Sarah Palin has energized the Republican base since John McCain picked her as his vice-presidential running mate, but one prominent Republican is not impressed.
Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican, is questioning whether Palin has enough foreign-policy experience to serve as the country’s second-in-command. “She doesn’t have any foreign policy credentials,” Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald. “You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don’t know what you can say. You can’t say anything.”
“I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, ‘I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,” he added. “That kind of thing is insulting to the American people.”
A conservative Vietnam War veteran and outspoken critic of the Iraq War, Hagel has cultivated a reputation as somebody unafraid to buck his party.
Hagel traveled with Democratic candidate Barack Obama to Afghanistan in July and was mentioned as a possible Obama running mate. He had kind words for Obama’s eventual pick, Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden.
“An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team,” Hagel said in August.
photo: REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (Obama and Hagel visit Amman, Jordan in July 2008)
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I totally agree with Sen. Hagel on this issue. Palin is not qualified because has no knowledge how everything works. Look at her response to a question yesterday town hall meeting on her foreign experience, “I’ll be ready and we’ll be ready if we are elected.” This the kind of leadership that got us into this mess in Iraq, and our economy in the tank. I also agree with conservative columnist, David Brooks, when he wrote, “Sarah Palin has many virtues. If you wanted someone to destroy a corrupt establishment, she’d be your woman. But the constructive act of governance is another matter. She has not been engaged in national issues, does not have a repertoire of historic patterns and, like President Bush, she seems to compensate for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness.”
- Posted by JackSpoken like a true maverick, Chuck!
- Posted by TXCourtneyAlong with GOP ex-Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan who came out and endorsed Obama-Biden, Senator Hagel’s comments signal that pragmatic, mainstream GOPs have had enough of the Bush/McCain brand of political game-playing and questionable judgment. The times are way too serious. Sarah Palin, as exciting and new as she is to the national stage, is not ready for prime time at this 11th hour of our nation’s crisis.
- Posted by Westside MikeFinally, a large dose of much-needed reality. And how about the press taling about the cause of the current economic disaster: The fact of the matter is that John McCain has a direct repsonsibility in the financial crisis we are experiencing today.
In 1999, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act deregulated the financial system and created the financial services industry by opening up competition among banks, securities and insurance companies and allowed commercial and investment banks to merge and consolidate. It also repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which was created during the Great Depression to stop what is happening now from happening.
John McCain and the entire Republican Senate voted for this bill. Senate Democrats fought against it. John McCain’s top economic advisor, Phil Gramm ( the man who said America was in a “mental recession” and that we were “a nation of whiners”) introduced the bill. So essentially, McCain while claiming to be a “maverick”, is really running against policies he created.
- Posted by Bob BraultIt’s about time somebody said the emperor had no clothes. Good for Sen. Chuck Hagel, a senior Republican, for having the courage to speak up and say that Sarah Palin does not have foreign policy experience, nor sufficient experience to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office. She is simply not qualified.
- Posted by R. SmithI missed Obama’s foreign policy experience. Clinton and Carter had no foreign experience either. I don’t recall Chuck saying anything about Clinton and his inexperience didn’t effect anything.
If Obama has so much experience why does he have 300 foreign policy advisors and if his advisors are so smart, why did Obama say he’d take the Russia-Georgia fighting to the UN? Russia has veto power there.
- Posted by Mendel PosnerImagine you went to a surgeon. Your loved one needs immediate and life-saving surgery within the next four months. You asked the surgeon for qualifications.
The chat from Palin-to-patient might go something like this:
Patient: “Gov. Palin, there has been quite a bit of discussion about your perceived lack of surgical experience, and I want to give you your chance. If you could please respond to that criticism and give us specific skills that you think you have to bring to the Operating Room to rebut that or mitigate that concern.”
Palin: “As for surgical experience, you know I think that I am prepared and I know that on Jan. 20, if we are so blessed, certainly we’ll be ready. I’ll be ready. I have that confidence. I have that readiness”
Patient: “Thank you, Dr. Palin. We will be be looking for a second opinion.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/17 /palin-on-foreign-policy-ready-by-jan-2 0/
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Kevin B
I’m saying it now: President Barack H. Obama, Jr., 2009 - 2017
- Posted by KbI wonder who this ’senior Republican’ wants to win the Presidential election?
- Posted by jhimmi“Hagel was also rumored to be a possible Obama pick for the Vice-Presidential candidacy in his 2008 presidential election ticket. On June 20, 2008, Hagel said he would consider running with Obama if offered the VP spot.
He has also been mentioned as a potential United States Secretary of Defense in an Obama Administration, and said that he would consider serving if asked”
Senator Hagel comes from the ever shrinking honest wing of the Republican Party. That took real courage, Senator, in a day when courage is a rare trait among politicians from either party. Good for you!
The Religious Right has forced the GOP into the lies and bad choices of the last 8 years. Palin is just a continuation of that arrogant, ignorant, anti-science attitude. The rest of the world embraces science and progress and the GOP instead tries to give us Palin. Way to go, GOP! Glad you think so highly of us.
Glad you can see Russia from your house, Gov. Palin. Hopefully, for the sake of the country, you’ll spend the rest of your days observing Russia from the comfort of your home in Alaska. Books aren’t W’s thing and probably not yours either, but maybe you should consider reading a few in your spare time.
- Posted by DaveSEMassHagel is totally in bed with Obama and his comments are very biased. Obama has no foreign policy experience plus he has no executive experience at all unlike Palin. The House Democrats passed an energy bill that would prohibit drilling with 50 miles of the coast which is where the oil is an it will not allow drilling for natural gas in our huge reserves making sure that we continue to import oil from elsewhere and 80% of our gas from China. Are these people looking out for us. I think not.
- Posted by KayNow that is honesty and integrity
- Posted by alex“Hagel has cultivated a reputation as somebody unafraid to buck his party.”
Afraid to use the “M” word? Chuck Hagel is a real maverick!
- Posted by BobOf COURSE she’s not qualified - at all! Obviously, she’s smart and can speak well and looks sophisticated and has a nice family. But come one people, VP? No way!
McCain’s campaign manager should be fired immediately, and Palin should be forced out for someone with experience. HE’S 72!!! That’s not agism, that’s a FACT. If something happens, we’ll have a woman with no foreign policy skills as the leader of the free world. Big mistake.
- Posted by Michael D.The more they talk about Palin’s experience, the more it reminds me of Obama’s lack of qualification..
if he can run for president on charisma, what’s wrong with her running on as good a resume as Obama
- Posted by HmsAn honest Republican…who knew?
- Posted by Izabael DaJinnI don’t get it. Our congressmen are running around attack Sarah Palin for her lack of foreign affairs experience. Meanwhile, we’re in a financial meltdown for which they have contributed greatly. Their biggest problem is that they are afraid of an outsider who they have not corrupted exposing them for what they are, a bunch of do nothing, liars, cheaters and theives.
- Posted by rikiteeNow there’s a republican with his head on his shoulders where it should be, rather than tucked into the very uncomfortable position most seem to have assumed.
- Posted by likeitisMaybe Hagel can find another state to represent after Nebraska votes for Palin? Or maybe another country?
Chucky seems to have his priorities a little screwed up right now? NA; I take that back. He’s always been srewed up.
Come on Nebraska elect someone that matters!
- Posted by chanceWow. Hagel you awesome indeed. To say what no GOP have the gut to say is incredible. Say on, say on. We are not that stupid to make sara president yet. One bush is more than enough. Another bush with skirt in one lifetime is too much indeed.
- Posted by Ed Banks[...] Hagel questions Palin experience Reuters - 26 minutes ago Sarah Palin has energized the Republican base since John McCain picked her as his vice-presidential running mate, but one prominent Republican is not … [...]
- Posted by Top Republican says Palin unready « McCain Sucks, Palin Sucks = No Bush left behind