Filed under: Foreign Policy
I’m still trying to dig up Palin’s biography to determine exactly how inexperienced she is. The stats: It appears that she was born in Idaho and moved to Alaska as an infant, where she spent most of the last 44 years of her life. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Idaho. In the 1990s, she served 2 terms on the the city council of Wasilla, and 1999 became mayor of Wasilla – a small town of approximately 9,000 residents (approximately one twentieth the size of Barack Obama’s Illinois state senate district). In 2006, Palin was elected Governor of Alaska with 115,000 votes, and has served as Governor for less than 2 years.
From what I can gather, Palin has no national experience, and absolutely zero international experience. She knows Wasilla and Alaska, and that’s about it folks.
But never fear, George Bush is here. The McCain campaign has assembled a team of “former Bush White House aides” to give Palin a crash course on foreign policy issues. That’s exactly what we need to get this country back on track, a person with absolutely no foreign policy knowledge or experience, an empty vessel to be filled with the Bush party line on foreign policy. Let’s hear it for invading foreign governments, taking unilateral military action, alienating our allies, and destroying positive images of America abroad! Go Bush! Go Palin!
This is exactly the “change” this country needs.
-BC
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Sweet, a crash course! Perhaps now she can learn the names of all those annoying countries and maybe if they go really advanced… even ther capitals! YAY
Comment by Olya September 9, 2008 @ 2:44 pm“Palin started intense tutorials last week in a suite of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. Stephen Biegun, a longtime foreign-policy hand who last worked on George W. Bush’s National Security Council, ran what one participant called a “boot camp on McCain world.”
That is exactly who I want helping to run the country. One who is taking “tutorials” from GWB’s National Security Council foreign-policy hand. And they are still attesting to a totally different goverment than what GWB did for 8 years? How is this even remotely possible and who do they think they are fooling? Better brush off my UK passport and start looking for jobs abroad…I am not doing this again for 4 more years!
Comment by RAB September 10, 2008 @ 5:38 amSeriously, I had to go to law school for 3 years (as did Obama, incidentally) before I was allowed to practice law. Now, after 5 years of practice, I’m still a “young lawyer,” still learning, and still working under superiors who can guide and mentor me.
Palin is supposed to get the #2 position in charge of the United States of America with no knowledge of foriegn policy issues except what GW’s advisors teach her in a crash course? When is her crash course on national issues going to happen? Or are we going to hear about oil and drilling in Alaska for the next 2 months?
What happened to valuing education in this country? What happened to the meritocracy? At least GW had traveled abroad, at least he had been exposed (I imagine) to the foriegn stage through his Daddy’s role as President. Sara Palin just got a passport! She didn’t go to a great school, and she studied journalism – which, though a fine major I’m sure, is not necessarily academically demanding.
I don’t know what’s more frightening, that Palin knows absolutely nothing about foreign policy or that her first introduction to the subject is coming from a crash course by Bush’s advisors.
McCain sacrificed the country with this pick, and for that, if for no other reason, he does not deserve to be elected President.
Comment by Buttercup September 10, 2008 @ 10:25 amwow, a crash course. if this weren’t so serious it would be seriously funny. a crash course on foreign policy, national policy, that just isn’t right. she should already have acquired this knowledge and be able to form her own opinions, ideas, etc. not be ‘an empty vessel’ as you said and parrot whatever is fed to her.
Comment by jehara September 28, 2008 @ 11:44 am