It really is sad. Frighteningly sad. Shouldn't even a basic level of interest in the wider world be an important part of the makeup of any possible VP? Maybe we expect too much. For all the times I've read here that we are the greatest country in the world, perhaps is it too much to expect at least a mild interest in the world beyond Alaska's borders from a candidate for Vice-President or President. Those who supposedly represent the best leadership available. I don't think it unreasonable to expect a person running for the second highest executive post in the land have some knowledge of foreign affairs, grounded in international travel. And even absent those experiences, do you know what bothers me the most? The obvious lack of curiosity. I think these comments from Chuck Hagel have been posted before, but it's worth repeating them - GOP senator: A 'stretch' to say Palin is qualified Thu Sep 18 "She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials," Hagel said in an interview published Thursday by the Omaha World-Herald. "You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything." Could Palin lead the country if GOP presidential nominee John McCain could not? "I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Hagel said. McCain and other Republicans have defended Palin's qualifications, citing Alaska's proximity to Russia. Palin told ABC News, "They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." Hagel took issue with that argument. "I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,'" he said. "That kind of thing is insulting to the American people." Hagel, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been a vocal critic of the Bush administration since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In July, Hagel traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Though he didn't expect to be asked, Hagel had said he would have considered serving as Obama's running mate. Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 6,500, before becoming Alaska's governor in December 2006. Palin visited soldiers in Kuwait and Germany last year and said in an interview with ABC News that her only other foreign travel had been to Mexico and Canada. She also said she had never met a foreign head of state. Hagel told the newspaper that other governors have been elected to serve in the White House without experience in Washington. He said judgment and character were also important for the job. "But I do think in a world that is so complicated, so interconnected and so combustible, you really got to have some people in charge that have some sense of the bigger scope of the world," Hagel said. "I think that's just a requirement." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_el_pr/hagel_palin
It's like a slow motion train wreck at this point. "Sanctions" for Russia? "Corruption on Wall Street"? And then this. Is she really this freaking clueless?
As Palin correctly observes, in the event of the failure of AIG's construction bonds business - the nation would become a RUINATION. Imagine how many contractors would be able to deliver projects WAY WAY off schedule without the surety bonds. Then construction workers would just hang out all day and catcall and whistle at women walking by. Even ones that are just really average looking. Then they would get an inflated sense of self, which would be problematic to males everywhere. And think of the fallout on Wall Street - there are MANY construction projects going on along wall street. Every day DOZENS of construction workers descend upon wall street. The inability to post surety bonds would subject the corner of Wall and Pearl to DOZENS of loitering workers - RIGHT NEAR AIG'S MAIN OFFICE. These workers would clog up the sidewalks as tourists ambling towards the South Street Seaport from Exchange Place would have to pass right through them. It would be a pedestrian's worst nightmare.
Slow down there chief. You can dis Palin all you want but leave my Alma mater out of this. And the U of I is prestigious, we freakin cloned a MULE I know, soak it in.
Campbell Brown accuses the McCain camp of sexism: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/23/campbell-brown-rips-mccai_n_128782.html "Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is competent. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one." Good for her!
