Filed under: Foreign Policy, Interview/Debate, Palin, Palin No Experience
I finally saw her interview with Charles Gibson. I am flabbergasted that anyone could have watched that interview and still have positive views of Palin. What is it that I am not seeing? Besides her position which is overly aggressive and hawkish, she did a TERRIBLE job on the interview. This is a woman who can’t think on her feet— she just kept repeated the talking points in the same way over and over again when Gibson was trying to get a more specific answer (ex. she said “we cannot second guess” Israel at least three times when it was clear that Gibson was not happy with the answer). Yeah, i realize you got to stick to your points, but you have to be able to sound responsive too.
Plus, (and this is what really baffles me about everyone talking about how good she is about speaking), she was clearly uncomfortable and tense. I would like to see her on the Dailey Show, because that would be a great interview.
Frankly, I could have looked as (un)knowledgeable about foreign affairs as she did. I think Gibson was appropriately aggressive, though. Good for him (I especially liked his response “National Security is a whole lot more than energy.” Alright!!!). The only thing I wish he would have done was pushed her more on her statement that the attack on Georgia was absolutely unprovoked. Because that was stupid. And again, shows she is slow on her feet. Russia wasn’t just sitting around one day and said, hey, lets attack Georgia. Thats fucking Ridiculous.
Fom the 11:00 News reporting on Palin’s first interview on foreign policy (paraphrased below):
“Republicans have argued Palin has foreign policy experience because Alaska is near Russia.”
I live next to NYU hospital – does that mean I have experience in medicine? Who would like to be my first patient?
“Palin has traveled to only four countries including Mexico and Canada, but she was very hawkish in the interview which is making conservatives happy.”
Let me get this straight, Palin has not traveled to almost every single country in the world, but shes’ ready – without blinking – to blow them all up. Awesome. That’s the way to make decisions – be completely uninformed, have no first hand experience, and be ready at the drop of a pin to annihilate what you do not know.
That’s a sure-fire way to strengthen our alliances abroad, build respect among our allies and enemies, and make America more secure – by demonstrating to the world that America doesn’t care who we blow up or why, just as long as we do it without without any hesitation.
Palin said in the interview that you “must not blink” when you’re in charge of the country. Since when did no hesitation become a more desirable characteristic in a leader than thoughtful deliberation? Personally, I prefer a leader who will make informed decisions after weighing the consequences of his/her actions. This isn’t Halo. When you pull the trigger, people die. But, maybe that’s the genius of Ms. Palin’s world view – it’s always easier to kill what you do not know or understand.
Palin is now officially the last person in the world that I want anywhere near the power to launch a nuclear missile.
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
