[Vision2020] GOP Sen. Hagel: Palin Has No Foreign Policy Credentials

Thu Sep 18 10:47:20 PDT 2008

The governors you listed, however, were running for President; they had campaigns of a year or two in duration and weren't just picked to pretty up the last six weeks or so before the election.  They had formulated not only domestic but foreign policy, surrounding themselves with advisors and those more experienced than they, and they tossed their respective hats into the ring with a body of knowledge, a demonstrable commitment, and a foundational experience that Sarah Palin lacks, and lacks completely.  

Cheap anti-Clinton shots aside, you really ought to look into what separates Sarah Palin from the people you mentioned.  In that group, she's even less distinguished than she is now.

Oh, by the way -- no need to thank us for trying.  It's getting quite fun, really.

Keely
http://keely-prevailingwinds.blogspot.com/

> Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:30:37 -0700
> From: vpschwaller at gmail.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] GOP Sen. Hagel: Palin Has No Foreign Policy	Credentials
> 
> No governor ever had foreign policy experience before becoming
> president— not Bill Clinton (huh - the governor of a rather small
> state), nor Ronald Reagan, nor Jimmy Carter nor Franklin D. Roosevelt.
>  No governor period.
> 
> As Patrick J. Buchanan said in 1992:  "Under the pressure of a
> Presidential campaign, Gov. Bill Clinton has been trying to outline
> his own unique foreign policy, while at the same time fending off
> criticism from the Bush White House that he is a closet dove
> masquerading as a hawk and that his experience in world affairs is
> limited to breakfast at the International House of Pancakes."
> 
> Humorist Dave Berry says "I think his pre-presidency foreign policy
> experience was nailing British chicks at Cambridge."
> 
> And Senator Biden??  Having served on the Senate Foreign Relations
> Committee he has OBSERVED foreign policy in the making, but making
> policy himself?  Answering to the consequences of such policies?  In a
> word – no.
> 
> Thanks for trying . . .
> 
> GS
> 
> 
> On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 9:43 AM,  <nickgier at roadrunner.com> wrote:
> > Greetings:
> >
> > With regard to having a border with Alaska, Hagel: "I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,'" he said. "That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."
> >
> > Wouldn't it wonderful if other Republicans were as honest about this as Hagel is.  Or I guess he is not a Republican now because he does not toe the Party Line.
> >
> > Nick Gier
> >
> > Sen. Hagel doubts Palin's ready
> > BY JOSEPH MORTON
> > OMAHA WORLD-HERALD,  September 18, 2008
> >
> > WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska on Wednesday became the nation's most prominent Republican officeholder to publicly question whether Sarah Palin has the experience to serve as president.
> >
> > "She doesn't have any foreign policy credentials," Hagel said in an interview. "You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."
> >
> > Palin was elected governor of Alaska in 2006 and before that was the mayor of a small town.
> >
> > Democrats have raised questions about Palin since Sen. John McCain picked her as his vice presidential running mate. Most national Republican officeholders have rallied to Palin's candidacy.
> >
> > Palin has cited the proximity of Alaska to Russia as evidence of her international experience.
> >
> > Hagel scoffed at that notion.
> >
> > "I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, 'I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,'" he said. "That kind of thing is insulting to the American people."
> >
> > A senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hagel has been an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war and had considered making his own run for president. He skipped the Republican National Convention in favor of a trip to Central and South America.
> >
> > Hagel, who says he has no plans to endorse either presidential candidate, traveled with Democratic nominee Barack Obama to the Middle East in July.
> >
> > In criticizing Palin, Hagel broke with other Nebraska Republicans, including Gov. David Heineman, who have praised the selection.
> >
> > Tom Kise, a McCain campaign spokesman, responded to Hagel's comments by questioning Obama's experience.
> >
> > Kise pointed to statements that Obama's running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden, made during the Democrats' primary fight. At that time, Biden was seeking the nomination and questioned whether Obama was prepared to be president.
> >
> > "It's much more alarming that Barack Obama's own vice presidential nominee doesn't think he has the experience or the judgment for the job," Kise said.
> >
> > Palin herself has addressed the question of her foreign policy experience in a recent interview with ABC News.
> >
> > "We've got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time," she said. "It is for no more politics as usual, and somebody's big, fat résumé, maybe, that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment where, yes, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state."
> >
> > "I'm ready," Palin said. "I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink."
> >
> > Hagel offered a couple caveats on his assessment of Palin: Experience is not the only qualification for elected officials — judgment and character are indispensable.
> >
> > Washington experience isn't the only kind of experience, Hagel said, and he noted that many White House occupants have been governors with no time inside the Beltway.
> >
> > "But I do think in a world that is so complicated, so interconnected and so combustible, you really got to have some people in charge that have some sense of the bigger scope of the world," Hagel said. "I think that's just a requirement."
> >
> > So is Palin qualified to be president?
> >
> > "I think it's a stretch to, in any way, to say that she's got the experience to be president of the United States," Hagel said.
> >
> > Hagel supported McCain's unsuccessful bid for president in 2000.
> >
> > Hagel said voters ultimately will decide between McCain and Obama, and he hopes that the debates will refocus both campaigns on the important issues of the day, including the economy, energy policy and international relations.
> >
> > One recent squabble between the campaigns revolved around whether Obama was being sexist toward Palin when he used a turn of phrase about putting lipstick on a pig.
> >
> > That kind of back-and-forth is not what the American people want or need, Hagel said.
> >
> > "It's terrible," he said. "It debases the system."
> >
> >
> >
> >
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