John McCain served his country beyond honorably. There’s no debate. He’s clearly a real live true American hero. As often stated here, America owes John McCain big time. But he’s still got to earn the presidency.
And if you’re running for president, you owe America more than someone who makes Americans yearn for the days of Dan Quayle.
The simple fact is that in naming Sarah Palin as his running mate, Senator McCain put his personal ambition above what’s best for America. So much for “Country First”, but Sarah Palin has certainly served him well so far. She’s been a home run for McCain as Palin has the GOP’s core all fired up and seems to have brought on board many more undecided women than I would have ever thought possible.
The first question, is will she continue to serve McCain well?
The second question is can she serve America well? Is she ready to be president?
The simple answer to both questions is no. She’s just not ready for prime time. If she can’t convince Americans that she’s ready to be our commander in chief, I bet you’ll see the enthusiasm among swing voters die down. And as much as she’s energized the GOP base, I believe the scare she’s thrown into the Democratic leaning independents will have them rallying back to Obama and bringing there friends and family.
Either way, it’s going to be a very tight race. And now onto the proof of Palin’s not being up to the job!
Click on the video below to see ABC’s Charlie Gibson talk foreign policy with Sarah Palin.
The highlights for me are:
“The Bush Doctrine” – 8 seconds “In what respect?”, 15 seconds “his world view”- She doesn’t know what it is & clearly stalls for time like some college student who crammed for the final after skipping class for the whole semester. Ask yourself if Joe Lieberman, Tom Ridge or even Mitt Romney would have been able to answer this question.
“Our Right to invade” at 1 min, 19 secs – could just be a verbal gaffe but she talks about American forces invading Pakistan. My perception is she’s just not too clear on what we are doing on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border and she’s trying hard not to misspeak.
“Right to invade” part two – whether a gaffe or not, notice that she simply won’t answer the question. Again, my perception is she clearly isn’t up to speed
Gibson rude at 2 min, 7 sec – He simply didn’t have to go to the “I’m getting lost in a blizzard of words” thing when he was calling her on not answering the question about American forces crossing into Pakistan. Clearly he’s being rude or flippant at best. However, as much as GOP types squawk about the treatment, it won’t change the fact that they set her up for this by nominating her for a job over her head.
Remember that as much as she gave a great performance at the GOP Convention, she didn’t actually write the speech. It wasn’t something she created. I was a speech that had been written way in advance for a presumed male VP nominee. Palin did a good job delivering it no doubt, but nothing more. People in general and press coverage too seem to give her credit for so much more than a good acting job before a home town crowd.
Let’s see how Palin stands up to real scrutiny.
So far, she struck out in her first real time at bat.
PS – for more of the Charlie Gibson interiew go here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5783816
