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- chosenson, on 09/29/2008, -0/+3No trade missions since 1997 under Governor Tony Knowles. Palin cut funding from $75,000 to $15,000 and during the Palin administration, no trade mission activity has been on the table in the past and has not for the foreseeable future . Yet Palin claims trade missions as though they were a common thing under her administration. .
FTA:
COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our -- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia --
COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We -- 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 -- 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 there. They are right next to -- to our state.
As you might notice, Palin only cites one discernible foreign interaction under her purview: Trade missions.
I spent some time on the Governor's Web site seeking more details about her trade negotiations with Russia. There's a press release about Gov. Palin's meeting with a trade mission from the Yukon, but nothing about Russia anywhere in the archives. Tony Knowles, a Democrat who was governor from 1994-2002, led a trade mission -- back in 1997, while Palin was running Wasilla -- to the remote island of Sakhalin, off the coast of Siberia. That seems to be about it for Russia-Alaska trade missions lately.
An article published two weeks ago in the Seattle Times notes that a politician from Russia's Far East did in fact meet with Palin in Anchorage, and urged her to come to Russia. One of Palin's trade specialists is also quoted saying that no trade missions with Russia are currently on the agenda: "I am not aware of any plans but that doesn't mean she wouldn't [arrange any]."
The article noted that Anchorage is host to an organization called the Northern Forum, a council of regional governments from all the northernmost countries of the world. But the Palin administration cut the Forum's budget from $75,000 to $15,000, and stopped the practice of sending representatives to its meetings. - oldgal, on 09/29/2008, -0/+2This one by itself should be a deal breaker:
"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. 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 there. They are right next to -- to our state."
Sen. McCain has actually managed to find someone who is extemporaneously worse than George W.
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