Sarah Palin: Where's the beef?

[motivez]

A new story entry has been added:

Sarah Palin: Where's the beef?

John McCain's candidacy has largely been successful because of his support for the surge in Iraq and his promotion of our staying in their country indefinitely. Or at least, his opposition to setting any kind of benchmarks or timetables for leaving, which is essentially the same thing.

And yet, the person he selected to be a heartbeat away from the leader of the free world said in 2007 that she "hadn't really thought about it." when it came to what's going on Iraq.

Okay... What?

You hadn't really thought about the war that's cost thousands of American lives and will eventually cost over 1 trillion dollars.. because you were "focused on state politics"?

Even if at the time you had no national ambitions and didn't expect to have any sort of say on matters of national importance, wouldn't you want to be in the know since you're in charge of the Alaska National Guard, who has had units serving in Iraq?

Are we really supposed to believe she's ready to formulate policy on Iraq if something happens to McCain? That she can really be a partner in his Administration to make life and death decisions for our troops when she doesn't know anything about the conflict?

The only thing she could muster in response to a question about the surge was that she supported President Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and the rest of the Administration.. while wanting to know if we had an exit strategy in place. Seriously?

I mean, how can you think you're ready to be the next in line to be President and not have formed an opinion on arguably the most important issue facing the country this November and in the years to come?

How can you not be aware of the status of our country's exit strategy a year ago, when that was one of the biggest political issues being discussed?

I've searched for any indication that she's even minimally versed, or even interested in foreign policy.. and I've come up blank.

I guess that's to be expected when her last job consisted of making sure the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race goes off without a hitch, and she was responsible for governing less than 10,000 people in a relatively remote community.. but that doesn't make me confident in her ability to tackle issues of national importance, let alone ones with global implications.

John McCain's slogan has been that he puts his "country first".. implying that decisions he has made throughout his career, and decisions he'd make as President would put the country before politics. And yet, by all accounts the selection of Sarah Palin has not been a choice based on what's best for the country.. It's been entirely political.

A way to shake things up and energize his campaign.

Because if he truly believes Obama is too inexperienced to handle the threats our nation faces, he should have picked someone who could have been of some assistance to him in facing those threats.. someone who puts Obama's accomplishments to shame, and he didn't.

He plainly didn't choose her to be a partner in his Administration: he'd only met her once before, and talked to her one time after that, and yet everything we know about McCain has pointed to him wanting to pick someone who could be his "wing man person," someone loyal to him, someone he's known and would be comfortable with at his side, facing the tough decisions with him.

He didn't choose her because she has some long record of reform or a litany of achievements relevant to the position of Vice President, because she doesn't.

He chose her because he needed a gimmick to compete with the massive excitement that Barack Obama's candidacy has been able to bring to the race. And for at least this weekend, it seems to have worked.

Her selection is ridiculous to say the least, but it's especially disturbing in light of the numerous misstatements made by McCain dealing with the complex issues on the ground in Iraq and the "war on terrorism" at large.. for example, the differences between Sunni and Shia, Al Qaeda and other militias operating in Iraq.. lumping them all into one large container as though the differences between them don't matter in relation to the formation of policy.

While some have suggested that at 72, it's simply old age getting the better of his mind, I think beyond that, it raises the question the question of whether or not McCain should have someone at his side who's already well versed on the issues, and who has the judgment and credibility to help him make decisions on the biggest issues of our time, and if something were to happen, someone who could step in and take over.

That person is not Sarah Palin.

And at 72, with a history of health problems, including cancer, the selection of someone who has no foreign policy chops should give any conservative who believes McCain's lines about the threats we face pause.

[Scrum]

Fantastic article.

This was a total Hail Mary by the McCain campaign. I think you especially hit the nail on the head with the following...

He chose her because he needed a gimmick to compete with the massive excitement that Barack Obama's candidacy has been able to bring to the race. And for at least this weekend, it seems to have worked.

Once a little time has passed and people get to know more about his choice, people will realize what a huge mistake this was by McCain.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Dumpy Dooby

Well, his hopes are that a little time will not pass. Election is only two months away. If he can stretch this for 60+ days, he'll be fine. The the damage and distraction by the hurricane might just be enough for McCain to slip her right past everyone.

They have to try REALLY hard to define her before the American public forms an opinion of her.. which is going to be extremely hard when the GOP convention has been scaled back, and a lot of the coverage immediately after has been about Gustav

I mean, before the announcement, everyone thought it was a joke:

YouTube - Scarborough reacts to Palin news

And now that it's not, McCain's team has to work hard to make people think she's ready to be President. His age and being diagnosed with cancer multiple times necessitates that people feel she's ready to take over if something were to happen

I said 6 months ago that because he's so old, anyone wanting to vote for him would have to take a serious look at his VP choice, moreso than with other candidates.. and this choice just doesn't pass the sniff test.

[Rouger2]

Originally Posted by Dumpy Dooby

You mentioned that the Iraq debacle is within her purview because there are Alaskan Guardsmen that have been called into service of the military. This is a dubious reason at best. When National Guardsmen are called into actual service, they are no longer under the authority of their respective State's governor. Palin is only in charge of those Guardsmen while they are in service to Alaska. She is not in charge of them once they are in service to the military.

For her to accept the vp slot with having little knowledge of Iraq or have not given it any thought shows where she is coming from and that is someone who is controlled by her ambition and for McCain to have picked her shows little respect for our country and us americans. It was a cheap shot.

[Rouger2]

Originally Posted by Dumpy Dooby

Relevance to what I said?

Just making a comment on the Iraq debate as far as Palin is concerned that you had mentioned are we sticking to some tight a fast rules here. I've been here along time and I don't remember that being the case.

[motivez]

I wasn't suggesting she should want to know because she was in some type of command role while they were deployed.. there's plenty of other reasons as a Governor that she should want to be in the know about the conflict where Alaskans are serving.

[HughRuss]

To add a little fuel to the Palin fire, the McCain campaign said that McCain and Palin will be campaigning together, and that Palin will not participate in media questionnaires. In fact, the McCain campaign made it quite clear that she will not be taking any questions from the media.
Why is she being hidden from the media? That doesn't seem like true republican transparency.

[motivez]

That last bit about her personal views not necessarily translating into public policy doesn't mesh with the fact that she tried to have books banned from the library..

Although, maybe she's only personally against earmarks and pork barrel projects, and only supports them professionally as far as policy?

[HughRuss]

Originally Posted by motivez

That last bit about her personal views not necessarily translating into public policy doesn't mesh with the fact that she tried to have books banned from the library..

Although, maybe she's only personally against earmarks and pork barrel projects, and only supports them professionally as far as policy?

Right, I believe that's how Washington has worked for years and years, now.

Say 1 thing, then vote for and make policy of another.

Uh-oh!, Real-change in the form of Little-Washington (the female version of Caligul) is coming to Washington to reform it back to her roots of say1-do-another.
I can't see how people aren't attracted to her as a VP pick.

[Heres Johnny]

Where's the beef? well according to a few of the starving polar bears, Sarah Palin's the other white meat.

[Laz777]

McCain didn't make a mistake, come on? If you look at American politics and politics in general it should be clear that it's a farce to begin with. McCain isn't so stupid to understand that Palin was going to sink him. It's all part of the false left/right paradigm. The American people are lazy and ignorant or they wouldn't have elected a man simply for the color of his skin. Even more pathetic is the inside joke (meaning the elites) of his name: Barrack Hussein Obama! WTF? The man the American people elect as president just happens to have a name that reflects the boogie man Osama Bin Laden and the dictator Saddam Hussein and we think this all happened by mere chance? Wake up people, you're being played and those on high are laughing at our collective stupidity. It's divide and conquer all the way.