Palin Met Iceland's President, Contradicting Previous Statement (PHOTO)

Photo courtesy of the Alaska governor's website

The Seattle Times reports:

Sarah Palin's trip to New York this week was billed as the Republican vice-presidential candidate's first chance to meet with foreign heads of state. That perception was fueled by her comment this month, when she told ABC News' Charles Gibson that -- as Alaska governor -- she never had met with the leader of another nation.

But Palin misspoke, perhaps forgetting about a meeting with Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson last October in Anchorage. The meeting was confirmed Thursday by Bill McAllister, Palin's Alaska press secretary.

Iceland, a nation of some 300,000, has taken a lead in developing geothermal-energy resources, and Grímsson spoke at an Arctic energy symposium, and then had a private meeting with Palin. They talked for the better part of an hour, primarily about geothermal energy and Iceland's expertise in developing that resource, according to Mead Treadwell, an Alaska Republican and Arctic expert who attended the meeting.

"[Grímsson] is a head of state, I know that," Treadwell said. "And we have pictures of them together taken at the meeting."

Comments

[Katlen]

Maybe she didn't realize that a President is a "head of state." Poor thing, she was just confused. Now she probably thinks Kissinger is a head of state since she met him.

[mysterygirl18]

LOL- when they mentioned Iceland she probably thought it was an amusement park for the polar bears...

http://www.myspace.com/wakeupnowpeople

[muypolitico]

Ha-ha-ha! Right on the money!

If she has any professional, non "high school buddy" staffers, she must have been reminded of her meeting with Iceland's President right after the Gibson interview.

In all likelihood, she exercised self-restraint, preferring to avoid saying "yeah the really pale guy with a name that sounds like the grim ripper on the rag"

[LeftLeanWing]

She didn't bring it up because she was afraid that they would ask her to pronounce his name:

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson

Palin : Ollierag Grimes

[veggiequeenmo]

He was talking was above her head I'm sure - actually taking about something IMPORTANT, not the names of their kids. She was most likely asleep thru the whole conversation.

[ThankGodforAtheists]

What is the big deal here? She simply thought that Iceland was part of the United States.

[messy]

Has she met the zillionaire who used to be governor of the part of Russia she could see from her house?

[hoppa]

With her as VP it probably will be part of the US soon. And from Washington she can see Iceland from her house!

[obgynobgyn]

It does not matter that she forgot her meeting with the Icelandic leader because she still would not have had foreign policy experience. That's like me saying since I talk to my maid who is from Mexico, I have foreign policy experience. Or if I had a conversation and shook the hand of Tony Blair, I have foreign policy experience. Palin has been in that little corner of the world with the highest teen pregnancy rate, the highest dropout rate, and the lowest intellectual constituents. McCain did not put country first when he selected her. On second thought, maybe he did, becasue maybe republicans will stay home on election night, and democrats will do the right thing for the country and vote Obama-Biden.

[Norge]

Palin is tragic and pathetic with her absence of knowledge of the world. Her hockey carreer has not included much political science though she has been an active administrator of the states coffers and her wild west ideas of hunting.
She is disconnected from the life in other creatures and realizes not what her joy of the kill really tells about herself.

[AliLiz]

Gov Palin is always confussed. She probably says, "Iceland? Is that a country?"

Having been to Iceland a few times, I am always impressed with their use of geothermal energy. It is an interesting country. Too bad Gov Palin doesn't give it the time of day. But then agian, does she give anyone respect?

[lochnessmonster]

Maybe she thought he lived on an iceberg?

[XME]

Well this changes everything. Clearly we've misjudged her and she's more than qualified to be VP. LOL

[uclafan]

So not qualified...put women back 100 years

[beden7068]

What's bizzare is that she could have used this meeting to her advantage to show that she had some foreign policy experience (as minimal as it is), but no, this woman has to say that she shares a border with Russia and Canada and forgets that she actually has met a foreign leader.

[kgb999]

What's funny is she just SKIPPED another meeting with him. Her deputy went in her place.

[TRYKER]

Wonder what impression she made on the Icelander? Maybe a journalist will seek out a story.

[robotfog]

may as well wait for the entire planet to become a paradise. It'd be more productive than waiting for a reporter to do much more than write about something they saw on a website.

[juniper76]

Did she meet so many foreign leaders in the last few days that she forgot? But, boy she does have foreign experience now!

[Ridgemore]

That because she thought he was an Native Alaskan for the far north, i.e. Iceland.

Alaska State Motto: North to the Futue.

[Independent-for-Obama]

She didn't know (or remember) that Iceland was a foreign country, certainly not like Russia and that other country that Alaska shares a land border with,

[Vermontah]

I think you mean "that other country with which Alaska shares a border with."

[XME]

Elitist = )