Keep Iraq Off My Lawn Soil

by

by Eric Martin

My friends, Sarah Palin knows how to fight terrorism:

Palin was asked if she thought the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan was helping to mitigate terrorism.

"I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security for our nation. We can never again let them onto our soil," she said.

I…uh…huh? 

In her defense, she can’t see either Iraq, Afghanistan or terrorism from Alaska.  We’ll just have to be satisfied with her prodigious knowledge of Russia then.  Speaking of which, behold:

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

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We– 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– 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– to our state.

Poor Matt tries to make decipher this encrypted message.  As for me, I’m just going to jab sharp objects in my ear repeatedly.  Same thing.

33 thoughts on “Keep Iraq Off My <strike>Lawn</strike> Soil”

  3. 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.
    *goggle*
    Funny, last time I heard a Presidential candidate say things that sounded as dumb as this, I thought it was delightfully funny and looked forward to President Gore.
    Not quite so funny now, of course. Hail President Palin!

  4. Start with this assumption: The McCain campaign knew the question was coming. (Remember Tucker Bounds’ humiliation on precisely this point.) So they searched for some argument that they could credibly make about why Alaska’s proximity to Russia has anything to do with national security.
    What they came up with requires a little background. During the Cold War, the Russians regularly sent bombers off of our shores on training missions, in a little conspicuous saber-rattling. These flights escalated as the Cold War drew to a close in 1987-88, when Russia felt the need to assert its strength. Then, they stopped entirely. For more than a decade, there were no flights. In 2005, there was one. But in July of last year, the flights abruptly resumed – there have been more than 18 since then. The Russians are flying Tu-95 Bear bombers over international waters. They enter something we call the “Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone,” which is a fancy way of saying it’s over international waters that lie close enough to our actual airspace that we like to take a look and see who’s up there. The neighborly thing to do is to let NORAD know you’re coming; the Russians prefer to make unannounced flights, forcing us to scramble fighter jets from Elmendorf AFB in Alaska. Still with me?
    It’s an absurd defense of Palin’s inflated claims of her experience. After all, there’s no real threat here. She doesn’t command the Air Force – in fact, she has nothing whatsoever to do with it. And the whole reason the Russians have resumed these flights is because they’re flush with cash from their oil deposits and feeling diplomatically isolated. (Hmm…do an oil-centric energy policy and further belligerence seem like a good way to solve this problem?)
    But the real issue here is that Palin botched the answer. The whole point is that they’re not actually entering our airspace. That’s pretty fundamental. If they were, it would potentially be cause for war – or at the very least, for shooting them down. That’s what nations do when unauthorized aircraft stray into their airspace. It would be a really big deal.
    But Palin, after getting weeks of coaching and a canned answer, absolutely blew it! She accused the Russians of entering our airspace. That’s a mindblowing flub. She lives there. Her husband’s a fisherman, and works on oil rigs. And she doesn’t know our territorial waters only extend twelve miles off the coast? It positively defies belief. This is as significant a gaffe as she’s committed to date – it’s a shame that it’s a little too subtle to get played that way.

  6. Wow FOTW, that is a very interesting history. Thanks. It does at least make sense of what in the world she was trying to say. Maybe if she had asked some more questions.

  12. The Russians are flying Tu-95 Bear bombers over international waters.
    If she had said something like that (even if she had no control, wouldn’t she know, as Gov?), it would have made some sense and been coherent. Either she didn’t know about it, or she really is a twit.

  13. Palin today at the WTC site:

    […] And just to hear and from and see these good New Yorkers who are rebuilding not just this are but helping to rebuild America has been very, very inspiring and encouraging. These are the good Americans who are committed to peace and security and its been an absolute honor getting to meet these folks today.

    I’m sure she’s not intentionally trying to distinguish “good” New Yorkers and “good” Americans from, you know, bad ones — cheap opportunties to imply otherwise aside – but it’s strange phrasing, nonetheless. Couldn’t we take it as given that New Yorkers and Americans are, in this context, “good”?

  14. “What, like this guy?”
    Palin seems to be speaking from the perspective of someone who sees some sort of homogenous “teh Terrorists” who live “over there,” in, like, Iraq and Afghanistan and other far away places, who came and attacked us on September 11th, and “they” are who must be kept away and fought “over there,” and such. Down with Them. Up with Us. Yay, team.

  15. You people are so f—- stupid. Palin’s degree was in Political Science; was yours? Your condescension comes only from your own hat-assed education. There are none so ignoring as you who think you know – blinded by your own conceit. As a Stanford grad in Poli Sci and History, I can see your friggin’ ignorance in making fun of people soooo obviously with more intellience and courage than you have – which is why she was a Governor with an over 80% approval rating and why you are stuck in blogs. Henry Kissinger said to the BBC that she is bright and capable. She has already DONE more than Fast Barky ever did, which was only writing about himself (I Love myself, I just LOVE myself, says Barky! ) What she said about Alaska is very true. Russia and Alaska are bordering, with energy deposits, development and a shared history – she knows more about them than you do, and more about FSB agent Putin. And also about Energy. She also ran energy conferences in Calgary where there were heads of state and top CEOs who hope she comes back because she was a breath of fresh air, bringing about billion dollar deals such as with TransCanada Pipelines. There is nothing more stupid and cowardly than to just repeat MSM lies. You end up becoming your own mistake…laugh in hell, asshats, the jokes on you….

  16. You people are so f—- stupid. Palin’s degree was in Political Science; was yours? Your condescension comes only from your own hat-assed education. There are none so ignoring as you who think you know – blinded by your own conceit. As a Stanford grad in Poli Sci and History, I can see your friggin’ ignorance in making fun of people soooo obviously with more intellience and courage than you have – which is why she was a Governor with an over 80% approval rating and why you are stuck in blogs. Henry Kissinger said to the BBC that she is bright and capable. She has already DONE more than Fast Barky ever did, which was only writing about himself (I Love myself, I just LOVE myself, says Barky! ) What she said about Alaska is very true. Russia and Alaska are bordering, with energy deposits, development and a shared history – she knows more about them than you do, and more about FSB agent Putin. And also about Energy. She also ran energy conferences in Calgary where there were heads of state and top CEOs who hope she comes back because she was a breath of fresh air, bringing about billion dollar deals such as with TransCanada Pipelines. There is nothing more stupid and cowardly than to just repeat MSM lies. You end up becoming your own mistake…laugh in hell, asshats, the jokes on you….

  18. You people are so f—- stupid. Palin’s degree was in Political Science; was yours?
    If I’m not mistaken, Palin has a BS in communications and journalism from the University of Idaho.
    Thanks –

  19. There is nothing more stupid and cowardly than to just repeat MSM lies.
    really?
    i’d think parroting the talking points of a politician who has demonstrated beyond question that he’s a dishonorable liar would rank lower.
    GOP Uber Alles!

  20. Vincent: “Congrats, Maj Larson, you just barely managed to be more coherent than Sarah Palin.”
    It’s an impressive start:
    1) Double post.
    2) Mention rank, to Most Highly Impress Us Non-Servin’ Leftists, Who Wouldn’t Know a Rifle if Handed One.
    3) Get the heart of the matter factually wrong.

  21. But Palin, after getting weeks of coaching and a canned answer, absolutely blew it! She accused the Russians of entering our airspace
    I thought that the reference to entering our airspace was Putin’s head. She didn’t say if it was his big head or little head, so maybe it was both.
    Maj Larson:
    My degree is in Political Science. If I had ever said or written a paragraph that incoherent I would have immediately failed whatever class I said it in. But you seem to have had the same English teacher the Moose Dresser had, so it’s probably easier for you to understand what she’s saying.

  22. She has already DONE more than Fast Barky ever did, which was only writing about himself (I Love myself, I just LOVE myself, says Barky! )
    Awesome.
    James Joyce much?

  24. She has already DONE more than Fast Barky ever did, which was only writing about himself (I Love myself, I just LOVE myself, says Barky! )
    Awesome.
    James Joyce much?

  25. Yeah I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest there’s no way Maj Larson’s a Stanford grad.

    Oh, I dunno…there’s been a push for some affirmative action admits to balance off the Asian American admits….

  26. Early life and education of Sarah Palin:

    […] In 1982, Palin enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College but left after her first semester. From there she transferred to North Idaho College, where she spent two semesters as a general studies major. From the community college she then transferred to the much larger University of Idaho for two semesters.[11][12] During this time Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant beauty contest,[13][14] then finished third (second runner-up) in the Miss Alaska pageant,[15][16] at which she won a college scholarship and the “Miss Congeniality” award.[17] She then left the University of Idaho and attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for one term. The next year she returned to the University of Idaho where she spent three semesters completing her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987.[11][12]

    HTH.

  27. I’d like to believe that I, like another website I’ve read occasionally, am Aware of All Internet Traditions.
    But I have to confess that I have no idea who, or what, “Fast Barky” might be.
    Hints?
    KTHAXBAI.

  30. Yeah I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest there’s no way Maj Larson’s a Stanford grad.

    Oh, I don’t know. I’ve heard that PCP is all the rage at Stanford this year…

  31. In her defense, she can’t see either Iraq, Afghanistan or terrorism from Alaska
    Can she see Pakistan from there?

    AMERICA and Pakistan both deny it; but it appears that on September 15th they fought a short war. America started it.

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