So Sarah "I will not be taking questions" Palin had her first interview last night (Part 1 and Part 2), after hiding from the press for 13 days so she could continue to blatantly lie about her record from behind the protection of a podium. She can't even face the press and we're expected to believe she can face down Russia???
Anyways, my favorite part of the interview was this:
PALIN: And, Charlie, you're in Alaska. We have that very narrow maritime border between the United States, and the 49th state, Alaska, and Russia. They are our next door neighbors.We need to have a good relationship with them. They're very, very important to us and they are our next door neighbor.
GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?
PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.
She could be the President of the most powerful nation on earth, and she's believes the ability to stare across a sea gives her insight into how to deal with Russia?
It was obvious throughout her interview that she can memorize talking points really well, but that her depth of knowledge is about inch deep. She had no idea what the Bush doctrine was, and her only answer to how she was even remotely prepared for foreign policy was spending the entire time talking about oil. Nothing about her plan in the middle east, nothing about Afghanistan, nothing about treaties, just about an Alaskan pipeline. I feel like I'm trapped in a bad Disney movie.
There's a really good website, VetPalin.com that shows the ridiculous hypocrisy that she has to offer. Yeah she's got a cool backstory being a hockey Mom and all, but she continues to outright lie in her stump speeches about her record. Heck, McCain himself has called out the earmarks Palin has clamored for. She requested $27 million worth of earmarks while the mayor of that 6,000 person town, and hired their first lobbyist to help them get it!
She supported the Bridge to Nowhere, saying while she was running for governor: ""The window is now, while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist". She only changed her mind after the federal funding dried up and there was the backlash against it. She never sold the plane on Ebay, it didn't get any offers and she ended up selling it for a $600,000 loss to a private dealer. But that didn't stop McCain from claiming it was an example of American ingenuity to sell a plane on Ebay! She has never commanded the Alaskan National Guard to do anything militarily, as she has absolutely no authority over the guard outside the state of Alaska. All national and international commands come from Washington, not from Palin. And what has she done with them inside the state of Alaska? Organize security for a marathon. But wait, she didn't even do that, it was her subordinate who organized all that.
These are all outright lies that she keeps talking about on the stump, and it is blowing my mind that something this black and white isn't being made more of an issue of! This isn't an exaggeration or stretch or slip of the tongue, it's outright dishonestly in a prepared speech, and it's appalling that she can get away with it.
And then the McCain camp has the gall to tie Obama to the idiots who keep talking about her personal life, when Obama said very very explicitly, and I quote:
Let me be as clear as possible, I think people’s families are off-limits and people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor, or her potential performance as a vice president.”
The Obama campaign has not said a single thing about her personal life, but that doesn't stop the McCain campaign from putting out a completely dishonest attack ad implying that he had, completely taking a quote from Factcheck.org out of context, which Factcheck then hit them over the head with. But the average person doesn't pay attention that the McCain campaign put out an ad that very blatantly lies. It's not that it's negative, it's that it is completely false! McCain knows it's incredibly misleading, but play the American public for fools, hoping they won't notice. It's sickening. If you want to associate Obama with the people talking about Palin's personal life, then you have to say McCain is responsible for those ridiculous Muslim rumors about Obama. Anyone can see how absurd that line of thought is, but that's what the McCain campaign is trying to do!
It terrifies me that John McCain felt this was the most qualified person for the job as vice president that he could find. He only met with her twice before deciding she should be his VP, I mean McDonalds has more rigorous hiring practices than that. And so he ends up entrusting the nation with a person who didn't even know what the heck the VP does
I'm still upset with her attacking the community organizing work that my girlfriend and my best friend do, and the organizations that I often help do volunteering for, and think it's despicable that she feels that way about the millions of people who try to make the world a better place.
