My friends, Sarah Palin once looked at a National Geographic magazine. Therefore, she understands every foreign country on the face of the planet better than anyone else.

Now excuse me while I totter off to eat some prunes and take a nap....

I lived in Canada for 4 years going to University. I had to get a student visa, which meant a trip to the consulate every year (and stops at Customs to be processed for entry).

Plus I got health insurance in country, so that meant I had to interact with the government program there.

Add in my frequent return visits to Canada that range from 1-3 weeks, plus 2 weeks in Costa Rica and 2 weeks to Norway and Amsterdam and I am ready to serve my country as an foreign policy expert.

I don't particularly expect a governor, especially a 1st-term governor, to have much foreign policy experience. And yet governors get elected to the presidency from both parties and manage. Honestly, I don't think her lack of foreign policy experience is that big a deal by itself.

What is a big deal to me is her apparent lack of any knowledge of foreign policy issues. If she demonstrated, in her folksy way, that she was seriously on top of foreign policy issues (even if all that meant was that she read about them in The Economist), she'd be much less alarming. As it is, she comes off as proudly ignorant.

Kevin,
Glad to see you are over the illness you had yesterday.

...she's spent an average of 37 minutes per month on foreign-ish activity...

Or roughly ten hours, total, in her lifetime.

She should tout that on the campaign trail: "I spent almost 90 seconds every working day on foreign policy. No need to worry about John McCain's health."

Plus several miscellaneous meetings with Canadians.

Before this I didn't take Palin very seriously, but anyone who's been in the trenches dealing with the Evil Canucks deserves our respect, ey.

Wow, and even with that punny amount she still beats the foreign policy experience that the One can claim to have. But thank God he'll have Biden to tell him who's who and what's what. lol

"Canada doesn't count, because it's attached." -- Goldie Hawn, "Protocol"

"Wow, and even with that punny amount she still beats the foreign policy experience that the One can claim to have."

ROFL.... No, dear, it doesn't, but thanks ever so much for playing. We do so love your refreshing point of view. Oh, and dear heart? It's not the "experience," that matters, it's the basic knowledge, understanding, and judgment. Do let us know when Palin acquires any of those things, won't you?

Alex,
Obviously your foreign policy creds are also weak. It is eh, not ey.

" As it is, she comes off as proudly ignorant."

My hat's off to you, RWB. You've characterized the average Republican voter as succinctly as anyone I've ever heard.

"37 minutes per month on foreign-ish activity"

Which is 37 minutes more than Obama's executive activity. But we don't talk about that, do we?

I agree with other posters. Its not so much about experience or meeting heads of states that bothers me, its that she seems to lack the type of intellectual curiousity that we need for the complex problems that we are facing. And for those criticizing Obama's lack of experience--his warnings on Iraq, when he was only a state senator demonstrate this argument perfectly. Even if you disagreed with his stance now, it is hard not to argue that he was basically right on every single point that he made, which means that he had been following what was going on pretty closely. Compare that with Palin. Other than the list of talking points, she cannot talk intelligently about anything except energy, and even there she manages to stretch the truth and make up stuff.

Here's the problem. Conservatives (when convenient) pull up "objective" criteria (e.g. Obama's had no executive experience), in a completely context-free way. One can always argue that Sarah Palin knows "enough" about foreign policy, but since she hasn't taken a standardized test or anything, the next conversation is about the bias of the arguer, or the media, that would make any such assertion.

I, being a staunch--by this point--Obama supporter, point to the way he has managed his campaign. I can look at Sarah Palin in any non-lovefest interview, and there's no question in my mind that she shares the same incurious-but-opinionated worldview as GW Bush. But to those that share this worldview, her lack of knowledge or curiousity simply points to the firmness of her bedrock values.

Except for the trolls here, I think we are all in basic agreement on the relative qualifications of the candidates.

The trolls here are forgetting that Obama went with Senator Lugar on a week visit to Russia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan to inspect various chemical, biological, and nuclear weapon facilities in 2005. link

Palin's gotten her passport only within the last year, let alone accompanied over seas as well as worked with senior Congress members on important national security issues.

Not only that, but retired colonel and former professor of international affairs at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point commented about then freshman Obama, "He's making a serious effort and he has quickly grasped a lot of important points".

Funny, I don't read about any former Army colonels praising Palin's efforts in boning up on foreign policy because she obviously hasn't made any efforts.

So "a" and Chicounsel, you're both (once again) completely mistaken about Obama's qualifications.

weenie at 3:37 is half-right. But I believe there should be a question mark at the end, to indicate the rising inflection, eh?

Also, Todd Palin's membership in the AIP. Were Alaska to declare independence, Sarah Palin would be a national leader. So, any dealings with the U.S. would be from the foreign ministry's portfolio.

Any means by which the Mc Cain campaign could secure Alaskan independence from today, 11th October, thru 3rd November?