Thursday, September 25, 2008

Palin redraws military air routes

This from the Katie Couric interview of Sarah Palin. Governor Palin responds to the foreign policy experience question yet again:

Palin defends Alaska-Russia foreign policy remark - Yahoo! News: "'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."

Hmmm...where do they go? Do Russian air forces take a direct route over the North Pole and then through Canada or Greenland, into the economic and political heart of our country? Or do they fly due east through Alaska then make a right turn at Nome and head south?

With the price of jet fuel these days, I would say that it's a stretch to assume that enemy planes -- which is what I suppose Governor Palin expects from Russia -- would bother taking the scenic route over the Bering Strait. It's not like anyone wants to bomb Alaska.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

McCain tells us the real meaning of "fundamentals"; CNN bites

McCain: Economic 'strength' is with workers - CNN.com

So nice of CNN (et al.) to give Senator McCain the benefit of the doubt in his latest "misstatement".

And I quote:

McCain softened his earlier comments that "the fundamentals of the American economy are strong."

"What I obviously was saying, and I believe, is the American workers, the most productive and the most innovative -- they are the fundamentals of our economy and the strength of it and the reason why we will rebound," he said Tuesday on CNN's "American Morning."

If McCain knew anything at all about the economy and how it works, he'd know that "the fundamentals" are actually key indicators that help us track, regulate and prepare for economic changes. They are quantifiable financial and statistical entities that exist is every basic text on economics.

To imply that what he meant was the strength and innovation of the American worker not only doesn't make any sense -- how, after all, can American worker exercise their productivity when they're unemployed? -- but further emphasizes McCain's lack of knowledge in the subject matter, i.e. the economy.

The fact that every spokesperson for McCain miraculously knew what he meant after the fact -- while, apparently, nobody else did -- is a clear indication that behind closed doors the McCain camp scrambled to fix yet another of the Senator's randomly contrived and grossly uninformed bits of feel-good rhetoric.