The more Republican spokespeople keep citing the PTA and being close to Russia as elements of her qualifications, the easier it gets to make the (legitimate, IMO) argument that her inexperience isn't in the same ballpark as Obama's.

(What I'd also like to see more of a focus on - not just that she has no foreign policy experience but that she has demonstrated not even the slightest interest in it. I think that's more troubling than her actual background in some ways.)

Considering she didn't get her passport until last year, when she went to Kuwait and Iraq (with a layover in Ireland that she's claiming counts for a visit to a third country), they can definitely hammer her on foreign policy experience.

It appears that Palin still wants Alaska to secede from the United States. Recapping Palin's Secession Scandal

# In 2007, the Vice Chairman of the AIP, Dexter Clark, not only referenced Palin's membership [in the GOP], but also said that since she joined the GOP, "she is pretty well sympathetic to her former membership." Clark also goes on to discuss the need to "infiltrate" the major parties.

# In 2008, Palin recorded a message for the AIP's annual convention, stating that Alaska has "a great promise to be a self-sufficient state" and encouraging them to "keep up the good work."

The more Republican spokespeople keep citing the PTA and being close to Russia as elements of her qualifications, the easier it gets to make the (legitimate, IMO) argument that her inexperience isn't in the same ballpark as Obama's.

No kidding.

The "Alaska is close to Russia" thing is the both funniest & most pathetic mad scramble for legitimacy I think I've ever heard. It's like an SNL parody of something a real person might say.

(What I'd also like to see more of a focus on - not just that she has no foreign policy experience but that she has demonstrated not even the slightest interest in it. I think that's more troubling than her actual background in some ways.)

Considering she didn't get her passport until last year, when she went to Kuwait and Iraq (with a layover in Ireland that she's claiming counts for a visit to a third country), they can definitely hammer her on foreign policy experience.

Weren't both of these basically true for Bush? And both attacked fruitlessly?

The "Alaska is close to Russia" thing is the both funniest & most pathetic mad scramble for legitimacy I think I've ever heard. It's like an SNL parody of something a real person might say.

They said the same thing about Texas & Mexico. And yet, it was not absurd enough.

More and more, I think she's Bush II. Deliberately.

Weren't both of these basically true for Bush?

Yep. Although in Bush's defense, he did cite Cheney as having lots o' foreign policy cred. So maybe Republicans think that only one person on the presidential ticket needs any foreign policy interest.

They said the same thing about Texas & Mexico.

Okay, but at least Texas and Mexico share a border that hasn't been underwater since before the beginnings of human civilization.

I wanna see Biden ask her in the debate, "Do you think Alaska should secede from the United States?" And, "Do you still agree with the following Alaskan Independence Party positions?: '[a] belief that the federal government should be dissolved if gun rights are ever abolished or curtailed, a belief that the federal government is in breach of the Constitution, and complete opposition to environmental regulations and public ownership of Alaskan land.'"

at least Texas and Mexico share a border that hasn't been underwater since before the beginnings of human civilization.

Maybe global warming is an Alaskan plot to make the Bering Strait deeper, thus making it harder for the Russians to invade....

She's got all the signs of being able to be led easily by pushing the right buttons, that worked so well for the Neocons with Bush II.