One of Sarah Palin's apparent weaknesses for the ticket is her lack of experience in matters of foreign policy. I'm willing to give her some credit for being the governor of a border state (just as Jennifer Granholm would if she were eligible to run and picked as a VP for the Dem ticket) because often times border states need to deal with their neighboring provinces (such as the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact) and as such, there's a bit of international experience that comes with the job. But in terms of real hard-core national defense-type foreign policy, not so much.

Having said that, I'm quite intrigued by this:

Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's.

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans.

Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska's proximity to Russia, she may have security clearances we don't even know about.

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets.

She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is.

If this is true - which, considering the source, I have little reason to doubt - it goes a long way toward easing the concern that people may have on the national security issue. I hope we hear more about this.

My secret hope is that Obama and Biden seriously underestimate Palin and she turns out to be much more than anyone expects. With this info, that seems just a tad more likely.

Favorite new blog of the week - A Second Hand Conjecture. Here's a fine point on the whole experience argument that is currently raging around the Palin pick by McCain

It has become a serious question to ask if there is any argument in Obama’s perceived interest that Andrew Sullivan will not advance. In the latest project for that question, Sullivan argues that Palin represents the most “irresponsible” pick for the office of Vice President since Dan Quayle, on grounds of her alleged inexperience. It’s left to John Podhoretz to indirectly remind Mr. Sullivan that Quayle’s twelve years in Washington prior to 1988, made him vastly more experienced than Mr. Sullivan’s own choice for president, Barack Obama.

Via the Corner:

“We may be seeing the first woman president. As a Democrat, I am reeling,” said Camille Paglia, the cultural critic. “That was the best political speech I have ever seen delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is as tough as nails.”

Mark Steyn's thoughts on the Palin pick:

real people don't define "experience" as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong. (On the first point, at the Gun Owners of New Hampshire dinner in the 2000 campaign, I remember Orrin Hatch telling me sadly that he was stunned to discover how few Granite State voters knew who he was.) Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth. She's done the stuff he's merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party's corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol (see his campaign's thuggish attempt to throttle Stanley Kurtz and Milt Rosenberg on WGN the other night).

A fine point over at the Weekly Standard:

Was there something inconsistent in McCain's naming Governor Palin to his ticket after making much hay out of Barack Obama's not being ready to be president? I don't see it. Most of us McCain-Palin supporters think Senator Obama is ready and qualified to be vice-president, as is Governor Palin.

I understand the jittery feelings about Palin's supposed lack of experience, but I also like the idea of taking a complete outsider and putting her right next to the oval office. I think she has the principles, the ethics, and the judgement to be great. And I certainly believe she has the chops to be a huge asset to McCain on energy issues. With a Vice Presidential term or two under her belt for some extra seasoning and the right people around her - the sky's the limit.

Comic by nagaitalyo