Palin On Her Own 'Executive Experience': 'Not Rocket Science'

As the GOP struggles to maintain some vestige of the "experience" argument in the wake of Sarah Palin being named as John McCain's running mate, much has been made of Palin's executive experience as Governor of Alaska and Mayor of the town of Wasilla. Of course, if all executive jobs are equal to each other and greater than all non-executive government jobs, Palin has more experience than everyone else on both tickets. That John McCain, Palin's "executive" inferior, remains at the top of the ticket is sufficient to pooh-pooh that whole line of reasoning.

But, as it happens, Laura McGann of the Washington Independent has gone out to Alaska, to do the sort of vetting work that one would have thought the McCain campaign might have done. (One would have been wrong, of course.) And, as it turns out, not even Sarah Palin thinks all that much of her executive experience. Here's McGann, digging through the archives at the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

I'm reading an article from October, 1996, in which a reporter named Laura Mitchell Harris asks Palin about her intentions for a shake up. How would she effectively run a city without experienced leaders? "It's not rocket science," Palin said, "It's $6 million and 53 employees."

Comments

[arienette]

Now it makes sense why she left the town with a $22 million debt.

Rocket science it isn't, madam.

[knighthowl]

The deficit is a remarkable achievement considering that she got $27 million in earmarks while mayor. Has anyone checked for overseas bank accounts?

[AdobePhsyko]

Did I mention that John McCain was a POW ?

Forget all the rest.........................Enjoy Your Kool-Aid

[louden]

Excellent comment. It's all in the timing :)

[GeoLee]

There is part of me that now knows the executive experience I had over more than 150 people a day for 20 years has probably given me even more executive experience that our potential VP. I ran very smooth operations. Almost every worker completed his or her job and made tremendous progress. I did my work with a budget that ranged from 100 to 200 dollars a year of taxpayer monies (and the 1200 or so from my reserve account...that is my bank account). By comparison, I am a far better handler of public monies and bidgets. I am a Republican's best dream. Oh, except that I belonged to a union...a teachers union.

[kotipup]

Excellent point! As a teacher, you probably have more higher education credentials than Palin, too. No teacher is able to keep his/her job on a bachelor's degree.

[OhReallySheSaid]

Why is it neccessary for dems to spread lies? I thought we were above this pettiness. Is it because our nominee may actually have no experience at all? Watch the excellent CNN doc on Obama where they couldn't find one signifigant piece of legislation, job creation, or even a community center he created for his so called "community activist" rooted background as a State Legislature or US Senator. At least the old Daley machine would build a gym every once in awhile to keep peole happy.

You left this out: As governor of Alaska she manages a 6.6 Billion Budget, oversees 25,000 state employees, delivers heathcare to her constituents on a daily basis, and manages the largest infrastructure budget in the nation.

Her constituents are more than Nancy Pelosi's 8th Congressional district, more than Barry Hussein Obama's 13th district in Illinois and is comparable to Joe Biden's Senate seat.

I'm glad to see the misogynists who tired of destroying Hillary Clinton now have Palin to pick on. Have your fun now, wait till Bill Ayers enters the public discussion. Then the fun really begins.

[cyndeewi]

Please spare us. What until we see what she has accomplished as governor. Which is nothing so far.

[knighthowl]

You trolls have already been running your Bill Ayers crap for over a year.

BTW, your budget numbers and number of state employees are roughly doubled, but you already know that, don't you?

[docallen001]

Given at least three other comments, your talking points are showing.

[VOTER]

Please provide the link for the CNN show you believe you watched.

CNN just finished listing Obama's legislative accomplishments. (They must have missed
their own show. ---- Funny!)

I am from Chicago's southside. I know the area of Senator Obama's work.
I know where the work was done......address. Have CNN contact me.

And as noted above, back in 2000, Pelosi 's district population was 639.000.

Dude - GOOGLE SO YOUR LIES can have a few bits of truth.

NO WAY. NO HOW. NO MCCAIN.

AND NO MCAIN, POINTS FOR YOU....................LOL

[Knowitall]

Now she's more experienced than Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden! Those two very obvious lies call into question every last "fact" in your post. (By the way, can you people please put poor Bill Ayers to rest. Nobody's listening anymore. That, Rev. Wright and Rezko are the default positions that have been played to death! No....Body....Cares.....Anymore........Understand?)

[GeoLee]

She must have gotten a heads up about what the NYT was going to publish about all the power plays she took mayor and the revelation that she even talked about banning books, fired all kind of people for less that admirable reasons often related to her extreme religion views and the fact that as a mayor of a small town far away she made lobbying trips to Washington every year seeking (and getting) money using Ted Stevens's most prolific lobbyists to get the goods.

[moonrider 73]

I've been saying for a couple of days her only reason for being on this ticket was for vote's, if elected you can go take care of your kids, your services aren't need, one of the news guy's, sorry i fforget which one said tonight, if McCain gets elected it will be McCain, Lieberman, And Lindsey Graham running the show.It shows how much respect one must have themself to know all this experience you are suppose to have will be wasted. It's hard to believe it's about the power for McCain nothing else.

[OhReallySheSaid]

Wasn't Joe Lieberman Obama's Senate mentor? Wasn't he the one who Barry dumped the progressive and dem nominee Joe Lamont and endorsed and campaigned for "independent" Joe Liberman because he was his best friend? Some friend.....Talk about poor judgement.

[dinchicago]

After reading your many comments, I wonder if you take time-released bitter pills or is it a supplement in your PUMA chow?

[Knowitall]

Yes, you're right about Obama endorsing Lieberman. But I think that speech last night says a lot more about Lieberman's character than it does Obama's. Lieberman stood in front of millions of Americans and LIED about Obama's record of working across party lines. And he knew he was LYING. Lieberman should be ashamed of himself.

[rovezaleeker]

This is getting really old and ridiculous and stupid and bizarre and any other descriptive word, phrase or analogy that you can come up with to describe the unbelievable arrogance of John McCain. Everybody is dancing around the 800 pound gorilla (from Wassilla) in the room. The choice of Sarah Palin to run for the second highest office in the land is an insult to Americans. It's been like watching a bad episode of the Beverly Hillbillies, The Dukes of Hazzard and HeeHaw all rolled into one. What is she going to say in her acceptance speech? "Hey if you mess with me yer gonna have to take on the rest of the trailer park." Barack Obama wrote a book called "The Audacity Of Hope" George Bush and John McCain could write "The Audacity Of Dopes".

[Alonso Quijano]

"EXPERIENCE" by itself is a poor indicator of performance in office. Rumsfeld and Cheney and Bush had plenty of "EXPERIENCE" yet they led the most disastrous U.S. presidency in history. By invading Irak they displayed to the world how limited U.S. military power was. By their lies and hubris they lost the enormous good will that the entire world had for the U.S. right after 9/11. By their neglect of the economy they did more harm than Al Qaeda ever dreamed they could do.

What I mean to say is that the word EXPERIENCE which the Republicans are throwing around daily can be used against them, too. I hope Obama and his crew do something about this.

[TroubleNYC]

I've heard McCain is vetting Gomer Pile for Secretary of Defense. He has military experience.

[Eminem]

you owe me a keyboard!! mine has coffee all over it! lmao

[erykah]

Because we don't get it. Karl Rove stated that Palin is "a campaign decision not a governing decision." They do not give a damn about her not being qualified Her purpose is to galvanize their base and reignite the culture wars. Check out this ad from politico. I think they are on to something.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13101.html

[passingthru]

crazy like a fox those republicans are, especially rove.
this campaign will catapult palin into the executive branch and with a little luck sooner than later,
POTUS.

the dream of the social conservatives, they can see the light beaming directly at them from the roof of the whitehouse

Wake Up - The game is on in America.

[Texas4Obama]

The Democratic Dossier on Palin: 62 Pages of 'Oppo Research' Revealed
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM106_palin_doc.html

Palin and Her Husband Owned 26 Vehicles.
Palin and her husband have owned 26 vehicles since
1994. [Alaska Motor Vehicle Registration]
-----
McCain has the houses and Palin has the vehicles !!! LOL :)

[Texas4Obama]

The McCain campaign gets more and more bizarre as each minute goes by!!!

[cbates]

McMock is not going to release this woman. He is in the process of destroying their lives for his career. He will also destroy many more lives with another war. The pain of loosing young men and women for personal gain. I think if Sara goes back to Alaska we may have another states that wants to secede from the union.

[AdultFilmLegend]

Making fun of small-town America is funny. The "typical white person clinging to guns and religion" thinks its funny, too. That's why they can't relate to Sarah Palin.

[RFBorjal]

Come back to reality. Tell me, do you think your mayor is qualified to be VP or President?

[kotipup]

I consider myself a pretty typical white person, from a family of pretty typical white people, and - no - I don't relate much to Sarah Palin. I even have a daughter with special needs, but I still believe global warming is influenced by man, that the welfare of polar bears needs to be taken into consideration before drilling for oil, that evolution should be taught in schools, and creationism should be taught at home, if wanted, and that it is extreme to believe abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape, or in cases where the woman's health is in danger. One of the things I've always wanted to do, since I was a teenager was go to Churchill, Manitoba (Canada, near the border of Alaska) to see the polar bears. But still, no, I do not relate to Palin. People who criticize her are not making fun of small-town America. Take it from someone who has lived in "small town" America for most of her life.

[NotesFromME]

By the way, being a "hockey mom" means you take your kids to hockey games and cheer them on. I took my kids to their games in my mini-van, does that qualify me to be President? I've noticed that the Republican pundits keep morphing this "hockey mom" thing into--Palin PLAYS hockey. Great image of a tough, fighting thug, but nothing more. When do Republicans ever stick to the facts, rather just lies, smoke and mirrors

[venicesurfer]

why is career focus solely on her as mayor? she's the current governor as well.

im sure obamaphiles wouldnt like if people referred to obama as the former community leader.

[Higherground]

Which is the way people refer to him on all the other blogs.

Everyone complained that they didn't know Obama and we've gone over his life with a fine toothed comb for the last 18 months.

We are voters. We have questions. We want to know this person.

Gee whiz, I guess we need to ad the phrase "don't question me" to our currency.

[Charmed]

Oh please, Obama has been referred to everything but an American.

[Texas4Obama]

Because she has only been a governor for 18 MONTHS.

[RFBorjal]

Governor, yes, but of a state with a population of less than 1 million. Big deal?

[GeoLee]

Heck he was a community leader in a sections of a city that exceeded the population of the entire state of Alaska and was able to be successful without several hundred million dollars of earmarks. (A hundred million more than any state in the entire country as governor). And he did not make yearly trips to washington to get big earmarks EVERY year of hsi community leadership like palin did as Mayor. THAT is success. Go read NYT and learn something about her mayorty experience. It is not a pretty picture. She even made sure her successor was not her mother in law becaue her mother in law does not share the same religious and abortion views, so she was highly supportive of the woman who fit her conservative religious views.

[teflondon]

Ooops forgot the .com
http://www.younamemccane.com

[mijumom]

Love it. Thanks. I think we need one for Lieberman (that SOB)...