central issue of the campaign.

Whatever the political calculations involved in picking a veep, the most important qualification for the vice presidency is the ability to assume the presidency in a crisis. Given that of the last 12 presidents, three have either died or resigned, this is hardly a hypothetical consideration--in fact, given that McCain is 72, it is a very real consideration. Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford all faced multiple foreign policy crises immediately upon assuming office, whether it was the onset of the Cold War, the North's invasion of South Korea, the Vietnam War, or the withering of détente and the resulting increase in nuclear tension with the Soviet Union. The next president will have to finish the denuclearization of North Korea; prevent the nuclearization of Iran; organize a departure from Iraq that maintains some level of stability; defeat a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan; establish, nurture, and make the most of a relationship with Pakistan's new leaders; and confront a revanchist Russia while preserving and enhancing its cooperation on nonproliferation and climate change--to say nothing of working with India, China, or our allies.

Could Sarah Palin conceivably manage this task?

Obama On Palin

WaPo: Sen. Barack Obama told reporters Friday that he has never met Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the new GOP vice presidential candidate, but "she seems like a compelling person . . . with a terrific personal story."

The Democratic nominee spoke to Palin for several minutes this afternoon from his campaign bus. According to senior campaign aide Robert Gibbs, Obama told Palin she would be a terrific candidate and that he looked forward to seeing her on the campaign trail. "He also wished her good luck, but not too much luck," Gibbs said.

The Obama camp is probably delighted. She had better bring her fur and her rifle and moose burgers to the vice presidential debate.

Palin a Strategic Decision

No one knows anything about Sarah Palin, not even McCain

Who's McCain trying to kid and what's he trying to pull? I smell a rat.

Politico: John McCain on Friday announced a running mate whom he met only six months ago and with whom he spoke just once on the phone about the position before offering it in person earlier this week.

McCain’s first encounter with Sarah Palin came at a Washington meeting of the National Governors Association in February, according to a campaign-provided reconstruction of how the little-known Alaska governor was thrust into the national spotlight. The two discussed the position by phone on Sunday before McCain invited Palin and her husband to Arizona to formally make the offer. McCain, joined by his wife, Cindy, did just that Thursday morning at their home near Sedona, Ariz.

It seems Alaskans are easily impressed. 
More on Palin

McCain Shows Judgment Lapse

Listening to McCain's Ohio event this morning, Sarah Palin was audibly nervous and spoke little of her own experience (she has little) and instead cheered for McCain and pandered to Hillary. 

The way she spoke was cheerleader-ish in content and tone (maybe it's just her high-pitched voice). As a woman, what an insult. What an insult to think that women just want a woman in high office. She has to be qualified. She has to be even more qualified, given that McCain hammered Obama on experience. The audacity. 

The choice shows McCain lacks judgment in choosing a vice president, someone to take over in case he gets sick or otherwise, who's lacking. Alaskans say: it's like one of your friends was chosen for one of the highest offices in the nation. They're shocked.

Alaska? I could run Alaska. 

She has five children, so she obviously doesn't believe in birth control. I admire her not aborting her baby with down syndrome but she's not a special case. I'd argue most women wouldn't have an abortion if they were carrying a downs syndrome baby. But even still, that does not make a vice president or a president. Abortion is not the single most important issue to this nation, contrary to what conservatives preach. 

She's also accused of using her power to benefit her sister, in the middle of a custody battle. 

She's against putting the polar bears on the endangered list. It would hurt oil business, she said. She doesn't believe the ice is melting, contrary to scientific evidence. She wants to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I'm so sick of oil. 

Let's not forget she was Miss Alaska runner up.

She likes to hunt and fish and eat moose burgers. She was called Sarah Barracuda. Who cares. 

McCain chose Palin purely for politics. He did NOT choose someone to help him govern. This was an effort to shock, gain attention, sway a few Appalachian women voters (PUMAs). He's out of touch, no doubt.