Grasping at Straws

There's so many left wing pundits sputtering inanities over the Palin pick that it's hard to choose which to tear apart. Jonathon Alter makes that choice easy. Alter is a hall of fame snob who perfectly illustrates the true colors of a desperate Washington elite:


I asked a senior McCain aide on Tuesday: "So what you're saying is that Barack Obama is not ready to be president on day one, but Sarah Palin is?"

"Yes," he said with a straight face.

Obama won 18 million votes, faced countless tough interviews and emerged with a reputation for fluency in discussing affairs of state, whatever one thinks of his politics. Palin's vote totals for mayor were measured in the hundreds; she has served only 20 months as governor of a state half the size of Brooklyn, and knows nothing of national or international issues beyond energy.
No matter. The argument stands.

Of course the argument stands. Ignoring facts doesn't mean they cease to be facts, Jonathon.
I can't believe you're still making the same dumb argument with a straight face.

Hillary Clinton also won 18 million votes and Obama had to be dragged over the finish line by you and your MSM buddies. Obama's fluency ends when the teleprompter is off and he's only done one tough interview at Saddleback that he failed miserably. The rest have been softball games and love fests.

Only 20 months as Governor? Well that's 20 months more than Obama or Biden. As a native of Brooklyn, I can tell you that any decisions she made as Governor have far more world importance than what's going on in Bensonhurst. Alaska is also the largest state in the Union (geographically), supplies 20% of our oil (and a lot of fish), has more coastline than all other states combined and is within spitting distance of Russia.

When faced with the obvious question—"So does that mean that Palin is more qualified than McCain, who has never been an executive?"— Republicans (working from talking points) have an answer. McCain commanded a training squadron in Florida in 1976 (the fact that he was not promoted to flag rank afterwards doesn't get mentioned).

At least he had an executive position to not get promoted from. And a life and death one at that. Should we now promote two guys with no executive experience to the most powerful positions in the world?

The Republicans were speaking from talking points? Oh, the horror! That's unprecedented!

It will be up to the press and public to raise enough of a stink about this, that Palin is forced to submit to real interviews with real questions that show whether her real-life experience is any preparation for assuming high office. In that sense, the Palin nomination is as much of a test of us as it is of her.

Oh, now you're calling for real journalism. Please show us the column where you expressed such misgivings about Obama. By trying to denigrate Palin's limited experience, all you're doing is highlighting the fact that Obama has none to speak of. At least none that he wants to talk about with any honesty.