McClellan, McKiernan, You Know, One of Those Army Guys...

Wading into the debate over the future of the war in Afghanistan, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tried for a moment to sound as if she knew what she was talking about. This is what we got:

MODERATOR: Governor?

PALIN: Well, first, McClellan did not say definitively the surge principles would not work in Afghanistan. Certainly, accounting for different conditions in that different country and conditions are certainly different. We have NATO allies helping us for one and even the geographic differences are huge but the counterinsurgency principles could work in Afghanistan. McClellan didn't say anything opposite of that. The counterinsurgency strategy going into Afghanistan, clearing, holding, rebuilding, the civil society and the infrastructure can work in Afghanistan. And those leaders who are over there, who have also been advising George Bush on this have not said anything different but that.

Setting aside for a minute the fact that the substance of Palin's babbling, incoherent response was wrong, she apparently got her centuries and wars crossed.

For those who don't know, this is General McClellan:

And this is General McKiernan, the officer to whom I presume Palin was actually referring:

Now, in most cases, this type of oversight on the part of a politician could be dismissed--maybe even attributed to nerves. But when Afghanistan is exploding and on the verge of failure, details matter. Facts matter. Being familiar with the situation matters--a lot. The troops depend on it.

If you're going to accuse your opponent of waving the "white flag of surrender" in front of the entire country, then you had better damn well be able to back it up with foreign policy expertise. And, as expected, Palin fell far short of that mark. Instead, we were treated to more of the same clueless carelessness that has marked the last eight years of the Bush administration.

This is a woman who can accuse her opponents of cowardice, but at the same time, can't be bothered to learn the name of America's commander in Afghanistan. It's remarkably sad, and it's an insult to the troops serving there. Likewise, it denotes that same aloofness--that all-too-familiar lack of curiosity and concern for what's actually occurring on the ground in both theaters. And for those of us who've served overseas under the leadership of George W. Bush, it's a feeling we know well.

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Comments

[BobJeff]

This was a simple mistake. In fact, Keith Olbermann made a huge deal about this and made several simple mistakes in the process of explaining who General McKiernan is. Olbermann stated "We don't really know who McClellan is supposed to have been. The general in charge of-working under Centcom commander General David Petraeus, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, is General David McKiernan.­" You can find this quote in his show transcript at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27008749/

GEN McKiernan is the NATO/ISAF Commanding General, but he does not work for US Centcom. The Centcom/OEF forces are only a small slice of the forces in Afghanistan and the NATO/ISAF Command does not fall under Centcom or GEN Petraeus.

So what does this mean? While I generally think Keith is a blowhard, it's not because he made this small mistake in understanding the chain of command in the Afghan theater. It's not that he said Track Palin is in the Alaskan National Guard either (he's in the regular army, just stationed in Alaska). I submit it has the same gravity as Gov Palin's mistatement of "McLellan", which is none.

[notb observer]

I admit that Palin performed much better than I thought she would, but then, I had very low expectations ! Her overall demeanor and performance was a bizarre cross between what I would expect from a 15 year old schoolgirl, unwillingly thrust upon a debate stage to support something she has almost no knowledge of, and a contestant on "The Price Is Right" who was just selected as the closest bidder to the actual retail price...
Shout outs to 3rd graders, shout out to mom in the back row, incoherent sentences punctuated by "also" to imply deeper understanding of a topic.
While she did convey the appearance of control, if questioned after the fact, I'd wager she could not remember much of what she said, or list any of the errors that she made.
What we witnessed last night was the birth of a monster which has been incubating and force fed in a neo-con cult compound over the past month. The fact that her abysmal performance, in terms of substance, was so well received by the right wind ideologues is proof that we will be seeing a lot more of this dangerous facade of a person in the years to come.

[betorah]

Actually, McCellan was not a terrible general. He took a disorganized Union Army and did a wonderful job training and organizing it. Unfortunately, he didn't want to see it get dirty and refused to take it out to fight. During wartime, a army that you won't use might as well be unorganized and ill-trained.
As for how Sarah got to be mayor of Wasilla and governor of Alaska, that's all about smoke and mirrors. Mayoral elections in towns like Wasilla, Alaska are usually about issues like town dump fees and paving certain roads. Sarah brought new issues to Wasilla -- abortion and other Conservative buzz word issues. In the ensuing bru-ha-ha, competence went completely unnoticed. It's often said that women should go to Alaska because there are so many single men there. "The odds are good, but the goods are odd." The same can be said about many of the 667,000 Alaskans citizens. Standards are different in the land where Sarah and her husband once shot up 40 caribou on a hunt. (Shades of Buffalo and Bill and others slaughtering 1,000's of buffalo when the railroads were being built.)

[MadDog]

Facts, schmacts. They don't actually matter, do they? It's obvious they don't if you're part of the McSame/Schlocky Mom team.

Thanks, but no thanks to Bush 44.

Go Obama/Biden!!

[USA1776]

The Democrats line could be --- more than just getting the General's name wrong and century wrong, Sarah Palin does not understand what he said about the war.

[Larkinvos]

Ifill should have asked Palin if she could name
a Civil War battle that was fought on Alaskan
soil. It might have been fun to watch her head
explode.

[Speakchic]

None of this matters...­she beat expectations and stopped the bleeding. Details be damned when a woman is fighting for her credibility with the American people.

[kdubbg]

She is in no way "a woman" she might posses the parts but she's a vice presidential candidate first and foremost, and as such should be able to get her facts straight.

[suzukimom]

If you whisper "McKiernan" in someone's ear, might it sound like McClellan?

Also, did she ever actually focus on her note cards, or did she just shuffle them around a little to buy a little time while the answers she was looking for "came to her"?

[Senzasord]

I came away from the debate last night with the reminder of how much competence counts. Sarah Palin has never demonstrated any meaningful level of competence in any area save the ability to avoid answering questions, even going to the extent of telling the moderator that she was going to answer something else when the queston didn't suit her.

This is the kind of tactic we can look forward to when dealing with the press in a Republican administration, and I say we have had enough of that from the last eight years.

Oh and by the way, the vision of Sarah Palin answering a 3:00 A. M. call on the red hotline phone does nothing to make me feel safer.

Last but not least, under the total mismanagement of the Bush administration our country is a laughingstock among the nations of the world in the field of diplomacy. The nightmare scenerio of Sarah Palin negitiating with any foreign leader on anything would only enhance our status as a nation of no account.

The first step towards meaningful change is repudiation. It is not looking back, it is fixing the problems.

[NJmikeV]

What Would Grant Do ?

[theplaintrutho1]

Many of you people are brutally cruel, and maybe rightfully so, at times.
I believe Gov. Palin simply could not pronounce Gen. McKiernan's name as it spells out while reading from her crib-sheets.
Since the war-news has been deliberately kept out of any type of verbal media for such a long time, the Gov. hasn't heard the correct pronunciation of his name. Add that to the fact that nobody in the Mac camp expected her to play smart and go there, where no prep has gone before.

Now you people have got to give some credit to about 2/3rds of us Con serv e tives, because we do believe the country is and has been heading in the wrong direction. Some of us will not vote for a change in skin-color, but will not vote for more of McSame.
As a full blooded American, it bothers me how some of these Rep ubli can- Tro lls here, exhibit real, genuine, enthusiastic ignorance and stupidity of reality. This is real-time American survival at stake, and some go on like it's an left/right issue.

Are these people really truly American-citizens or middle-eastern terr o ist invading the blogs to keep us at odds with each other?

Divide & Conquer strategy?

[Maxwell511]

The divide and conquer strategy has been the mainstay of Republican victory plans for decades now. Small town values vs. the cities, small states vs. the big states, and those who look back to the 1950's for their values (pre-civil rights movement) vs. those who look to progress into the future.

[theplaintrutho1]

Yeah, but I'm asking about the Tro lls that invade this site daily with completely un-American, down right treasonous comments, designed to bring this country down. It's hard to believe these people are that stupid for love of party.

[Maxwell511]

All these Eye-rish names to remember. McCain, McKiernan.­. Guess all of the Eye-rackey names filled up too much precious brain space. She's lucky she didn't have to discuss any of the Eye-talian names she had to try to memorize in the last few days: Odierno, Scalia ..

[kbrandauer]

You bet'cha!

[sbvpav]

okay, i am a supporter of sens. obama/biden and i seriously was beginning to wonder if the past few week's stumbles by gov. palin were a sandbagging grand scam by the mccain campaign leading up to last night's grand slam; but i finally figured out what it was about gov. palin last night that turned me off. it was like watching two different realities: one a gracious, experienced and knowledgeable senator, one we all know and feel comfortable with, running for vice president; and the other reese witherspoon running for senior class president which wore very thin as the night went on.

[jmpfjoy]

Come on people, this woman just wants to be FAMOUS. She always has, that's why she wanted to go into broadcasting. If she truly had the country's interest at heart, she would have dropped out when she embarrassed her candidate and her party so badly.

Let's just give her and Toddy a reality show on VH1 and get it over with. It could be entertaining with all those snowmobiles, sled dogs, babies and her unique and so-cute ability to slaughter sentence structure and then wink at the audience. They could call it-

Again, I Love Sarah Palin, Also.

[weeklyworldnews]

Good point - you can never really believe what facts are BS or what's true... how can a fact be a fact when they both disagree on them!?! not sure...

funny article though. Palin can't win BUT McCain gets nominated as Miss Congeniality!

HAHA

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/election-08/congress-names-mccain-miss-congeniality/

[Zao]

Unfortunately, this mistake of the McKiernan was nullified by two things:

1. Biden referred to him several times in a row, but didn't name him, as if he couldn't remember. (Inside, I was saying to myself "SAY HIS NAME.")

2. Biden didn't get the chance to say his name after she got it wrong, did he.
--------------
Biden said "Bozniacs" but that was just funny, and a little less important because he was on a roll with other names. Just did a search for it. Oh yes, the Rethugs are buzzing about that.

Anyway, both these mistakes are relatively unimportant. Biden won on substance and presidential demeanor.

[Gidster]

Bosniaks was not a mistake. It is the word for Bosnian Muslims.

[donitacurioso]

I think it was wise of Biden to not mention McKiernan's name as a way to correct Palin, which would have been an obvious attempt to humiliate her. It would have looked petty. He knew he could leave it to the pundits.

[erinker]

Bosniacs is not an incorrect term. Like Gidster said, it is the correct term for Bosnian Muslims. Biden was correct. And all the rethugs that are "buzzing" about that are doing nothing but showing their complete ignorance, so by all means I hope they continue.