Palin Has Never Seen Russia From Alaska

[rdowns]

Link (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/01/cnn-sarah-palin-has-never_n_130752.html)

This is just so sad. Lies about the bridge to nowhere. Lies about seeing Russia. Can't name a Supreme Court case other than Roe that she disagrees with. Can't name any newspapers she reads. Man and dinosaurs roamed the Earth together. I don't thing McCain could have found a more unqualified person if he tried.

[wordmunger]

I think Palin is an idiot, but I'm pretty sure she never said she has seen Russia from Alaska, just that it's possible to see Russia from Alaska.

Interesting report, though.

[Thomas Veil]

Fair is fair; I think wordmunger is right -- she said something like you can see Russia from parts of Alaska.

It was Tina Fey who famously said, "...and I can see Russia from my house!"

[edesignuk]

I think I'm more worried for you (Americans) and us (everyone else in the world) if McCain/Palin win than if Bush were to just carry on. :rolleyes:

I just don't understand how there can be so much support for them, which even though I'm not there, I can only assume there is.

McCain will probably get stressed out first week in office, pop his clogs and leave you/us with Palin at the helm. Frightening!

[Anuba]

Palin should've stayed in Alaska where she's comfortable with her role. When you look at old news clips from before she was a VP candidate, when she's only dealing with issues on the Alaskan governor's table, she never stumbles for a second and comes across as strong, intelligent, eloquent and comfortable. But now that she's suddenly in way over her head and dealing with politics on the highest possible international level, she crumbles before our eyes and looks every bit as stupid as Bush or Quayle whenever she's unscripted.

The dumbest people of all were the McCain staffers who actually thought that giving her a crash course in foreign policy would somehow magically transform her into a competent VP candidate overnight. It's like taking the boss of some 3-man construction firm in Hickville and making him VP of Trump Enterprises. I'm sure he does a kickass job and builds fantastic, uh, toolsheds, and is very well respected in Hickville, but he wouldn't have a CLUE what to do with Trump's business and would look like a damn fool everytime he opened his mouth.

Her heart is in Alaska, not in world politics. I hope for her sake that McCain doesn't win, because she'll be in for 4-8 years of being justifiably taunted, ridiculed, passed over, isolated, lampooned and attacked. The job in question isn't worth being feeling that unhappy and small for the rest of your life.

I think I'm more worried for you (Americans) and us (everyone else in the world) if McCain/Palin win than if Bush were to just carry on. :rolleyes:

I just don't understand how there can be so much support for them, which even though I'm not there, I can only assume there is.

McCain will probably get stressed out first week in office, pop his clogs and leave you/us with Palin at the helm. Frightening!
I couldn't agree more (I'm in Scandinavia). Here, where the latest poll is 92% in favor of Obama, we'd just like to be able to close our mouths which have been hanging open in disbelief for the last 8 years. When I grew up in the 70's, America was the coolest place on Earth, with moon landings, Elvis and cars with a blinding amount of chrome. Today, after 8 years of Bush, America has withered to what's perceived as Europe's retarded cousin that brings constant embarrassment upon the family. A place where dinosaurs and humans roamed the Earth at the same time, where there's public outrage over the accidental display of a female nipple on TV and where the president surfs "the internets". FIX THIS, dammit, you're so much better than this.

[Digital Skunk]

I think I'm more worried for you (Americans) and us (everyone else in the world) if McCain/Palin win than if Bush were to just carry on. :rolleyes:

I just don't understand how there can be so much support for them, which even though I'm not there, I can only assume there is.

McCain will probably get stressed out first week in office, pop his clogs and leave you/us with Palin at the helm. Frightening!

Sadly this is every educated person's fear. It's not bad enough that McCain supports Bush doctrine but he had to put the queen of the dumb@$$3s in office with him. Nod doubt that within the first four years something will incapacitate Johnny, and we will be left with Clueless for President.

I hope that their supports do realize that this is a Presidential election, and not a beauty pageant/prom king and queen selection. And that our great country (yes, even with all of it's blatant racism STILL) is in need of a person that is actual intelligent to pull us out of the mire.

[BoyBach]

Post Turtle! (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Post%20Turtle)

Just replace 'Bush' with 'Palin'.

[edesignuk]

Post Turtle! (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Post%20Turtle)

Just replace 'Bush' with 'Palin'.That's genius. I'll have to remember the phrase "post turtle" :D

[dual64bit]

hahaahah i like that post turtle

[Anuba]

Post turtle!! That's one for the books.

Sadly, the analogy is a bit flawed. Bush didn't get up on the post by himself, he was put there by the American people. And the people didn't help the poor stupid guy get down, they gave him renewed confidence for another 4 years. That's the sad part. Electing him in the first place might have been written off as a mistake, but you elected him AGAIN. What was it Bush said, "Fool me once, shame on... shame on you... (pause) Fool me twice, ya can't get fooled again". Well, you were fooled again, so there's 300 million of you up on that pole, and you won't allow anyone else to help you get down.

[atszyman]

I think Palin is an idiot, but I'm pretty sure she never said she has seen Russia from Alaska, just that it's possible to see Russia from Alaska.

Interesting report, though.

Of course when you're touting that being governor of a state that borders 2 foreign countries and using the idea that you can "see Russia from parts of Alaska" gives you foreign policy experience it sort of implies that you might have actually seen it yourself?

She's admitted that she has not had to do any negotiations with foreign leaders, and used the "can see Russia" line as her huge foreign policy qualification mentioning how it makes the world seem smaller. But how do you know how small it makes the world seem if you've never seen it? Talking about how small it makes the world seem because you can do something, does not give you the same perspective as actually doing the act.

You can see Mexico from parts of TX, but if I never make the 7 hour drive from Dallas, does living in Dallas somehow make me understand our relations with Mexico more than someone who lives in Colorado?

I really hope that it's all an act to lull the Dems into a false sense of security with the upcoming debate, and that she really is qualified, because as of right now McCain still has a chance to win and she's starting to scare me more than Cheney ever did...

[Anuba]

You can see Mexico from parts of TX, but if I never make the 7 hour drive from Dallas, does living in Dallas somehow make me understand our relations with Mexico more than someone who lives in Colorado?
At least you can see relevant parts of Mexico from TX.

Russia is all about Moscow, not the barren uninhibited wastelands of Chukotka in the far East of Russia.

Fact 1) Wasilla, Alaska is 4330 miles from Moscow.
Fact 2) Washington DC is 4887 miles from Moscow.
Fact 3) I'm 790 miles from Moscow, but that doesn't make me an expert on Russia.

[iJohnHenry]

McCain will probably get stressed out first week in office, pop his clogs and leave you/us with Palin at the helm. Frightening!

At the helm?? I doubt it.

Although perhaps the Republican puppet-masters would like a new "option" in how they control their President.

[wordmunger]

Of course when you're touting that being governor of a state that borders 2 foreign countries and using the idea that you can "see Russia from parts of Alaska" gives you foreign policy experience it sort of implies that you might have actually seen it yourself?

She didn't say it. She didn't imply it. She said it was possible.

Look, I don't think she really has "foreign policy experience," but to the extent that Alaska shares borders with two other nations, there are some international issues. I imagine there are rather more with Canada than with Russia, but still, when you get into issues like fishing and oil rights, there are probably some regular interactions with Russia.

Does that qualify her to be president? No, not really -- not much more than, say an INS agent at O'Hare airport is qualified to be president. But she didn't lie this time.

If you're trying to catch Palin in a lie, there are many more fruitful places than the "you can see Russia from Alaska" statement.

[atszyman]

She didn't say it. She didn't imply it. She said it was possible.

If you're using it as an illustration of how small it makes the world seem then it's not such a small leap to make the assumption that she's at least been to the island to "see Russia."

I realize that it was never stated, and I never actually assumed she went there, but I can see how many people might have thought she had. Just like the plane on eBay line, she said she put it on eBay, people made the assumption that she sold it there.

Was it a lie? I don't really consider it one, I think it's just some slight resume embellishment that most people do at some point in their lives. There are much better ways to discredit her foreign policy experience IMO and this one is fairly petty and there's a good reason that it's not in the MSM.

[TheAnswer]

Wow, listening to McCain dodge the Palin foreign policy experience questions on Morning Edition was extremely painful.

[mactastic]

The issue isn't whether anyone can see Russia from Alaska. It's whether foreign policy is something you can absorb via proximity, as the McPalin campaign has claimed repeatedly.

It's a patently ridiculous argument, and one that anyone making it should be ashamed to have said. Proximity to something does NOT make you an expert.

I can only imagine the ridicule and scorn (and rightly so) from the right had a Democrat tried to use that line.

[rdowns]

Proximity to something does NOT make you an expert.


Most of us sleep next to a woman every night. Can you really say proximity has made you an expert?

[abijnk]

Most of us sleep next to a woman every night. Can you really say proximity has made you an expert?

Eeks! If you're going to go by that example then I would think it would make you less of an expert! :eek:

I kid... :p

[Anuba]

The scary part is that the VP is the one will have to handle the bulk of the foreign affairs (just look at Cheney and Iraq), and perhaps even moreso now that the president will first and foremost have to deal with the economic mess at home. What's more, she's a woman and will have to deal with countries where it's pretty much a declaration of war that she's not 99% covered in cloth and keeping quiet. How much respect are they going to have for a sassy broad who had to take a 15-minute crash course in what Saudi Arabia is on the plane over there?

Or, they could switch, in which case McCain would be shoved around in a wheelchair in the Middle East while Palin handles the economy.

[yg17]

I think Palin is an idiot, but I'm pretty sure she never said she has seen Russia from Alaska, just that it's possible to see Russia from Alaska.

Interesting report, though.


Well, it's kind of a major gaffe. If she believes that seeing Russia from Alaska gives you foreign policy experience, and she has not seen Russia from Alaska, then she does not have foreign policy experience. Maybe she needs to head up to the Diomedes and become a foreign policy expert :rolleyes:

[Digital Skunk]

Post turtle!! That's one for the books.

Sadly, the analogy is a bit flawed. Bush didn't get up on the post by himself, he was put there by the American people. And the people didn't help the poor stupid guy get down, they gave him renewed confidence for another 4 years. That's the sad part. Electing him in the first place might have been written off as a mistake, but you elected him AGAIN. What was it Bush said, "Fool me once, shame on... shame on you... (pause) Fool me twice, ya can't get fooled again". Well, you were fooled again, so there's 300 million of you up on that pole, and you won't allow anyone else to help you get down.

You got this a little wrong. The analogy makes sense, since someone else put the turtle on the pole, like someone else put Bush in office.

That someone wasn't the American people, and it certainly wasn't the ENTIRE country. Florida was the big "mistake" and many of us still hold on to the notion that it was rigged since the ballots had to be counted THREE TIMES as I can recall.

No, Bush had help getting himself on the pole all by himself and the Republican party gave him the push he wanted. The educated few in the US sat and sobbed we bunkered down for 4 years of misery.

[Anuba]

You got this a little wrong. The analogy makes sense, since someone else put the turtle on the pole, like someone else put Bush in office.

That someone wasn't the American people, and it certainly wasn't the ENTIRE country. Florida was the big "mistake" and many of us still hold on to the notion that it was rigged since the ballots had to be counted THREE TIMES as I can recall.

No, Bush had help getting himself on the pole all by himself and the Republican party gave him the push he wanted. The educated few in the US sat and sobbed we bunkered down for 4 years of misery.
Sure, there was the whole Florida debacle, but I gave the voters the benefit of the doubt after the 2000 election since they weren't aware of the width and depth of his incompetence and mental retardation at the time.

My point was that he was re-elected after 4 years of concrete evidence -- he had launched the war in Iraq based on absolutely nothing, approval was already lukewarm at best, and he had demonstrated countless times that he cannot speak coherently when unscripted. Yet in 2004 he won both the electoral and the popular vote by a substantial margin...!

So rather than help the turtle down from the post when they had the chance, Americans duct-taped it to the pole.

[SMM]

I couldn't agree more (I'm in Scandinavia). Here, where the latest poll is 92% in favor of Obama, we'd just like to be able to close our mouths which have been hanging open in disbelief for the last 8 years. When I grew up in the 70's, America was the coolest place on Earth, with moon landings, Elvis and cars with a blinding amount of chrome. Today, after 8 years of Bush, America has withered to what's perceived as Europe's retarded cousin that brings constant embarrassment upon the family. A place where dinosaurs and humans roamed the Earth at the same time, where there's public outrage over the accidental display of a female nipple on TV and where the president surfs "the internets". FIX THIS, dammit, you're so much better than this.



Probably the thing I enjoy and appreciate most about this forum, is the diversity, and contributions of our non-American friends. Only having other Americans to speak with is like a form of mental cross-breeding.

[iShater]

I just don't understand how there can be so much support for them, which even though I'm not there, I can only assume there is.


Our broken two party ONLY system. People who disagree with Obama will vote for McCain and Palin even though they might think she is an idiot.

I see a hospital when I drive down the street, so I am qualified for brain surgery. :D :p

[donga]

i can see doctor's offices in the complex where i work, so i must be the surgeon general.

[Digital Skunk]

Sure, there was the whole Florida debacle, but I gave the voters the benefit of the doubt after the 2000 election since they weren't aware of the width and depth of his incompetence and mental retardation at the time.

My point was that he was re-elected after 4 years of concrete evidence -- he had launched the war in Iraq based on absolutely nothing, approval was already lukewarm at best, and he had demonstrated countless times that he cannot speak coherently when unscripted. Yet in 2004 he won both the electoral and the popular vote by a substantial margin...!

So rather than help the turtle down from the post when they had the chance, Americans duct-taped it to the pole.

Agreed. We just stared at him wondering how we were going to get him down off the pole while the drool pooled out of your mouths.

Being in this country truly makes my head hurt. And it pounds whenever I hear the three stooges (Palin, McCain, Bush) talking.

Our broken two party ONLY system. People who disagree with Obama will vote for McCain and Palin even though they might think she is an idiot.

Sad but very true. We are going to get a LOT of simple minded people (read 98% of America) voting for their candidate based on one or two simple things. And sadly that is either 1) He is African American, and 2)She is a (perceived) hot, gun toting moose killing, redneck @$$ dip$h!t from Alaska.

p.s. I can see Egypt on my computer screen, so I must be a Pharaoh. :D

[wordmunger]

i can see doctor's offices in the complex where i work, so i must be the surgeon general.

I can't see doctor's offices. In fact, I've never been to a doctor's office. But they are visible from some parts of my state (places which, again, I've never been to). So therefore I'm qualified to be the surgeon general.

[yg17]

I can see the Edward Jones Dome (where the Rams play) from my cube, and if I walk to the other side of the building, I can see Busch Stadium (where the Cardinals play), and then if I go to yet another side, I can see the Scottrade Center (where the Blues play), so I must be a football, baseball and hockey player? Right? I can also see the NBC affiliate's studio building, so I'm also a journalist. I can see a ton of crap from downtown St. Louis. I'm qualified to do just about everything!

Oh, and I can also see Illinois from my office as well, so that qualifies me to fill Obama's vacant senate seat once he's elected :D