I call bullshit on Sarah Palin. Usually, candidates have a well known background that the public can judge, then the opposition nitpicks on their record, kinda sorta fabricates things, and we all get crazy about swiftboating. But with Palin, it seems like the fundamentals of her record are not strong...at all.
My first complaint is her complete inability to stray from the talking points. The campaign is essentially saying that despite her limited experience, she has the judgment to be commander in chief (stealing a page from the Obama book, are we?). But when interviewed by Charles Gibson last week and asked about Iran and Israel, she simply stated and restated the same sentence about how Israel has the right to defend itself against its enemies. Is there no room for nuance? Is there no room for you to acknowledge the slightest understanding of the situation other than staring at Gibson and repeating THE EXACT SAME SENTENCE again and again? I would have even been happy with a typical politico dodging the question response, but instead she stared at Gibson blankly...I imagine it's the look in a moose's eyes right before she kills one dead.
Then Republican pundits ( a la Rove and Gingrich on Fox) explain that her limited experience is OK because if she were to become commander in chief she would be surrounded by smart, capable people. Really? Is that the best you can do? Promise us that the highest office in the free world can be occupied by an incompetent person simply because she would be surrounded by people who would stop her from doing anything too dumb and maybe teach her how to pronounce Iraq? (By the way Sarah, it's not EYE-RACK).
Outside of the commander in chief issue, the campaign has decided it gets to make up its own candidate. Because she's new to the national spotlight, the campaign can simply blurt things out to the public about her past and her record, completely disregarding facts. The campaign insists that she has been to Iraq and travelled abroad to Ireland. She did go to Kuwait, but the National Guard in charge of these visits has 100% confirmed that she did not step foot in Iraq. And her trip to Ireland? It was a refueling stop. I'm sure she learned alot about the intricacies of the EU-American alliance while her plane was getting more fuel.
Speaking of fuel, I call bullshit on her being an energy expert simply because Alaska has some oil. She claims that Alaska provides 20% of the country's energy, and this makes her knowledgable on energy issues. If she were the expert she claimed to be, she might pick up on the fact that Alaska only provides about 3% of the nation's energy. Lack experience and credentials? That's fine, just start making shit up and pray to your gay-rights-hating God that the voters never notice.
Oh and the bridge. That godamned bridge. It's become a well known part of her stump speech, "I told Congress thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere." Oh Sarah, so polite of you. Actually, the bridge was stopped in Congress before she had any direct involvement. It's kind of like sending an RSVP to a party that you weren't invited to a week after the fiesta took place. AND she actually did support the bridge as a candidate for Governor, then once it became a political liability changed her mind about it. You have an inconsistent record on the pork-barrel spending your campaign is running against? No problem, just make shit up and pray to your gun-loving, moose-hating God that the American people won't care.
Lastly, earmarks. Yes, she did significantly reduce Alaskan earmarks, but Alaska still requested more money per capita than almost every other state. That's like a 400 pound person losing 100 pounds then running a campaign against obesity.
Okay, politics is politics. It's a game everyone plays. I'm not saying Obama is a saint totally above the fray, everyone does what they have to do to get elected. That's the way it's always been and it's the way it always will continue to be. But it's alarming, unnerving, and frankly infuriating that the Mccain campaign thinks so little of the American public that it will completely fabricate the fundamental principles of his running mate. I lie on resumes. Look me up on IMDB, check out the restaurants I've pretended to work at. But this is not an audition for "One Life to Live." This is not a submission to CPK. This is the presidency, and I call complete and utter bullshit on Sarah Palin.
