Pressed to defend Sarah Palin's foreign policy credentials on CNN, Republican Sen. Lyndsey Graham compared his colleague Ted Stevens, the highest ranking Republican Senator, to "The Russians." This was part of a confounding argument that Palin is tough enough to assume the role of Commander in Chief without foreign policy experience. You just can't make up these talking points. (Hat tip to a Nation reader for emailing in the clip.)

Comments (19)

1. grampa and mrs. mooseburger! the new fox family sitcom of the year.

   senator lindsay graham!

   in this episode, mrs. mooseburger gets talked about in a very complimentary way from somewhere in the backwoods...from a real live backwoods republican speaking from his real, authentic frontier log cabin!

   then she goes shopping with him while her hubby sighs and rolls his eyes...to upraoriously loud canned laughter and snickers...

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 08/30/2008 @ 12:35pm

2. GRAMPA AND MRS. MOOSEBURGER!!!!

   man...that mrs mooseburger is HOT. i'd vote fer her if she was a reel politishun! hoooooweee! i'd have sex with her at least ten times a year if she was my wife!

   hooooweee! and she hunts!!!

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 08/30/2008 @ 12:47pm

3. Come on Happy, she was a two term mayor/manager(whatever that is) and has been governor for a couple of years. I'm not big on over educated fools, but exactly what does a BA in Communications/Journalism prepare you for?

   There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of Republican women who were much more qualified-though not nearly as photogenic. Please! If they are going to pander at least they could have a little respect for the women they are pandering too.

   I'm sure she is very nice and I see from her bio she kills fish not fetuses and has a lot of kids, but in your heart of hearts I know damn well you don't want her taking that 3 am phone call either.

   Posted by Pogge at 08/30/2008 @ 12:57pm

4. Hap... your disparaging and bigoted references to Obama are disgusting. Cut it out... or lose all credibility. Simple choice, really...

   Palin is irrelevant... McCain is seriously out of touch... to a degree that is astonishing. Bush has created such a vacuum, that no credible/viable Republican platform exists at this time.

   They wasted all their energy on ad hominem manipulations... but had no sensible policy to back up their posturing with. They could poison the populace, but they couldn't resist the corruption. They were 'experts' at making others look bad, but they long ago stopped even considering what it means to be good. Perhaps our every move is analyzed... but the analysis has fallen prey to the debaucheries of a 'kinder gentler' fascism... cannibalizing the anemic democracy that it overcame...

   McCain is quite possibly the only Republican right now with the guts enough to go through with this... and he's having a little fun with it...

   Can you blame him?

   Don't waste your breath talking him down... you're only building him up when you do so. Look to the future... and in so doing, set a good example for the keeless craft die-hard repubs are trying to navigate the oceans of the world with.

   It's not about them anymore.

   Posted by ttr at 08/30/2008 @ 1:11pm

5. FUNNY how Graham stopped himself as he mentioned hsuB and Putin meeting... Palin - Putin - Palin - Putin, see how similar they are.

   Wonder if even Graham believes most of the things coming out of his mouth the last 5-10 years.

   However for Lyndsey Graham to stay in the new con repub dic'tatorship daisy chain, he's got to howl nonsense. He might as well be squealing like a pig, but he'll never get deliverance. But "You go girl"...

   Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2008 @ 1:22pm

6. He might as well be squealing like a pig, but he'll never get deliverance. But "You go girl"...

   Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2008 @ 1:22pm | ignore this person |

   "grampa and mrs. mooseburger go to lyndsey's backwoods cabin and get talked about in a fawning way!"

   this is going to be great!

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 08/30/2008 @ 1:35pm

7. Posted by JOMAMMA at 08/30/2008 @ 1:10pm

   Well, if McCain succumbs to Alzheimers in office Joe Biden won't be answering that telephone and neither will Hillary. Nope, the leader of the free world will be another person like George Bush who has never seen much of it, tho from her bio I don't think Ms. Palin has even spent much time outside of her home state.

   I have lived in 14 states and one foreign country. I have visited 47 states and four foreign countries. I am thirty or so credits short of a BA. I have worked at jobs as diverse as worm's corner on an oil rig and director of a family advocacy program. I have served on committees and planning commissions and boards galore. I personally think I would be a kick-ass president.

   POGGE TO THE PEOPLE!!! Can a hear a whoo-hoo.

   Cripes, the GOP has gone freakin' nuts.

   Posted by Pogge at 08/30/2008 @ 1:38pm

8. HEY, how about MICHAEL PALIN! He's well traveled and well educated, taleted and funny.

   Course he isn't an American....

   Posted by Pogge at 08/30/2008 @ 1:41pm

9. Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/30/2008 @ 1:43pm |

   My post was a response to yours. At least you know you weren't imagining things.

   Posted by Pogge at 08/30/2008 @ 1:55pm

10. Hey, Sarah Palin wants her "Bring'em on" moment too.

    http://tinyurl.com/5by79t

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2008 @ 1:55pm

11. WOW, Palin fits right in with a hsuB/cHeney/McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS new con repub dic'tator admin:

    "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist although I have only now become aware of it," Palin said.

    But Palin said her decision to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan last month had nothing to do with his refusal to dump trooper Mike Wooten.

    The governor said evidence of what she called a "smoking gun" conversation, and other calls made by her aides, only recently surfaced as the attorney general started an inquiry at her request into the circumstances surrounding her firing of Monegan. Palin wanted the review because a special investigator hired by the Legislature is about to investigate the firing and a legislator has been quoted in a newspaper story talking about impeachment.

    The majority of the calls came from Palin's chief of staff at the time, Mike Tibbles, according to information gathered by the state attorney general's office. Attorney General Talis Colberg and Palin's husband, Todd, also contacted Monegan about the trooper."

    http://tinyurl.com/6embgh

    Doesn't sound so very familiar?

    Just don't Plame me for stating the facts mam...

    er,

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2008 @ 2:08pm

12. JOMAMMA's comment that Obama has even less experience then Pailin is patently false! People like this have no excuse for such ignorance except to say its simply willful. Lets look at their records:

    Obama:

    A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After a primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70% of the vote.

    As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel. After announcing his presidential campaign in February 2007, Obama emphasized withdrawing American troops from Iraq, energy independence, decreasing the influence of lobbyists, and promoting universal health care as top national priorities.

    Pailin: holds a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, City Council from 1992 to 1996, and was elected mayor of Wasilla (population just over 5000) twice, in 1996 and 1999. Governor of Alaska from 2006 - present

    Posted by dnewton at 08/30/2008 @ 2:14pm

13. Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/30/2008 @ 2:1

    I think I just "warned" you by accident. sorry. Please ignore it.

    I think the deletion was an accident.It just wasn't that different a post than what you usually write.

    Posted by Pogge at 08/30/2008 @ 2:17pm

14. Posted by dnewton at 08/30/2008 @ 2:14pm

    But I bet she's a blast at a BBQ. After the shrub it doesn't take much to look good.

    I don't know what McCain was thinking, but you don't have to be very elite to think her resume is a little thin.

    Posted by Pogge at 08/30/2008 @ 2:20pm

15. If I remember correctly, Hap... LvL even chastised you for your 'spooky' imagery, and your trashy mouthings...

    Bad forum tactics on a blog like this...

    I've never 'warned' on this site or any other... though I put Rese on 'ingore' last year... who may soon be joined by FG...

    Posted by ttr at 08/30/2008 @ 2:31pm

16. Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/30/2008 @ 1:45pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    once when i defined "gizz" for a nazi...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 08/30/2008 @ 2:32pm

17. by the way:

    population of Alaska: 670,053

    population of Illinoise: 12,831,970

    Decisions in the US senate also effect the population of the whole country: 301,139,947

    Posted by dnewton at 08/30/2008 @ 2:36pm

18. 'McPOWhowmanyMANSIONS' is definitely meant to be indicative of a real coupling by the namesake himself, but is really just as offensive as his own coupling was-- thusly, is it really more or less worse via being more historically representative of the candidates own doings?

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2008 @ 5:10pm

19. Guess that Dumbo & Dickrod figured out they're mere touch is toxic as they won't show in any way, shape or form at the GOP convention. (Although in TX he might have a chance to clear some brush!)

    As to Palin .... I have this odd mental image of her riding in on a bull moose in her pageant gown and screaming for the Apocalypse.

    http://home.avenuebroadband.com/~dvaughn58/GOP2008.html

    Posted by leftofcenter at 08/31/2008 @ 1:18pm