On Friday, I noted that Fox News airhead talking head Steve Doocy had made the absurd comment that Sarah Palin has foreign policy experience because Alaska is near Russia.
Well, it appears that Doocy was just ahead of his time, because now, Cindy McCain is saying it too:
Matthew Yglesias sums up just how absurd this comment is:
This is absurd on its face, but note that it’s also barely true. An uninhabited part of Alaska is near an (also uninhabited) part of Russia, but Alaska’s Anchorage population center is hundreds of miles from the Bering Straight. There are no roads going to the part of Alaska that’s near Russia. Has Palin ever negotiated with Russian officials about anything? Why don’t they try Canada?
UPDATE: Also: “understands what’s at stake here?” What is at stake here? Are the Russians threatening Alaska? Even in Red Dawn that didn’t happen.
Please, Republicans, just admit she has no foreign policy experience can get on with it.
Jeremy Hinton at Bearing Drift agrees and argues that Palin’s defenders are making a mistake by relying on a fundamentally absurd argument:
Er…does that mean Gov. Jennifer Granholm (MI) is an expert on relations with Canada? How about Gov. Bill Richardson (NM) with Mexico? Gov. Charlie Crist (FL) with Cuba?
While I am sure these governors may concern themselves with some international issues, I would presume it’s not that significant, nor are they that authoritative.
I find this talking point to be one which is proceeding down a very slippery slope
And the fact that the wife of the Presidential candidate has picked up on something that started out as the dumb remark from an intellectual lightweight on Fox News is, when you think about it, a little disturbing.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:15 am
[...] yet, the polls remain close and if there’s one thing that’s been true about the 2008 Presidential Election to date, [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 10:40 am
We also need to debunk this nonsense about how she is “commander in chief” of the Alaska National Guard — all 2,025 of them (2008 target).
A governor does not get to set military policy, control military budgets, nominate officers to high rank or command, etc.
Oh, and Alaska has no Navy or Marine reserve units.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:07 am
Actually, credit where credit is due, JR Hoeft at Bearing Drift is the originator of the above series of comparisons. I just agreed wholeheartedly.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:23 am
[...] Hat Tip: Below the Beltway [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
[...] Washington Post spends what I think is an inordinate amount of space discussing the authorship of Ron Paul’s latest book: [A]lthough the congressman from Texas has repeatedly called the book his own work, it was largely [...]
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Oh of course, the “new” fear game, the return of the cold war, everyone be scared to death of russia and who knows best about russia but their neighbors in alaska.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:17 am
[...] has foreign policy experience because Alaska is close to Russia” meme that Republicans just keep repeating) will be repeated, jumped on, You-Tube’ed, and played endlessly on The Daily Show [...]
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:19 am
[...] has foreign policy experience because Alaska is close to Russia” meme that Republicans just keep repeating) will be repeated, jumped on, You-Tube’ed, and played endlessly on The Daily Show [...]
September 25th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
[...] Palin tries to continue to absurd meme, started here (and continued here and here) that she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is close to [...]
September 25th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
[...] Palin tries to continue to assert the absurd meme, started here (and continued here and here) that she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is close to [...]
October 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Why oh why can’t any of these people just answer the question…They skirt the issue completely. I now know just as much as I did before i watched this video…