Friday, August 29, 2008

This morning on MSNBC, Pat Buchanan said about Sarah Quayle-Palin (after conceding that she'd have trouble debating Joe Biden about foreign policy):

“She’s probably a lot better on trade, on jobs going overseas, on drilling than a lot of Republicans,” Mr. Buchanan said.

I don't really see how the first two of these make any sense. According to wikipedia,

The oil and gas industry dominates the Alaskan economy, with more than 80% of the state's revenues derived from petroleum extraction. Employment is primarily in government and industries such as natural resource extraction, shipping, and transportation.

Given that the state has no manufacturing to speak of, little in the way of exports other than seafood, and jobs in resource extraction can't be exported, I have a hard time imagining her having much experience with international trade or with jobs lost overseas. To the extent that she is more familiar with "drilling" than most Republicans, who cares? The last time I checked, the VP doesn't spend much time wildcatting for oil. In fact, coming from a state so reliant on oil makes her almost certainly overly focused on fossil fuels .

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm a little shocked. Do they really think people will be fooled into just voting for any woman? Would it be worth having the Obama campaign focus on noting the differences between Hilary and Palin? Or should they just ignore it. I think the whole thing is insulting. Also why Palin over some of the other and more qualified female Republicans?

Unknown said...

Absolute pandering! When the novelty factor wears off, she will be torn apart by the New York and Washington press corps looking for the next greatest gaffe.
Great site!