Bob Herbert: Palin’s Words Raise Red Flags

[babylonsister]

Palin’s Words Raise Red Flags


By BOB HERBERT
Published: September 26, 2008


The country is understandably focused on the financial crisis. But there is another serious issue in front of us that is not getting nearly enough attention, and that’s whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president — or, if the situation were to arise, president of the United States.

History has shown again and again that a vice president must be ready to assume command of the ship of state on a moment’s notice. But Ms. Palin has given no indication yet that she is capable of handling the monumental responsibilities of the presidency if she were called upon to do so.

In fact, the opposite is the case. We know that there are some parts of Alaska from which, if the day is clear and your eyesight is good, you can actually see Russia. But the infantile repetition of this bit of trivia as some kind of foreign policy bona fide for a vice presidential candidate should give us pause.

The McCain campaign has done its bizarre best to shield Ms. Palin from any sustained media examination of her readiness for the highest offices in the land, and no wonder. She has been an embarrassment in interviews.

But the idea that the voters of the United States might install someone in the vice president’s office who is too unprepared or too intellectually insecure to appear on, say, “Meet the Press” or “Face the Nation” is mind-boggling.

The alarm bells should be clanging and warning lights flashing. You wouldn’t put an unqualified pilot in the cockpit of a jetliner. The potential for catastrophe is far, far greater with an unqualified president.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/opinion/27herbert.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[chelsea0011]

1. It is funny to read the transcript because I was doing anything but laughing watching her.

[babylonsister]

2. The possibilities are frightening. I just hope Americans are not that

dumb, but I fear, for 'us'.

[RagAss]

6. Americans are racist enough to put her a heartbeat away !!

Trust me.....

[genna]

3. He has a sobering quality to the hype of Palin

I wonder regularly whether or not the conservative base would feel comfortable if bad things happen leaving her at the head of state explaining to the American people that evil people did bad things to us which is why we need to spank them publicly.

I tend to think Bush was at his embarrassingly worse when he broke things down to that analysis. Good people do bad things repeatedly. Does that mean we use the same spanking for every bad thing or are they're consistent changes which need to be made to modify poor performance?


That Russian presence in the airwaves was absolutely HORRIBLE. What kind of airwaves are we talking about? Is she saying Russian planes or people are in our air space? Or is she saying our military is not strong enough to keep them away from the entire coastline of Alaska?

If she knows something the American people don't know, she should tell us what it is.

[OhioChick]

4. K&R

:kick:

[Ilsa]

5. I don't want her in the VP office any more than I want her doing brain surgery on me. nt

[senseandsensibility]

7. Good God y'all

This is some scary stuff.