[This blog begins a series of posts on the 2008 presidential election from Flat Hat staffers Alex Ely and Beth Sutherland.]
Already an expert on Russian affairs due to the gorgeous view out her bedroom window, Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin was no doubt disappointed that her invitation to a major Anti-Iran rally in New York City – sponsored by a collection of American Jewish Organizations – had been withdrawn for fear that the event would become too political. It’s certainly a bummer for the Republican Party, who had perhaps hoped that by allowing their newest star a chance to visit the rally, she might at least begin to understand even a single thing that she was talking about. Palin was livid: “Unfortunately, some Democrat partisans put politics first and now no elected official can appear. This should not be a matter of partisan politics,” she said.
Uh huh. This coming from a woman whose selection as a VP candidate was a blatant example of putting the country second and politics first at a time of incredible turmoil, and who is almost as qualified to hold the position as a fox is to guard a chicken coop.
If Palin really wanted to see an example of bi-partisanship, she might look at remarks made by fellow Republican Chuck Hagel last week:
“She doesn’t have any foreign policy credentials,” Hagel said in an interview with the Omaha World Herald. “You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don’t know what you can say. You can’t say anything.”
It’s not that I have anything against Palin per se. Call me old-fashioned, but I think it’s usually important that the potential second-most powerful citizen in the country, first in line to take the reigns from an aging President, understand at least some things about how the world works. Instead, we have a woman who doesn’t even know what the Bush Doctrine is.
As for some of her “qualifications?” Well, it’s not that I’m completely against shooting wolves from a helicopter, I just fail to see how it qualifies someone to lead the country.
George Will, a conservative columnist for the Washington Post, compared Palin’s meteoric rise to an American Idol winner. From what I’ve seen so far, I’d say Miss South Carolina is more accurate.
