Just ask Palin three simple questions about Russia.
1. What National Park is co-managed by the US and Russia? [Beringia]
2. What is one of the two Russian "state capitols" nearest Alaska? [Anadyr and Petropavlosk]
3. Who are Dmitrii Medvedev and Roman Abramovich and what have they done lately? [President of Russia and former Governor of Chukotka Oblast. They fought, Abramovich 'resigned']
If she can answer these with any rational answer, I'll eat a field dressed Moose. More likely she'll expose her real level of expertise.

Oh Orwell, I so love you...you might just be the cutest troll I've ever met!

nobody, NOBODY has ever said "Obama lived in Indonesia, therefore he has extensive foreign policy expertise in south east asia".

Nobody.

What people HAVE said is "Having spent a good part of his life outside the borders of the USA helps Obama understand that America cannot afford to be so insular."

but god bless your cotton socks for trying that canard again

*pinches troll cheeks*

Two things I don't understand:

1. Why hasn't the McCain campaign found a different talking point? Incredibly, she's been on the national ticket for less than two weeks, but my guess is, they'd have to have some sort of talking points ready if Pawlenty or Romney were picked, seeing as those guys have no direct foreign policy experience. You'd think that they could brief her on a few talking points to make it seem like she knew what she was talking about, even if they conceded, however indirectly, that she didn't have any experience in these matters. The fact that they don't seem prepared makes me think that (a) she was really a last minute decision, despite rumblings to the contrary and that (b) his campaign is being run by a bunch of idiots. (B) would lead me to think that they will end up shooting themselves in the foot, so we don't have as much to worry about.

2. Why hasn't the Logan Act been mentioned at all? It doesn't seem like it precludes everything a governor could possibly do (or maybe it does; I am not familiar with all of the intricacies of the law) but it does simplify the matter a lot. You'd think that someone, somewhere, either in the Obama campaign or some person working at one of the news networks, would have brought it up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Act

I worked in Anchorage once. I have as much foreign policy experience as Palin, oh wait, I have more because I also worked in Texas, which borders Mexico, and I worked in Minneapolis, and Seattle, Washington so I have foreign policy experience with Canada. I also worked in Venezuela so theres that, and Panama, Why I went to Costa Rica, and that desert Island Aruba. I also lived in Florida and Louisiana which makes me an expert on hurricanes and drilling for oil. Oh damn, almost forgot, I lived in Colorado so I am an expert on NORAD. And Iowa, worked there, I am an expert on corn.

And all without staying at Holiday Inn Express.

Last time I checked, Delaware has ~ 100 miles of coastline vs 6,000 +
miles for Alaska. Does this mean Sarah Palin has 60 times the experience as Biden when it comes to oceanographically related issues?

Maybe she's also more qualified to deal with the Pacific Rim countries since Biden's iddy biddy state only faces the Atlantic ?

New talking point for SP..."If Delaware is the first state, how come it's so puny?

Just watch, size matters.

Pretty pathetic campaign right now. Mendacity seems to be trumping veracity.

republican convention = ROCOCO BUKKAKE

"would lead me to think that they will end up shooting themselves in the foot, so we don't have as much to worry about."

Its not what the McCain campaign might or might not do. Rove has done his work well. Its all in the hands of the star-crazed public and the lazy tabloid media. Her dorky glasses are the new craze. That's all that matters.

Way to throw out a straw man talking point Orwell.

Spending part of your youth abroad certainly isn't foreign policy experience, but it is foreign culture experience, which has a great deal of value on its own.

Spending significant time, at least a few weeks, abroad teaches you a great deal about how the rest of the world lives as well as how they see the US. I'm not talking about sanitized trips overseas to see a military base or tour a capital with dignitaries. I mean talking to regular people on the street and absorbing a bit of the local culture. What they value, what makes headlines in their papers, what people's daily lives look like. It is something every American should do if given the opportunity.

Be careful bringing up Hawaii. You know who lived there once and it is sacred ground.

Why is it that conservatives keep insisting that we see Obama as a kind of religious figure? Is there a better way to brag that you're a gullible moron who flat-out wouldn't know what to think about any issue if it weren't for Rush Limbaugh?

Putting aside the idea that that's something worth bragging about, of course. I mean, I know Orwell's a troll and all, but I keep running into these "stupid parrot and proud of it" dumbfucks in real life, too. it's bewildering.

What I think is funny is that McCain, of Keating five fame, has swum in the foggy bottom swamp for 22 years and now wants to drain his favorite swimming hole.

Change you would be a fool to believe in.

I suppose Biden actually has more foreign policy experience going into all those 7-11s and using his Indian accent. -=Orwell=-

If only Moose and Caribou could vote you would see the power of Palins nasal northern whining in the northern exposure come to fruition.

I'm pretty sure that Alaska is closer to China than Hawaii. measuring from the end of the Alluetians to the closet point in China its ~3000km. Hawaii to the closest point in China is ~7000km.

Caribou Barbie action figure...

Comes with a plastic Uzi, mortars, and proof of Alaskan manufacture guaranteeing foreign policy power-ups.

Pull the speak-cord on the back of her neck!

Hear her say: "First someone has to tell me what the Vice President actually does."

Pull the speak-cord on the back of her neck again!

Hear her wax learnedly on the evil dangers of Freddie Mac of Elm Street!

Caribou Barbie... ready to be President from Genesis Day 1!

Well, shoot, I've been to Boston and that's just across the pond from Ireland so I must be.....

Wait a minute, are we going to have to invade Ireland now????

Please, please PLEASE could we let Alaska secede before November?

They can take their oil with them, as they already cost the country more money than they contribute.

Can't they just GO already, and take their perky Governor with them?

More to the point: why is the US using Russia as a campaign issue? Didn't the Cold War end 20 years ago?

It's tired.

And please - don't mention South Ossetia. If you'd ever been there, you'd know it has about as much to do with Georgia as Guantanamo Bay does with Cuba.

Best. Ad. Ever.

Read very carefully what is written at 2:53 PM.
Dems you want to win this election?

Think about a 527 TV ad that uses a doll with a speech pull-cord and the real voice of Palin.
After the doll utters its nonsense a sane voice calmly explains the stupidity and lies.

You can make a series of ads.
Each ad features a pull of the cord and the lastest Palin inanity. Each ad provides a calm rebuttal and points out the stupidity.

This creature fake creds need to be destroyed to win this election. Anything less is unpatriotic. This Palin shit can't stand. It must be exposed and stepped on like a vile cockroach.

I don't think Hawaii is the closest state to China. I think Alaska is.

Look at a globe (or download Google Earth).

Center on the westernmost reaches of Hawaii (Niihau, maybe?).

Virtually the entire visible hemisphere -- and especially the portion westwards towards Asia -- will be ocean.

You'll barely see Japan, and a little bit of Siberia. The rest of Asia -- including all or virtually all of China -- is on the other side of the planet.

Next, center the globe on the westernmost reaches of Alaska's Aleutian islands.

Now a huge chunk of Asia is visible, including a huge chunk of China.

The same is basically true if you go by something like "Honolulu and Fairbanks" rather than "westernmost reaches of Hawaii and westernmost reaches of Alaska".

Of course, this entire line of argument is completely idiotic anyway, but hey.

I find this attack especially off since Juneau, Alaska is not particularly close (~7300 km) to the important parts of Russia (aka Moscow). Sure its close to a large, mostly empty stretch of Siberia, but it is very far from Russia's population and political centers. Just for kicks, I actually compared it to, say where Obama spends most of his time, Chicago (~8000 km) or DC (~7600 km).

Mildly related Best Free Beer bar quiz:

Can you name the furthest Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western States?

Northern - Alaska
Southern - Florida (the Keys)
Eastern - Alaska (it's over teh Int'l Date Line)
Western - Alaska

Attu Island, in teh Eastern Hemisphere, and part of teh Alaskan Maritime Wildlife Refuge, is inhabited (20 people) and has a WWII Japanese peace memorial located there.

Check Wikipedia for the remarkably stupid history of the island.

It must follow, then, that she is out-of-touch with the lower 48.

Let her keep making these crazy statements - they will come back to haunt her. Biden will bring every last one up at the debate - if he is smart. He will show how dumb she is and how not ready she is to be any part of thw WH. Why is no one talking about all the experience Biden has and how that compare to her ....what - hunting trips....please.

By the way I have gone to Italy, Paris, London, & SAmerica for business trips - I think the better qualifies me for the VP job than Palin. What a DUMB thing to say.

Actually, Steve, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle probably has way more foreign policy experience than Sarah Palin could ever dream of. Hawaii's very location and role as an international hub means Gov Lingle is a diplomat representing the U.S. to Asia on trade, disaster relief and management, and security, to name a few issues. You ever hear of the APCSS and East-West Centers? True, Gov. Lingle doesn't make foreign policy for the federal government, but she's well-versed in the role her state plays in representing the U.S. to Asia. And she has, at least, been on official diplomatic visits overseas to Indonesia, Japan, China, the Philippines, and South Korea, which is far more than Sarah Palin can boast.

http://jakarta.usembassy.gov/press_rel/lingle-juwono-partnerships.html

I won't comment on her other policies, but let's not knock Gov. Lingle, Hawaii, and foreign policy by comparing to Sarah Failin.

Even if SP was qualified on Russian matters, somehow I don't think she'd be the one to show military restraint.

At the moment, the US and Russia are not exactly seeing eye-to-eye, things are tense.

A yippie kie yay attitude ain't in our best interests.

If Palin needed a doctor's attention, do you suppose she'd go to someone who lived next to a hospital.

Anyone bothered picking up the phone and talking to the people in Canada who Palin might have actually dealt with?

You know, the independent nation that has a land border with Alaska?

As Stephen Colbert pointed out, Mt. McKinley is in Alaska, which is the closest point in the US to outer space - so, Palin now has experience with space exploration.

So the State of Maine is the closest to the Mid-East. If McCain/Palin are elected, will they turn over the War in Iraq to John Baldacci?

Mildly related Best Free Beer bar quiz: Can you name the furthest Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western States? Posted by: WuzzyWoozle

Questions apparently posed after too many beers as you neglected to qualify you criterion.

Farthest inhabited Western and Southern points for the United States are both in Hawaii.

Listen to Scheunemann on today's NPR Talk of the Nation (for lots of reasons). They've doubled down on this dumb line: now we're to note that Alaska has a second international border - Canada.

*

Ask Americans who live in the northern states how much they know about Canada.

*

They've already used the North Korea missile claim. It's the one where Frank Gaffney said she'd already learned foreign policy "by osmosis" because Alaska is "along the trajectory of ballistic missiles launched eastward out of Stalinist North Korea". Hilzoy had the quote Sept 2.

I was in the Air Force, assigned to the Army post of Ft. Richardson, Alaska, from 1991-1994.

This post is located just outside of Anchorage.

It is also home to a big chunk of the 7th Light Infantry Division.

The Army had NO mission in Alaska. It was a great place to go hunting and fishing, but no real work got done. I was amazed, then saddened, at the enormous waste of money. 12 thousand soldiers, all with nothing to do, living in a very high cost area to the taxpayers.

Absurd doesn't begin to describe it.

Oh...I went through Wasilla dozens of times. There is an EXCELLENT fishing creek, Houston Creek, very near there.

Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

Great. Now i can say thank you!

Perfect site, i like it!

Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

Perfect work!

Perfect site, i like it!

It is the coolest site, keep so!

Incredible site!

Great site. Keep doing.

If you have to do it, you might as well do it right.

It is the coolest site, keep so!

I want to say - thank you for this!

If you have to do it, you might as well do it right.

Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

Perfect work!

I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!

It is the coolest site, keep so!

I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!

Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

Perfect site, i like it!

Perfect work!

Great site. Good info.

Perfect work!

I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!

It is the coolest site, keep so!

Great work, webmaster, nice design!

Great site. Good info.

Great site. Keep doing.

I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!

Beautiful site!

Thanks for post

Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

It is the coolest site, keep so!

I want to say - thank you for this!

It is the coolest site, keep so!

Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

AWSOMENESS!!!!!
thank for helping a brotha out dude!

Perfect site, i like it!

Beautiful site!

Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

Great site. Keep doing.

Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

Great site. Good info.

Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!

Great work, webmaster, nice design!

I want to say - thank you for this!

Great. Now i can say thank you!

Beautiful site!

dialog live lksius bankgiftgift piecemeal favourably intentional doubling poverty tasks

litter legend gdaa wellcome trobe smell isps jones

statute chaithanya idiots erased difficulties dreaded cuckoos nevaid accurate dried

Perfect work!

Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.

It is the coolest site, keep so!

I bookmarked this link. Thank you for good job!

Perfect site, i like it!

If you have to do it, you might as well do it right.

Very nice site!

Very nice site!