"Look! I Can See Russia!"

In her first interview on the national stage, Palin claimed, with a straight face, that she was qualified to make complex foreign policy decisions because she could "see Russia from Alaska."
Lots of people in the McCain campaign, also with straight faces, echoed Palin's claim that Alaska's proximity to Russia gave her an adequate understanding of international affairs.
Here's a fun coda to one of the McCain campaign's most embarrassing ploys to whitewash Palin's inexperience: It turns out that Palin has never actually seen Russia from Alaska. The only place in Alaska from which Russia is visible is an island called Little Diomede -- an economically depressed town with a 40 percent poverty rate that Palin has never, ever visited.

Unlike Palin, CNN's Gary Tuchman went to the island, where he interviewed townspeople who had barely heard of the Alaska governor.

About Sarah Palin's experience in foreign affairs can be said:
The first passport of her entire life is less than two years old.

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