First, let's touch on Sarah Palin's experience with the military:
*crickets chirping*
Yeah, well, that about sums it up. In all that I've read and heard about her in the last few days (and trust me, that's A LOT), I've been unable to find any experience with military issues, aside from having a son in Iraq. She did visit Kuwait once, where she encouraged the soldiers to go big game hunting in Alaska. I'm sure that was foremost on their minds.
What I'd really like to know, is how Sarah Palin, as a Blue Star mother (with a son serving in Iraq) can justify Senator McCain's absolutely appalling record on military issues. He's voted against funding for the VA on multiple occasions, he opposed Senator Webb's new GI Bill (while trying to deceive participants in a phone conference into believing he was supporting the bill), and McCain has only a 20% rating from Disabled Veterans of America and received a D from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
In fact, Sarah Palin agrees that she has no experience in this arena. I found this at ontheissues.org:
Q: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?
A: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.
Source: Q&A with Alaska Business Monthly Mar 1, 2007
Of course, I'm sure that it was McCain's intention to choose a young unknown with virtually no record on many issues. Now, he can shape her views to his own and mold her in his own image.
If I hear one more person yap about how Sarah Palin has more experience than Barack Obama, I may vomit. Being mayor of a town of 9000 people is not rough stuff, people. I'm willing to bet it could have been a part time position, like many city positions are in my town of Chesapeake, Virginia - with a population of 200,000. Sarah Palin's record on the issues in her two years as governor of Alaska has not eased my mind either.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, has shown a keen interest in issues affecting our military and military families. He's made it a priority in this election and promises to make it a priority in his administration. With foreign policy and legislative experience, I'm completely comfortable with Barack Obama or Joe Biden as commander-in-chief.
Sarah Palin just pales in comparison.
When she isn't making right-wing Republican puns, Steph can be found blogging at her much neglected personal blog, Lawyer Mama.
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--- All trolls will be disemvoweled. xoxo, Lawyer Mama
Posted by: Victoria | September 01, 2008 at 11:54 AM