The Palin Mistake

From the get go we all knew that Sarah Palin was a Hail Mary, and it was obvious to many even beyond America's borders. With judgment like that McCain probably would have lobbed one into Iran, while humming an old Beach Boys song. I'll give the American people credit for seeing the knee-jerk tactics of an old war hero, who had to be a gambler just to survive it.

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

Speaking as a frothing-at-the-mouth liberal, I happen to like Sarah Palin. She didn't call up John McCain and say: "Hey, why not me? I'm a hockey-mom reformer." She had it loaded on her back like a pack mule, and yet she was gracious about her multi-challenges. I don't know of anyone who could have mustered the needed wherewithal fresh out of the box and do as well as Sarah. She's authentic, even if she is on the wrong end of the political spectrum. It was McCain's mistake, and he could have done a lot worse by selecting just another drab Republican, like Elizabeth Dole, as his running mate.

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

Rovian, indeed! But Rove counted on all the people to be as stupid as we were when GBW led us into Iraq. Times have change. Public stupidity has slipped a notch. Just look at California.

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

Does the fact that Joe Biden thought that Pakistan deployed nuclear weapons against its enemies count for anything?

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

And I almost had a date once with Mia Farrow. My point is that I would expect any high school history student to know that only one country ever deployed nuclear weapons against another.

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

If you will accept me as a witness, which I doubt, I can tell you that I saw and heard him say that in a debate* against Palin. And it wasn't a throw-away statement either; he said point blank that Pakistan had deployed nuclear weapons against its enemy.*Added by edit: Here's the transcript of that debate (but you'll have to scan through it).Edited by Hoot Mon, : added link to transcript

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

I was mistaken to think that "deploy" meant "to use." I've always thought that when troops were deployed they went into battle. Not so, according to the Oxford Dictionary; they just "moved into position for military battle." Thanks for the vocabulary lesson.

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

Did Biden?

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

Well, considering that there are two meanings for the word "deploy," per The Oxford Dictionary:

quote:

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deploy |diploi|
verb [ trans. ]
move (troops) into position for military action : forces were deployed at strategic locations.
” [ intrans. ] (of troops) move into position for such action : the air force began to deploy forward.
” bring into effective action; utilize : they are not always able to deploy this skill.

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When I hear about somebody deploying nuclear weapons I think of missiles and bombs in the air, instead of merely moving the nuclear weapons into place. It's ambiguous, and so was Biden. When the U.S. deployed its nuclear weapons against Japan we didn't just "move them into place."

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

onfire, all is good in what you say. But just to be a real dick about it I'll point out that the precise definition of "deploy" pertains only to troops and not to nuclear weapons. Are you ready to say that the U.S. has deployed nuclear weapons against Russia just by moving our missiles into Europe?

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

I wish I had joined the Marines when I was 18 instead of becoming a stupid frat boy. Having never been deployed thusly, I must concede to the rest of your cogent post about the meaning of deployment. And I fervently hope that VP-elect Biden knows the difference.

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

So you think Biden meant that Pakistan actually used nukes against its enemies? That's what bothered me from his statement. I'm more educated now on the ambiguous meaning of "deployment," but is Biden?

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The first lesson of philosophy is that we may all be mistaken. ”Will Durant

After thinking it over, I have to agree that Biden's use of the term was correct. For me it was more of an knee-jerk reaction to hear a senior statesman talk about deploying nuclear weapons. It carried, for me at least, an image of nukes in flight. But that was probably an emotional override of my good judgment.”FTF

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I can see Lower Slobovia from my house.

I anxiously await the final chapter of the Mexican-American War. Don't forget, however, that Texas is a republic”armed and dangerous. But I do think your timing is good for a Mexican re-annexation of the Lone Star state.”FTF

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I can see Lower Slobovia from my house.

Given the sad state of affairs in the Republican party, I'm not so sure that Sarah Palin's VP nomination was a mistake. She's fresh, and I say that even as a left-wing pinko commie rebel with a cause. She's authentic, otherwise SNL would leave her alone. (Just how much attention would Elizabeth Dole have gotten on SNL?) She's smart; look how fast she learns. I like here, but I'd never vote for her politics. She's Anita Bryant on a snow machine, and I'd pay big bucks to see her beat the shit out of Oprah Winfrey in a cage brawl.”FTF

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I can see Lower Slobovia from my house.