FactCheck.org: FactChecking Biden-Palin Debate

Here's another thing that got me steamed last night watching the debates. Thank goodness for FactCheck.org, which, by the way, has happily caught Obama and Biden in their share of misstatements as well.

FactCheck.org: FactChecking Biden-Palin Debate: "Palin: Now, Barack Obama had said that all we're doing in Afghanistan is air-raiding villages and killing civilians. And such a reckless, reckless comment and untrue comment, again, hurts our cause. Obama did say that troops in Afghanistan were killing civilians. Here’s the whole quote, from a campaign stop in New Hampshire: Obama (August 2007): We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there. The Associated Press fact-checked this one, and found that in fact U.S troops were killing more civilians at the time than insurgents: 'As of Aug. 1, the AP count shows that while militants killed 231 civilians in attacks in 2007, Western forces killed 286. Another 20 were killed in crossfire that can’t be attributed to one party.' Afghan President Hamid Karzai had expressed concern about these civilian killings, a concern President Bush said he shared."

Palin, Russia, Invasions and the Alaska Highway

Okay, I've heard this National Guard and Putin's Ugly Head in Alaska bullshit for a long time, and I need to figure out one thing.


Why, in heaven's name, would anyone seriously think Alaska is such a prize that the governor could seriously be considered a "commander-in-chief" protecting the United States from invasion?

I mean, okay, sure we get invaded. Maybe Russians drop off an invasion force off the north slope. Are we assuming that the United States military radar facilities and air resources are not going to be able to catch them? That's not National Guard, under the governor's purview. That's the president's oversight.

But sure, okay, they slip past them, right? Sneak down the icy slopes, with warm parkas and plenty of vodka to keep the chill off.


Now, when they're ready to place their forces to attack the rest of the nation, are we expected to believe that the invading Russkies are going to sneak down the 1500 mile Alaskan Highway that is surrounded by Canadian territory the whole way, fully exposed to satellites and any passing Moose and local Canadians, just to get to Washington and invade the contiguous states of our nation?

How gullible are people, really?