Saturday, September 27, 2008
Katie Couric's Follow Up Question For Next Time
Sarah Palin's Russia Problem0 comments
We've all now seen Sarah Palin's disastrous interview on CBS with Katie Couric the other night, what with her Who imitation, singing, "I Can See For Miles," and setting diplomacy on its ear by talking about Vladimir Putin "rears his head," etc.
But the worst part—for all of us—was the awful section when Couric revisited Palin's "I can see Russia from my house!" dopiness, and did the governor a great favor of giving the governor a chance to redeem herself. To no avail, it seems. Couric asked a perfectly reasonable question, and for her pains, received an horrifically stupid answer:COURIC: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth, 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 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 next to, they are right next to our state.
Well, actually, the answer to Couric's question is "YES." And, since Couric has said she's going to be following Palin on the stump for the next week or two, allow ol' Gotham Notes to offer a thread to use in those follow up interviews.
The problem here is that while Palin has, in fact, been involved with international talks, she's screwed that up, too—so no one in the John McCain firmament wants anyone to talk about it.
In fact, since the thaw between the Russia/U.S. governments over the last twenty years, the Alaska governor has been a major player in international forums covering energy, pollution and business dealings between Alaska and the Far East, including Russia, and other Arctic countries.
A major international group, The Northern Forum, even has its Secretariat in Anchorage, which is right next to Palin's Wasilla home.
But, as Hal Bernton in the Seattle Times has reported, she's screwed THAT up, too.Yet under Palin, the state government—without consultation—reduced its annual financial support to the Northern Forum to $15,000 from $75,000, according to Priscilla Wohl, the group's executive director. That forced the forum's Anchorage office to go without pay for two months.
Palin—unlike the previous administrations of Gov. Frank Murkowski (R) and Gov. Tony Knowles (D)—also stopped sending representatives to Northern Forum's annual meetings, including one last year for regional governors held in the heart of Russia's oil territory.
"It was an opportunity for the Alaska governor to take a delegation of business leaders to the largest oil-producing region in Russia, and she would have been shaking hands with major leaders in Russia," Wohl said.
I see stupid people.
posted by Gotham 5:08 PM
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