John McCain / Rosetta Stone ‘08
Here at Rumproast we’ve been pushing the nickname of Marge Gunderson for Sarah Palin, but after reading this Washington Post article, I believe there’s a better and more effective one we can start using ... Rosetta Stone:
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is among several national security experts helping brief Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on foreign policy issues as she prepares to hit the campaign trail while cramming for a debate with her Democratic opponent, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), in less than a month, according to officials from Sen. John McCain’s campaign.
Lieberman, who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee but is now an independent, has helped introduce Palin to officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby. In a meeting Tuesday, the day before she delivered her prime-time address at the Republican National Convention here, Palin assured the group of her strong support for Israel, of her desire to see the United States move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and of her opposition to Iran’s aspirations to become a nuclear power, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
The exchange offered a brief glimpse into the views of the one-term governor of Alaska, who has virtually no record on foreign policy and has not traveled extensively outside the United States. As governor, she made two foreign trips last summer, one of which was to Canada. On the second, sponsored by the Pentagon, she traveled to Kuwait and Germany—and made a short stop at a “military outpost” in Iraq—to visit members of the Alaska National Guard deployed there, according to Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella. Comella added that Palin may have visited Mexico on a personal trip.
Campaign officials and McCain foreign policy advisers called Palin a quick study who has sound judgment that will serve her in good stead on national security issues. But privately, some in the GOP foreign policy establishment voiced concern that McCain has turned to a relative neophyte on national security matters at a time when the United States is facing challenges ranging from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea.
“Her speech wowed the pro-family and anti-tax groups, but can she handle complex foreign and defense policy decision-making?” asked one leading conservative foreign policy thinker who is concerned. He spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to be publicly critical of the pick.
Democrats offered a more scathing assessment. “As much as Joe Lieberman might be trying to give her an information dump on what he knows, he can’t infuse her with the expertise that she’s sorely lacking,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) said in an interview, adding that vice presidents often serve as foreign emissaries during international crises. “The problem with her lack of foreign policy experience is she’s running with a man who’s 72 years old and, God forbid something happens to him, it’s frightening because this is someone who would have the tiller of America’s foreign policy.”
Noting that the vice president sits on the National Security Council, Wasserman Schultz added: “What advice could Palin possibly offer McCain? There might as well be an empty seat at the table.”
John McCain / Rosetta Stone ‘08 ... Cramming Our Way Into the 21st Century.
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Posted by Kevin K. on 09/05/08 at 08:28 AM • Permalink
Categories: News • Politics • Election '08 • St. McSame • Marge Gunderson • Nutters • Skull Hampers •
