In Defense Of Sarah Palin

While this will be a shock to anyone who has read just about any other column I've written, I speak today in defense of Sarah Palin.

Now, my true feelings about Palin and what is going to happen in Thursday night's vice presidential debate can be found at the end of this column (which -- I promise! -- will cheer up regular readers), but I have to defend what Sarah Palin said about Putin and Russia; because she is being made out to be some sort of incoherent idiot as a result. She may well be incoherent, and I would also venture to suggest that the jury's still out on her idiocy as well, but I haven't seen anyone give her the benefit of the doubt and attempt to explain what she was actually trying to say.

Here is the key section of the interview transcript, from the second of two nights of interviews with Katie Couric of CBS News.

KATIE COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

SARAH PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the land-boundary that we have with Canada. It's funny that a comment like that was kinda made to ... I don't know, you know ... reporters.

COURIC: Mocked?

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.

COURIC: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the executive of. And there...

COURIC: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

Now, it absolutely cannot be denied that that was incredibly inarticulate. But there are plenty of other successful politicians that can be downright inarticulate at times, and largely get away with it. Our current occupant of the Oval Office immediately springs to mind.

[Ahem.]

But that last answer -- although astoundingly inarticulate -- was not complete gibberish. And, I must admit, I feel kind of sorry for Palin because she is being painted as some species of idiot for her answer. She has evenly been openly mocked for her answer (OK, it's a funny graphic, I have to admit). But the point she was trying to make is actually a valid one, which would have (if she had coherently made it) bolstered her "foreign policy credentials."

Here's what she may have been thinking, or what she would have said if she had had a speechwriter to help her out:

"Being Governor of Alaska gives you more national security experience than any other governor in the United States. Because, ever since the Cold War began, the Russians send military flights up to do exploratory missions that come very close to -- and indeed even at times invade -- the airspace of the United States, over Alaskan skies. They send bomber flights, or fighter missions, streaking towards the Alaskan/Russian airspace border all the time -- just to test our response rate and readiness. Interceptors have to scramble from Alaskan military bases and rise up to meet this threat, and we have consistently and bravely done so -- even before we became a state. We in Alaska were on the front lines of the Cold War like no other state in America, and we know what it is like to share a border with a country we cannot trust. Now that Putin has resumed this testing of American military resolve, Alaskans continue to proudly patrol the airspace near our border -- to let Putin know that if he rears his head, we will be there to meet him."

Of course, she didn't say that. Sarah Palin didn't even manage to make it clear that it was military flights -- or even airplanes -- that she was talking about. Or trying to talk about, at any rate.

But because I consider myself a fair (if occasionally unbalanced) reporter, I have to at least try to defend the point she was (so badly) trying to make. Alaska was on the front lines of the Cold War. It's a valid point, especially with a newly-resurgent and newly-belligerent Russia. Being governor in Alaska gives you more foreign policy experience than being governor of Arkansas, for example.

Now, having said all of that, I must admit I'm already mentally popping popcorn, in eager anticipation of this Thursday night's vice presidential debate -- because when it's over, I fully expect Joe Biden to be standing next to tiny pieces of Sarah Palin's credibility, scattered all over the stage.

And he won't even have to attack her himself, it seems. She's going to do it to herself, all on her very own.

Because in that transcript excerpt I provided earlier, the first answer Palin gives is actually her worst. She couldn't even finish her sentence... instead trailing off with a dismissive "... reporters..." complete with a derogatory shake of her head. Her inability to even complete a thought in this example has even staunch conservatives publicly hand-wringing over how she's going to do Thursday night.

Worry they might -- because although she has risen to lead a state (a test which one would assume requires a basic level of political competence), she seems woefully unready for the task at hand.

People have been worrying since John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate whether Joe Biden could "get rough" with her during the debate, since she's a woman and all. He couldn't be seen (the thinking went) to be "beating up on her" too badly, because that would somehow trigger some knee-jerk sympathy for her.

But Joe Biden has been freed from this conundrum, as the rest of the Couric interview so painfully makes obvious.

Because all Joe's going to have to do is stand back and let Gwen Ifill tie Palin up into knots. And the whole country's going to be watching when it happens. While Palin's been fairly adept at memorizing the talking points being fed to her right now (you can almost see her visualize the three-by-five cards in her mind while she talks), she memorizes these slogans so perfectly that it becomes painfully obvious that she's just read the Cliff's Notes -- especially when she starts to repeat herself. Because she really seems not to know what she's saying. She's like a student who has crammed for the big test and knows the "book answer" to the question... but doesn't really know what the answer means, when you ask her to explain it in context.

My guess: independent and uncommitted voters are not going to be impressed with what they see from Palin, no matter how low "media expectations" are set beforehand. And Obama's poll numbers will continue to rise as a direct result.

 

Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

 

Comments

[QueenOfViolets]

By the way, it really gets me to hear McCain claim that he would have stayed in Afghanistan "after the Russians left."

There were Georgian and Ukrainian troops fighting in that war too on the Soviet side. McCain conveniently skips over that part!!!!

It was the Soviet Union, not Russia, that sent troops to Afghanistan after the Afghan Communists in power begged them for help to fight the mujahedin insurgency.

It's ironic that the same issues that helped convince Americans to go into Afghanistan -- the horrific treatment of women -- also motivated the Afghan Communists to take over the country in 1973, and powered their civil war with the Islamic fundamentalist tribes, from which the Afghan government begged to be rescued by the USSR in 1979.

[QueenOfViolets]

There is no such thing as a "newly resurgent Russia."

The country that dominated Eastern Europe during the Cold War was called the Soviet Union, and Russia was just one republic in that union.

The leaders of that union were not all Russians. In fact the worst dictator of the lot -- Stalin -- was from Georgia. And the lackey of Stalin's who took over after he died -- Nikita Khrushchev -- was a Ukrainian.

Yes, the same people now complaining about evil Russia -- the Georgians and the Ukrainians -- produced one of the worst dictators in world history, and one of the biggest threats to American survival after WWII.

The Cuban missile crisis was thought up by Khrushchev. That was his idea to "put a hedgehog down our pants" by putting nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Khrushchev was not a Russian and he was never the leader of Russia. He was a Ukrainian leader of the USSR, of which Georgia and the Ukraine were both members.

It's so funny now to see the Georgians and Ukrainians act like they're our best friends and they were only part of the USSR because Russia forced them. Ha ha ha ha ha. That is funny.

The Cold War seems to generate stupidity. Why is that? Why do people want to remember Stalin and Khrushchev as Russians, when they were not Russian?

These two horrible Soviet dictators were from the very same republics that now complain about oppression from Russia.

[Michale32086]

@

}}}}}}}}}}}
I speak from experience since I teach basic computer skills to seniors. In one of my first senior classes, I had three women at the ages of 77, 79 and 75. In one of my latest classes, I had a 77 year old.
}}}}}}}}}}}}}

OK, so you are a teacher of basic computer skills.. Great..

Why not ask your students how they would feel is someone in authority mocked them about their lack of computer skills and lack of computer usage...

Go ahead.. Ask them..

You see the hypocrisy??

}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
If you are going to use the excuse that he is a senior, then use that for his inability to lead the country.
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{

It's not that he is a senior, it's that he is disabled.. So, now you are claiming that a disabled person can't lead the country??

You DO realize that FDR (a Democrat) was confined to a wheelchair, right??

If the situation would have been reversed, Democrats and (so called) Liberals would be screaming to high heaven..

It's nothing but bigotry, pure and simple.. Bigotry and hypocrisy...

Michale.....

[DS1Roger]

All politicians are fools just like their electorate.

Personally I think we should throw all of the BUMS out of office regardless of party.
We have had the same bunch of bozos working us over for so long we get taken by all of them.

Obama isn't the answer for the country. I have no ill will against him personally. Only against his policy stances.

[MsYellowDog]

Everyone is now sick and tired of 8 years of trying to unravel what Shrub is REALLY saying,when he speaks his garbled version of events. WHY do we have to do it again?

[ibsteve2u]

It is a little too easy to kick somebody who only has nominal control of a state's Guard forces for taking credit for defending America.

But consider that prior to Bush - who apparently felt bad enough about his hiding in the Guard during the Vietnam War to ensure that nobody else can - Palin's implication that the Guard forces under her command were on the front line of America's defense would have carried even less weight.

Except for one weekend a month.

[curocat]

Not even. NORAD does...

[UncommonSenz]

Your point, even if she gave the answer you offered, is still WRONG.

The fact that that Russians and Americans engage in airspace of the coast does not mean SHE (as governor) has ANYTHING to do with that. The underlying question is what does Alaska being near to Russia have to do with FOREIGN POLICY EXPERIENCE. The answer is "Nothing".

She is not responsible for those fighters. She doesn't interact with the Russians any more than some corn farmer in Iowa does. Yes, Alaska was on the front line. No, it did not offer her any experience in the foreign policy arena.

I grew up in DC. In DC there is the White House. While I lived in DC, decisions were made on a daily basis that profoundly affected the Nation. However, it is LUDICROUS for me to cite that proximity as my "unique experience" in politics. That is what is being mocked - saying that some remote part of Alaska being near some remote part of Russia means anything at all in foreign relations (when she has NOTHING to do with any military ops going on) is a joke.

[RepublicanRic]

Chris, I normally read your column just for the "entertainment value." Now I'll read with a bit more appreciation for your insightful perspective. You illustrated a more even-keeled and fair response than expected--it took me by surprise. Well done. Now, back to the conservati­ve-bashing I'm use to reading!

[Chris Weigant - Huffpost Blogger]

RepublicanRic -

We aim to please... I think...

Conservati­ve-bashing resumes Friday.

Heh heh.

-CW

[rock2casbah]

I don't know how you can attempt to be taken seriously and try to advance the argument that Palin has anything to do with foreign policy and national security experieince due to her proximity to Russia.

No one with any hopes of still being taken seriously does, including every single republican spinmeister. I for one have never read a column by you. Now I see why.

Even the Inuit people who have been in Little Diomede since Alaska became a state and way before Reagan and the Cold War have laughed at this question when newspaper crews have come through lately.

And they actually can see part of Russia across the way. There is only 150 people and they have not even seen Palin ever before there, and some do not even know her. The trade missions she speaks of must be the fact that the people of Little Diomede hafe so little in the way of sanitation that they throw bags of trash in the sea between Russia and Alaska. Maybe that is the "trade" Palin speaks of.

So whatever recognizance she set up, or whatever, the people living there have never even been a part of or know what the hell she is talking about.

[curocat]

with pleasure...

[Michale32086]

What ya'all just can't seem to comprehend is by making all these senseless attacks on Palin, ya'all are actually making her MORE attractive to John Q Public..

Seriously, think about it... Ya'all are internet savvy and political savvy or else you wouldn't be here.

But ya'all are not the quintessential undecided voter. The quintessential undecided voter is Joe Sixpack whose biggest worry is that bowling night doesn't interfere with CSI.. Joe can't name any Supreme Court Justices and doesn't know the name of the paper he reads... Joe knows that Russians are the bad guys and any state that borders Russia is a "front line"...

So, ya'alls attacks on Palin makes as much sense as the Obama campaign's attacks on seniors and disabled people. It's going to backfire..

As to the debates, Democrats are already realizing their mistake on that. Dems have ridiculed Palin so much that she just has to SHOW UP to the debate and she will win..

When it comes to being as negative and mud-slinging as Republicans, today's Democrats are their own worst enemies..

Michale.....

[jlab]

Attacks on seniors and disabled people??? Could y'all please explain what y'all meant by that? That didn't make sense to me... at y'all!

[Michale32086]

The Obama's campaign that mocked McCain for his lack of computer usage.. Ya know, the one that Biden was against it before he was for it..

Many MANY seniors don't use computers much. So, ridiculing McCain for not using a computer would also be a jab at seniors who also don't use computers..

The fact that McCain CAN'T use a computer because of his disability means that the Obama ad that mocked McCain for that also mocks other disabled people..

In short, there are valid reasons for McCain's non use of computers.. The Obama campaign's use of that ad ridiculing McCain is far beneath Obama....

Michale.....

[Michale32086]

Has there EVER been so much hysteria over a VICE PRESIDENTIAL candidate??

I don't think so... Even McGovern's pick of Terry Eagleton didn't generate this much hoopla...

OK, ya all think that Palin is unqualified.. I get that..

If she is as bad as ya'all say, why all the hysteria?? Why all the disgusting and pathetic personal attacks?? If she is really so much unqualified to even be a human being, let alone a mother or a VP, then surely it's obvious to all.. Right??

So, why all the hysteria coming from the Left??

But methinks ya'all doth protest TOO much.

Michale.....

[Babyheart]

My sentiments exactly. As for Sen. Biden ging easy on Gov. Palin - I think she can handle it.

[LeftRight]

"If she is as bad as ya'all say, why all the hysteria?? Why all the disgusting and pathetic personal attacks?? If she is really so much unqualified to even be a human being, let alone a mother or a VP, then surely it's obvious to all.. Right??"

Okay, I haven't really seen too many personal attacks, and I know that I haven't done any. The reason that I am opposed to her has nothing to do with her personally, and EVERYTHING to do with her politics, which are polar opposites from mine. I am also disturbed by the lies spread by her and others on the right who are claiming that her lack of experience (which I only bring up because that's mccain's only point against Obama!!!) is actually proving that she HAS experience.

[Michale32086]

I wasn't referring to just this forum.. I have seen attacks on Palin on many other forums as well. "Barbie Doll" and "Bimbo" came from Taylor Marsh.. etc etc..

However, my point is still valid..

As a whole, Democrats have been hysterical about Palin..

I just want to know why...

Michale.....

[omaro]

That would be TOM Eagleton. Maybe the protest has to do with our difficulty in comprehending why as many as 40-45% of the country would be willing to vote for a ticket with her on it, since we love our country.

[zedthewizard]

okay, the cold war was over and as governor of alaska she had no responsibility for planning or commanding any of our armed forces. yes, if actually attacked then she would technically be the commander, however, realistically she would make no decisions due to her inexpertise. a big difference say between her and bush would be that he can invade countries legally, illegally, or deceptively, while she cannot.

[chappelforpres]

In point of fact, Palin's utterance, observation, or ??? never got beyond the embryonic stage. Therefore, it must go on record as another poorly expressed communique from an individual who supposedly majored in journalism / broadcasting. Hmm...where do you suppose her great strengths are hiding?

[RedDogBear]

"NORAD: Sarah Palin Has No Role Guarding US Airspace Despite Claims: When Russian bombers approach American airspace and U.S. Air Force fighters are scrambled, Sarah Palin's phone doesn't ring.
The Alaska governor has no command authority over the guardians of U.S. airspace despite her recent suggestion otherwise."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/30/norad-sarah-palin-has-no_n_130722.html

I made this exact point as a response to this article last night. I know its immature but now that NORAD has confirmed it I couldn't resist saying I told you so.

[GentlyFeral]

Lordy. Even when she *has* a valid point, she can't spit it out. And we're worried about her in the VP debate?

[jiml1956]

We've got military bases in my state, too, so I guess my governor has also been defending us against Russia.

I'm surprised the Joint Chiefs of Staff haven't reported on their many briefings with Palin.

[tm68]

There's another article that explains she has NOTHING to do with what our military bases do when Russia has flights out and about. My AF husband is stationed up here and yes, we deploy our aircraft when "Putin rears his head", but Palin is probably not aware of when that actually is- it is NOT something that is announced outside of the military circle. To insinuate otherwise would be typical of Palin, but again, yet another lie.

[Michale32086]

Anyone who doesn't think that the Alaska National Guard will be utilized during a Russian invasion is simply ignorant of military matters... PERIOD.

Michale.....