I can't defend some of the things Governor Sarah Palin said in reply to Katie "Nowwww I Get It!" Couric.
Neither can I condemn Palin. She was crammed full of facts and policy planks (some of which I still heartily disagree with) in a crash course by McCain's people, from which most Americans would probably run screaming for the exits over the sheer magnitude of it.
Perhaps those attacking Palin can try studying over a few months' time for a several-hour "test" that covers 18 years worth of even the highlights of all subjects one studies from first grade through Graduate School. That might be comparable to cramming a couple decades' worth of the fundamental knowledge on all subjects from world and American history to political science to economics to law to global finance to international relations.
Let us know how you do. (Obama has had about four years for this education, not four months, by the way.)
I can defend Governor Sarah Palin as one who doesn't lie to us.
I can defend and support Governor Palin as someone who truly gives a damn more about this country than about getting elected and would not ever say or even think "I haven't been putting up with 19 months of airplanes and hotel food and missing my babies and my [spouse] - just to come in second."
While I'm disheartened that McCain didn't prepare Palin better for the cougar Couric or glib Gibson, The Plank's Jason Zengerle report "A Semi-Defense of Sarah Palin" is worth excerpting.
That is, at least for those Democrat and independent voters whose minds haven't already snapped permanently and darkly shut.
Zengerle quotes from The Anchorage Daily News from March 2008:
Russia's resurgent military is again making sporadic, unannounced bomber runs toward Alaska's airspace, leading the Air Force to scramble jets to intercept and identify them, according to the commander of the Pacific Air Forces, Gen. Howie Chandler.So here are two more factsets that many in the distant lands known as the Beltway and the liberal eastern half of the country have forgotten (if they ever knew).The most recent incident, involving two Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers, occurred Tuesday, Chandler said during a meeting with reporters at Elmendorf Air Force Base on Thursday. Since July [2007], there have been 16 such incidents, according to the Air Force.
The Tuesday intercept occurred outside U.S. airspace but within the air-control territory known as the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone. The Russian planes stayed within international airspace until they returned to base, the Air Force said.
...
"[I]n this day and time, you simply can't allow unidentified aircraft to run around in your airspace. So when the Russians do fly where they fly in the Arctic, without filing flight plans and without prior notice, then we have to go see what those aircraft are," [Chandler said].Russia is sending "mixed signals," he said, challenging the United States at times, cooperating in joint exercises at others.
Granted, Sarah Palin probably didn't have these facts crammed into her head at the time of Couric's drilling, but then, Palin has had a state to run. Couric's handlers and cartooners do all her work for her.
FACTSET ONE:
Go back up to that red map of Russia at top. Note the "Russian Nuclear Forces-SLBM/SSBN port" dot on the tip of the upper rightmost peninsula on the above map.
Note that this dot represents a base for SLBM/SSBNs, close enough to Alaska, near or at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. (SLBM stands for Submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and SSBN translates this way: "the SS means "ship submersible", the B denotes "ballistic missile," and the N denotes "nuclear powered.")
How close to Alaska?
That "dot" on the above map representing the nuclear sub base is shown here (click to enlarge this map) by the red oval near the top right of this map, which shows "the view" upside down, as if from the North Pole. Juneau, Alaska is shown near the black square.
From the SSBN base near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, the straight line flight distance to Juneau, Alaska is 2,523.18 statute miles (2,192.58 nautical miles).
Russian SLBM R-29 missiles, which "can be equipped with nuclear warheads", have ranges between 6500 to 9100 kilometers, or 4,038 miles to 5,655 miles.
FACTSET TWO:
28 Russian airbases within range of Alaska | |
| Airfield | Military District |
|---|---|
| Alekseyevka | Far Eastern |
| Artyom - Knevichi | Far Eastern |
| Belogorsk-9 | Far Eastern |
| Chernigovka | Far Eastern |
| Chuguevka - Sokolovka | Far Eastern |
| Dolinsk-Sokol | Far Eastern |
| Galenki | Far Eastern |
| Garovka-2 | Far Eastern |
| Khabarovsk - Bolshoy | Far Eastern |
| Khurba | Far Eastern |
| Klyuchi-20 - Kura | Far Eastern |
| Komsomolsk na Amure - Dzemgi | Far Eastern |
| Korsakov | Far Eastern |
| Kremovo | Far Eastern |
| Mongokhto - Bolshoy Kamen | Far Eastern |
| Nikolayevka - Zolotaya Dolina | Far Eastern |
| Novonezhino | Far Eastern |
| Pristan | Far Eastern |
| Sovetskaya Gavan | Far Eastern |
| Srednebeloye | Far Eastern |
| Tsentralnaya Uglovaya | Far Eastern |
| Ukrainka - Seryshevo | Far Eastern |
| Ussuriysk - Vozdvizhenka | Far Eastern |
| Verino - Pereyaslavka | Far Eastern |
| Vernoye - Orlovka | Far Eastern |
| Vozzhayevka | Far Eastern |
| Yelizovo | Far Eastern |
| Zavitinsk | Far Eastern |
Never mind the naval bases.
No one is saying that Russia is about to hit Alaska with a nuclear missile.
No one should be saying either, though, given the recent Russian war machine revving up again, that Russia will never again be a threat to the United States.
And I'd bet Palin didn't mean that proximity to Russia equates to international expertise. I fault McCain and his people for not bringing her up to speed better. She knows how to speak on tough issues and handle pressure. She has proven that. But somehow, amazingly, McCain's people didn't prepare her well enough for all the most likely, widely-varying, and even sometimes stupid questions ("What do you read???) that these alleged "journalists" asked during Couric's sessions. (Even Geraldine Ferraro thought Charlie Gibson was a joke.)
But let me ask Katie Couric and all those attacking Palin:
How close have you lived, all your life, to Russia's nuclear missiles, submarines and 28 aircraft bases?
Walk a lifetime in an Alaskan's shoes, or put a muzzle on it.
Palin, Couric; Alaska, Russia. Not a bad analogy, that.
Life is what should have prepared Palin for the answers to Couric's questions.
If she could "remember" or understand "even the highlights of all subjects one studies from first grade through Graduate School" she wouldn't look like a fool.
To compare her to Obama is . . . I'm laughing. He was the Editor of the Harvard Law Review. Maybe you don't understand what that takes. And, remember - he didn't get there by mommy and daddy paying his way.
The guy is impressive. Palin is not.
Wow. Your smugness almost matches that of Obama himself. Congratulations on learning to be as arrogant. Did you get that with your Harvard degree?
You apparently haven't been following along with recent posts here on this blog in the past week, mine in particular.
"The guy" lies through his teeth and you have.absolutely.no.clue.about.it. That's not impressive. Many of those "greedy Wall Streeters" you no doubt solely blame went to Harvard B-School.
Vada Hill, Fannie Mae senior vice president, marketing, B.A. from Harvard University.
Jaynie M. Studenmund, senior vice president, Fannie Mae Western Regional Office, M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
Kenneth J. Bacon, Fannie Mae executive vice president - Housing and Community Development (HCD), M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
Darren Thompson, Fannie Mae Head of Credit Finance, the senior-most corporate officer with direct responsibility for credit risk performance of Fannie Mae's $2.2 trillion guarantee book (the largest risk portfolio of its kind in the world), MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Jodie Kelley, Fannie Mae Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Jamie S. Gorelick, on the Board of the Fannie Mae Foundation. Harvard undergrad and Harvard Law School.
Franklin Delano Raines, former chairman and chief executive officer of Fannie Mae who also served as White House budget director under President Bill Clinton. Graduated from Harvard University, Harvard Law School; and Magdalen College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
A Harvard education is clearly no guarantee of integrity, smarts or honesty.
Life should have prepared Palin for Couric's questions? Whose life? Yours? By espousing this assertion, you must then also hold that Obama didn't need the vaunted Harvard Law School, he only needed "life."
If Obama could "remember" his own multi-year support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his being the lawyer for ACORN Housing to get them the freedom to give out even more of those destructive subprime loans, and if Obama could "remember" the fact that Clinton and the Democrats in Congress modified the CRA law in 1995 to require banks to give out more of the risky housing loans that caused the financial meltdown in the first place, and that that law first was supported and passed by Democrat President Jimmy Carter which created the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disaster, and if he could remember that he was too busy taking the second-highest amount of money from Fannie Mae of any politician to ever sound a single alarm ..all while Obama brazenly and solely blames the Republicans and McCain as well for passing another law repealing Glass-Steagall, when it was President Clinton who collaborated on and passed that repeal....
then Obama wouldn't look like such a fool.
Maybe you don't understand that.
Personally, I prefer integrity over a Harvard degree.
Which Palin doesn't have.
You're upset tht "McCain didn't prepare Palin better" for her interview. Just a few lines down you admonish Katie Couric for fed her answers by her "handlers". You're attacking Couric for being inexperienced like Palin.
Being vice president isn't an exam you study for, it's the culmination of a lifetime of service in Government. Maybe we shouldn't have picked somebody who only has 4 months experience to participate in a debate with a 30 year+ veteran of the Senate.
The GOP would be better off without you, then we wouldn't waste our VP pick trying to impress you. I can think of dozens of candidates (Romney, Huckabee, Guliana, even Lieberman to name a few) who would have aced that Couric interview and given Biden a run for his money.
Oh, and Obama didn't have "4 years" to prepare for his presidential bid, just like John McCain he has been thinking about it for decades, it's not something you just luck into.
Oh wait. I guess some people do luck into it.
Man without a party, HOW long has Couric been in her current job? A little over 2 years as a CBS "news anchor", and supposedly over a decade as a "national political correspondent" and co-anchor on the not-really-hard-news Today. She simply has more time in the national political pool. Apparently you didn't even watch that cartoon link I gave, the one she simply gushed over when it was done. It was embarrassing for her. She's doing the Today co-anchor on the evening news with less smiling.
Once she got into the chair at CBS News, she proved she's not much more than a talking blonde head. She probably doesn't even run her own household (enjoying nannies, cooks, housekeepers, gardeners...), never mind running a state.
You wrote: "Being vice president isn't an exam you study for, it's the culmination of a lifetime of service in Government."
Really? Guess you would have had to hold Bill Clinton's, Harry Truman's, Teddy Roosevelt's, and Calvin Coolidge's feet to the fire too then:
http://abortionpundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/vice-presidential-candidates-in-history.html
Go look at that chart. I dare you. But you probably won't.
People sure allowed Bill Clinton off the hook when he gave Obama a pass on not having enough experience:
"You could argue that nobody is ready to be president. I certainly learned a lot about the job in the first year. You can argue that even if you've been vice president for eight years, that no one can be fully ready for the pressures of the office. And that everyone learns something, and something different. You could argue that."
You wrote: "The GOP would be better off without you, then we wouldn't waste our VP pick trying to impress you."
Who, me? And who's the "we" you're talking about: I thought you said you were "without a party?" Who are you to speak for the entire GOP then? Honestly! Look around you (nationally, not just here). It is you who are the minority if you're registered in the GOP.
You think Gov. Palin was Governor for only 4 months? Where have you been?
I was actually more in favor of Huckabee than McCain. Did not vote for McCain the primary. Romney, Guiliani, and Lieberman are so pro-abortion, they Do.Not.Fit.The.GOP.Platform. Yes, any of them would have "aced that Couric interview and given Biden a run for his money." In the long run, acing liberal media interviews isn't my criteria for the executive offices. And by many accounts, Palin did give Biden a run for his money. (Biden: 14 lies and counting, remember?) I'm more interested in a P and VP who can GOVERN WELL.
Obama has been formally preparing (or was being prepared) for this ever since 2004, his speech at the DNC, his overarching, lifelong ambitions notwithstanding.
You may be "without a party" but it's clear who you give a pass to, regardless. Your double standards are showing as well.
AND AS FOR SAM: Palin doesn't have integrity, or she doesn't have a Harvard degree? If it's the former, Good grief, what planet are you from, really? Are you mostly watching Keith Olbermann, Steve Colbert and/or Jon Stewart for your "news"?
To defend myself against your accusations of ignorance and lack of evidence, I'll say this.
"I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to ya. "
You'll just have to accept this as my response. If that makes you angry, think about how angry it makes me to hear a GOP VP candidate say this about the voting record of her running mate.
It doesn't make me angry, MWAP. Not in the least. If that's all you have to say, then you're just as bad as the Sarah Palin you condemn. You're upset that a GOP VP candidate said that about the voting record of her running mate. You defend yourself for displaying ignorance and lacking evidence just like you accuse Palin.
Thank you for this blog, but you may not realize that what you are admitting is that Palin is woefully, woefully unprepared for this position. As intelligent and as educated as I am, I am smart enough to realize that "cramming" for interviews to be Vice Prez of the USA (and possibly soon Prez)is not enough to prepare one for the actual position. I would much prefer someone with integrity, experience, knowledge, of which Obama has all. No one is faulting Palin for being runner up in beauty contest or having a bunch of kids who desperately need their mother and guidance, but I do fault her for not putting her gall and hunger for power aside and just saying "I am not prepared for this position. I realize you want 'someone cute' and a 'female,' but i am not just not prepared -- at all! -- to run for this position, let alone assume this position." If she would have uttered these true words, I would have had respect for her.
Chrissiann, I was and am admitting nothing of the kind, especially when Biden was kept away from the media's scrutiny for questioning even more so than Palin was (look it up, even the most liberal rags have reported this, it was either Time or Newsweek, just before the election).
"[The Vice Presidential candidate] had had no experience in relations with Britain or Russia...didn't know the right people...[The Vice Presidential candidate] didn't know [the] Secretary of State, more than to say hello. [The Vice Presidential candidate] had no background in foreign policy, no expert or experienced advisors...to call upon for help...To many, it was...that the least of elected officials--ar at any rate the least likely of them--[would] assume the President's place upon his death."
Was that a liberal/Democrat media source, pundit or politician speaking about Sarah Palin?
No. It was David McCullough, biographer of Democrat Harry S. Truman. While those quotes were of Truman after Roosevelt's death, it is clear that, since McCullough further documents how "unprepared, bewildered" Truman remained throughout his Vice Presidency, it is obvious that he was so before becoming Vice President.
The choice between a governor with energy and reform expertise and a Senator who never had any executive experience but who was caught plagiarizing at least twice and those times BOTH after graduating college (where if you're really "smart" you're supposed to learn the art of crediting and footnoting) is no choice at all. Palin wins that contest of the VEEPs, hands down, although sorry to say, the bar was lowered by Biden. Why else do you think the Obama campaign clamped the lid on Biden's mouth and presence?
It's an interesting double standard for you. You just did what Bill Clinton did when he gave Obama a pass for his inexperience, but you think you're too "smart" to give one to Palin? It's laughable, how transparent this bias really is. Remember Clinton's recent quote? Refresh your memory with it, here.
You say you "would much prefer someone with integrity, experience, knowledge." And you say with a straight face that Obama has all that?
Integrity? You haven't been following along with this blog for very long, it seems. We showed, for over 2 months, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, AND
here...
that Obama has been lying to you, to all of us. Integrity isn't his strong suit.
Experience? ZERO executive experience. Only about 1 to 2 years real Senatorial experience, the rest of the time spent running for President. And we covered here how Obama had virtually no Senatorial accomplishments (as in laws passed that he co-wrote or substantially drove). All he worked on were 2 laws, naming a Post Office and promoting relief and democracy for the Congo.
Knowledge? I might give him the edge over Palin on that one. After all, he HAS been running for President essentially since 2004: he damn well BETTER have more knowledge about national and international affairs for having had 4 years to come up to speed.
When I heard that McCain's advisors had her prepped for the debate over a weekend at his Arizona ranch, I was appalled. He should have predecided on her--quietly--in February and had her start coming up to speed then in anticipation. There was a boatload of McCain-advisor screwups I disagreed with.
ANY VP candidate, any Presidential candidate, has to come up to speed sometime. I challenge you to vet all 50 state governors for how well prepared they would be, right now, to be VP. Governors are focused on governing their states. They aren't focused on national issues as much as you seem to think they are.
But Palin's "gall and hunger for power"??? Good Lord. You're describing your very own beloved Obama. HE is the one who exhibits the gall and hunger for power. And now he has it, unfettered, absolute power. And absolute power corrupts absolutely, doesn't it?
Lastly, while some of the following is tongue-in-cheek, it's worth reading: http://www.audacityofhypocrisy.com/2008/08/30/sarah-palin-vs-barack-obama/