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www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
October 2, 2008 (After Debate)
Notes After the VP Debate
Here's a history lesson for Governor Sarah Palin. General George McClellan was
the Union first troop leader leading the Union Army during the Civil War. He
also ran for President against Abraham Lincoln when Lincoln was running for his
second term in 1864.
(McClellan is the General who was fooled by wood cut-outs of Confederate soldiers within sight of the Washington, DC. When he finally attacked, the the behest of President Lincoln, the wooden soldiers, along with only a handful of real rebel soldiers, were captured. Only the wood soldiers were used as kindling.
Lincoln
had also made this famous statement in reference to McClellan, who chose to
wait, and wait , and wait rather then use the Union troops to attack:
"If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it
for a time,")
General David McKiernan is the Commander on the ground in Afghanistan. he was
also the ranking officer and Commander during the opening phases of the War in
Iraq in 2003. In other words, McKiernan led the troops as they drove towards
Baghdad. McKiernan was also the General who assumed that he was going to be the
Coalition's Military Governor of Iraq and was preparing to do so when he was
relieved of duty by the bush administration.
During the debate, when the question of Afghanistan came up, Palin decided it
was time to name names and she chose the ranking officer in charge of
Afghanistan today to do so. She looked down at her cheat-sheet and came up with
the name "McClellan". Certainly it might have been written down incorrectly for
her but I have a feeling that the reason she got the name wrong is that she
thought it must have been a misprint, and "McClellan" popped into her mind.
As my sixteen-year-old son Jason asked when he heard Palin make the mistake was
"Wasn't McClellan the Civil War General?"
Yes, Jason, he was. You get another "A" from your Dad.
It's General David McKiernan, Governor Palin, the General on the ground in
Afghanistan. But you did the best you could.
Now to another little bit of mis-statement by Governor Palin: The word is
NUCLEAR, not NUKULAR.
We've had enough NUKULAR to last any one of us living in this nation for the
past eight years in the guise of our current President George W. Bush. Saying
NUKULAR over and over again is not cute; saying NUKULAR over and over again is
not folksy; saying NUKULAR over and over again, if not being done for effect, is
just ignorant.
Perhaps the first job any politician should perfect is her (or his) ability to
sound the part. Every time I heard George Bush say the word NUKULAR it makes me
cringe. Hearing it from the Right's Vice Presidential choice, and even thinking
that she might actually become the VP, makes my hair hurt.
Yuch!
What we learned from the debate tonight is that Sarah Palin is a mother, a wife
and can turn a phrase in her attacks of Joe Biden and Barack Obama. She is the
attack-pit-bull that Vice Presidents are supposed to be. And she is good at it.
However, she decided that the best way to answer questions she simply doesn't
want to answer - like the bankruptcy question, for example - was to just not
answer them and say "Maverick" and "tax" as often as she could.
One also had to notice that Palin's microphone stayed on, both as she entered,
asking Senator Biden of she could call him "Joe; and when she and Biden met
after the debate to offer up her cutesy, populist self for all to hear.
As I write this, I am monitoring PBS, CNN and MSNBC. In this debate, it appears,
that the question wasn't who on or lost but who would make a fool out of
themselves. If that was your only criteria, then you - assuming you are a McCain
supporter - should be pleased. But if you were looking for answers then Biden
certainly was your guy.
In the end, Palin didn't convert any Democrats over to the Right and Biden
didn't make any Righties lean Left.
So the GOP can wipe their sweat off their heads. There was no blood dripping
tonight.
-Noah Greenberg
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-Noah Greenberg