Saw the debates last night, boy was that fun. I guess Palin acquited herself alright, though I would have preferred to hear more substance. Repeating the word “maverick” over and over again doesn’t really explain what that is. Oh, and repeating that tax cuts create jobs is nice, unfortunately not so nice when it results to cuts in healthcare, college grants/loans, crippled social services, etc. Demonstrate how it’s created jobs over the last 8 years and you’ll have my support.
With regard to healthcare, which was missed in the debates: No it’s not socialist to want everyone to have healthcare, it’s decent. Socialized medicine is NOT socialism. The idea that gvernments should be responsible for their citizens’s well-being is not a socialist concept. Otherwise why fund the military, space exploration, medical science, FEMA, the post office, etc.? How is healthcare any different? Are the Canadians socialists?
Yeah, Campbell Brown was a little uptight during the interview. Maybe she had a bad day or something. However, her questioning of Tucker Brown was reasonable, if not exactly delivered in the most professional manner (though one should check out YouTube for Bill O’Reilly interviews – speaking of a lack of professionalism). The reasonable part comes from Brown continuously ducking the question, which was, what is Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience?
The answers either reflected senator McCain’s experiences or this incredible bullshit about her being the commander in chief of the national guard giving her foreign policy experience. Yes, she is commander-in-chief of the National Guard. The Federal Mission of the National Guard is not managed by a governor in any way shape or form. From the National Guard site: “During national emergencies, however, the President reserves the right to mobilize the National Guard, putting them in federal duty status. While federalized, the units answer to the Combatant Commander of the theatre in which they are operating and, ultimately, to the President.”
As for the state National Guard, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell manages the Alaska National Guard, and is authorized by Governor Palin to act without her approval. There have been no major deployments of the Guard at the state level. The active guard force is under 2000.
So, back to Campbell Brown and Tucker Bounds. Yes she was aggressive, and it’s been fun watching Wolfe struggle to keep it civil during the convention. That said, Tucker Bounds’s answers regarding “she has executive experience” aren’t relevant to the question of foreign policy. Her being commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard has NOTHING to do with its federal deployment to Iraq. She’s never made any decisions how to equip or command the National Guard on foreign soil.
Now, the LA Times covered this, and the comments are more interesting than the story itself. Lots of people talking about sexism. Now I’m confused. Is Brown sexist towards Bounds? I heard no mention of babies, women or anything remotely associated in this video.
I love this, Michelle Obama gets called all sorts of nasty names, Hillary is called a man, but heaven forbid you say anything bad about Sarah Palin, cause now that’s just plain sexist.
