17 Comments

• 1. JS  |  September 7th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

  shes done more for our troops in iraq than obama has…her second day in office as governor…she starts working to support alaska troops on active duty….while obama worked to cut support…

• 2. kimberly4victory  |  September 7th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

  Retired Spook and I were talking about this interview the other night. I’ve been searching for the video and thought it would be a nice thread topic. Thanks, Matt!!

  Palin is MORE than qualifed to be the VP and a heartbeat away from POTUS. I have never heard a Major General speak so highly of someone before!!

  I am Sarah Palin!
  (Although, I’ve never been in command of the National Guard!!)
  POW/WOW ‘08

• 3. neocon  |  September 7th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

  Palin the Commander in Chief.

  And the liberals think the community organizer is more experienced?????

• 4. kimberly4victory  |  September 7th, 2008 at 2:01 pm

  Obviously not, neocon. Note - no comments by liberals on this thread. Why? Because how can they? :-)

• 5. yekepyt  |  September 7th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

  I hear the former guardsman saying, of Palin’s leadership, that “she does it really good” but I also hear him saying that there are 500,000 people in the US National Guard in a way that tries to imply that Palin commands these 500,000 troops (which is patently false).

  The reality is that if you add up all the national guard troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan that report to Palin either directly or indirectly in that capacity, the number is closer to — wait, it’s exactly zero.

  There is not a single national guardsman in Iraq or Afghanistan, or in any conflict, that reports to Palin. She is their leader when they are acting domestically, in their local, peaceful functions, for example by laying sandbags during a flood or helping to extinguish a wildfire.

  She is not a part of the chain of command when national guardsmen are called in to backfill for the US Army or Air Force. In those cases, her authority is usurped and she is irrelevant.

  It seems to me that this former guardsman is a partisan shilling for the GOP, repeating talking points.

• 6. kimberly4victory  |  September 7th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

  Former guardsman? How about MAJOR GENERAL?

  You must be listening to another video because I didn’t hear it that way at all. I believe he was referring to the way the MSM has been talking about how insignificant the NG is, which it isn’t as he pointed out.

  I’d like to hear a Major General or someone of equal rank, who has known OB for 12 years, talk about him with such great respect.

  In fact, I’d really, really like the MSM to get their heads out of OB’s butt and investigate his relationships with Ayres, Rezco, and others.

• 7. A-10  |  September 7th, 2008 at 9:26 pm

  yekepyt,

  Why don’t you avoid commenting on subjects that you know nothing about.

  First of all, Maj Gen Campbell is not a “fomer guardsman.” He is the Adjutant General of Alaska.

  You are correnct that when members of the National Guard are mobilized onto Title 10, the Governor is no longer their Commander-in-Chief. However, for all the members of the Alaska Army and Air National Guard who are not currently on Title 10, which is most of the Alaska National Guard, she is their Commander-in-Chief.

  As their Commander-in-Chief, she is ultimately responsible for ensure their training meets Army and Air Force standards. She is ultimately responsible for ensuring each unit has its war-time complement of personnel and equipment. She is ultimately responsible for ensuring that their equipment is maintained to Army and Air Force standards. She is ultimately responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the 118 National Guard armories with the state.

  The fact that the Department of Defense would entrust the Alaska Army National Guard’s 49th Missile Defense Battalion with the Missile Intercept mission for the North America continent is testament to the readiness condition of the Alaska Army National Guard. If this unit had not been fully mission capable it would not have been selected for this vital mission. The mission would have been assigned to an Active Duty unit or other National Guard unit.

  You see, it is the Governor’s responsibility to ensure the troops within the state’s National Guard are fully capable of performing their mission if called upon. Neither the Army or the Air Force will alert, mobilized, and deploy a unit that does not meet the standard. The fact that Alaska Army and Air National Guard units have been mobilized is proof that the Governor takes her responsibility seriously.

  There have been Governors who have not taken this responsiblity seriously and it is reflected in units not being certified by the Acitve Component to perform their mission.

  So, while it is true that the Governor does not command troops on TItle 10, the Governor does command them up to the time of mobilization and is responsible for ensuring the troops are prepared to complete their mission.

  I might add that when National Guard troops are mobilized, one of the most important support efforts - providing support for the deployed service member’s family - is fully the responsibility of the National Guard, not the Active Duty. Again, the Governor has the ultimate responsibility to ensure that family support activities are taken care of.

  As a final comment: as Maj Gen Campbell noted, as soon as Gov Palin became Governor, she enquired about her troops that were deployed and wanted to visit them, which she did about 9 months later. That’s leadership. Something that is lacking on the Donk ticket.

• 8. neil  |  September 7th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

  A Big Thanks to A-10 and to Kimberly for the heads up and showing Palin’s Executive experience….
  Go McCain/Palin!!!!!

• 9. A-10  |  September 7th, 2008 at 11:04 pm

  I see over on HotAir they have a post titled: “Obama: I considered joining the military.”

  Really. You consided joining the military. How did you think you were going to pass the NAC? By lyiing?

  From “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance”: “Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man.”

  Admitted drug use is/was a disqualifying factor for someone waning to join the United States Armed Forces. So, unless the “pothead, junkie” was going to lie about his drug use, he COULDN’T have joined our military.

  And liberals believe this man is fit to the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces. Someone who was well on his way to become a “Pothead”, “Junkie?”

• 10. A-10  |  September 7th, 2008 at 11:06 pm

  Matt,

  You should correct your heading. Maj Gen Cambell IS the Adjutant General of Alaska, head of the Alaska National Guard.

• 11. A-10  |  September 7th, 2008 at 11:10 pm

  “Cambell” = “Campbell”

  Sorry General.

• 12. A-10  |  September 8th, 2008 at 12:04 am

  Senator Obama was asked on ABC’s “This Week” program whether he’d ever thought about military service. He stated: “You know, I actually did. I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school.”

  Hmmm. Born on August 4, 1961, Senator Obama was 17 when he graduated from high school in 1979. On March 25, 1975, President Ford signed Proclamation 4360, eliminating the registration requirement for all 18-25 year old male citizens. It wasn’t reinstated until July 2, 1980, when President Carter signed Proclamation 4771, re-establishing the Selective Service registration requirement.

  So, when he graduated from high school in 1979, there wasn’t a requirement to register. In fact, there wasn’t even a procedure to register with the Selective Service. How could have Senator Obama have registered when he graduated from high school in 1979? Even if there was a way to register, he couldn’t have registered until he was 18, which was several months after he graduated.

  You know what I think? I think Senator Obama just opened his big month again before thinking and got caught in a BIG FAT LIE.

  Here’s Senator Obama’s quote about thinking about joining our military: “And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it’s not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”

  This is obviously a effort to appear tough. He’s a wimp and he’s trying to seem as tough as the GOP’s war hero Presidential candidate and hunting & fishing VP choice. FAT CHANCE.

  He’s implying that if we were still engaged in an active military conflict, he would have joined. Yea, right. You think anyone with more than three working brain cells is actually going to believe that? s/ Here’s Senator Obama: “I’m so tough that unless we’re acutally fighting a war, why waste my time joining the military. I only want to join if I can go off,kill some bad guys, and make the world safe for democracy.” /s

  So not only did he register prematurely with a non-functioning Selective Service System, a year before the requirement was re-instated, he wants us to believe that he was actually ready to go fight our wars. But, since we weren’t fighting any, he decided to go back to his bong and crack-pipe.

• 13. Dennis  |  September 8th, 2008 at 12:21 am

  All irrelevant to the issue of Palin’s foreign policy competence. Of course she commands her state’s National Guard in their domestic assignments. It’s nice too that she visited them over there, but she has no command authority when it comes to overseas deployments of the Guard.

  “Since governors have no role in overseeing Guard members federalized for service in Iraq, military experts said that should not count as foreign policy experience.” This comes from a conservative, “pro-victory” blog http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-and-alaska-national-guard.html

  The most common duties of state National Guards involve natural disaster response. During Palin’s 21 months in office, there’s been one declared disaster: widespread flooding in June and July this year. Palin signed a disaster declaration, and the Guard’s role was limited to providing two water tanks and 30,000 sandbags to local authorities.

  But the Alaska Air National Guard is involved in an exceptional number of search-and-rescue missions. Since Palin became governor the Air Guard has flown 521 missions, saving 200 lives and assisting with the rescue of 77 more people, said Kalei Brooks, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. That’s a good thing.

  Still, training requirements for Guard units are established not by governors but by the Army, the Air Force and the National Guard Bureau. And governors have no overseas deployment command authority. Zip. Nada.

• 14. kimberly4victory  |  September 8th, 2008 at 12:41 am

  A-10: Excellent posts!! The One never mentioned he was thinking of joining the military in either of his memoirs so I knew he was lying. Thanks for setting the record straight. Liar, Liar, Campaign on Fire!

• 15. A-10  |  September 8th, 2008 at 8:56 am

  Dennis,

  “Still, training requirements for Guard units are established not by governors but by the Army, the Air Force and the National Guard Bureau. And governors have no overseas deployment command authority. Zip. Nada. ”

  No one ever said that Gov Palin has overseas deployment command authority. We’re saying that she exercises command over the Alaska National Guard when they are not mobilized. In this capacity, she has far more experience at being a Commander-in-Chief than either Senator Obama or Biden.

  Further, yes, training requirements for Guard units are established not by governors but by the Army, the Air Force and the National Guard Bureau. But the Governor has the responsiblity for ensuring that those training standards are being met.

  I’m not saying that her experience as the Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard gives her foreign policy experience. It gives her experience as a Commander-in-Chief, which, again, Senators Obama and Biden have none.

  Of course, Senator Obama’s self proclaimed most important foreign relations experience was when he was living in SE Asia between the ages of 6 and 10.

  “The most common duties of state National Guards involve natural disaster response. ”

  Incorrect. The most common duties of state National Guard units is to train to go meet the national defense requirements. They do however conduct humanitarian missions concurrently. I noticed that you recognized the Alaska Air National Guard effort in conducting search-and-rescue missions. Did you purposely leave out all these missions conducted by the Army National Guard:

  “Alaska Army National Guard Black Hawk Helps Rescue Seven Hunters”

  “Alaska Army National Guard Performs Medevac Missions”

  “Alaska Army National Guard Transports Child”

  “Alaska Army National Guard Rescues Snowmachiner East of Nome”

  “Alaska Army National Guard Rescues 2 Near Nome ”

  And these were all in the past several months.

  Back to Senator Obama, He said: “I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school.? That is a lie. He did not have to as there was no requirement to register for the Selective Service at the time. He would not have been required to for over a year. He is making this up to try to show he is patriotic and tough. He is neither.

• 16. A-10  |  September 8th, 2008 at 9:19 am

  Another observation: Notice that Senator Obama said: “I actually did.” Just like when he says: “To be honest with you” and “The facts are”, these phrases are tipoffs that he is lying.

  When he says “I actually did”, he is subconsciencely trying to overcome the disbelief that you will express. “No, really. I actually did.”

  These phrases (slip-ups) reveal a personality flaw of Senator Obama’s. He is trying to preface his statements so you will believe what he is about to say, when what he is about to say is probably a lie. Like his running mate, he is prone to exagerations, fabrications, and distortions in order to shore up his paper-thin resume.

  I’m sure that if we listen to Senator Obama long enough, (perish the thought) we’ll discover a number of these verbal clues that he is either lying through his teeth or he is exagerating his experience.

  Senator Obama - more and more people aren’t buying your stories. It must really hurt to see your campaign go down in flames.

• 17. A-10  |  September 8th, 2008 at 10:21 am

  Update on the Selective Service registration story:

  The following is a statement from a letter from the Selective Service written to someone from the “Pajama’s Media” in response to a request for verification of Senator Obama’s registration status.

  “Barack Hussein Obama registered at a post office in Hawaii. The effective registration date was September 4, 1980.’

  So, we have confirmation from the Selective Service that Senator Obama lied or is trying to mislead us on three levels when he stated that he had to sign up for the Selective Service when he graduated from high school.

  (1) As a 17 year old when he graduated from high school, he couldn’t register yet, as he wouldn’t turn 18 until August 4th, 1979.

  (2) There was no requirement to register for the Selective Service in 1979 when he graduated from high school.

  (3) He didn’t register right out of high school, but over a year later, in Sep of 1980.

  Not that the registration, itself, is a big issue, but if he was so intent on registering, why didn’t he register in July of 1980 when he was required to, instead of waiting until Septermber 1980?

  All of this has nothing to do with the fact that he registered. It has everything to do with his honesty and trustworthiness.

  He is either lying or terribly mistaken about his Selective Service registration. He didn’t register right out of high school. He waited over a year to register. He’s trying to show that he is following the rules, but then he totally botches up the sotry.

  He is probably lying about his interest in joining the military. He’s just trying (poorly) to show that he is patriotic.

  One more thing: What was Senator Obama doing in Hawaii in September 1980? Shouldn’t he have been at Occidental College in LA?