Sarah Palin’s Refueling Stop in Ireland: Was It a Visit?

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Wall Street Journal

Does a refueling stop count as a visit?

Okay, this is less of a hot-button issue than her daughter’s pregnancy. But presumed vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s refueling stopover in Ireland has become another one of the questions bouncing around the blogosphere about Sen. John McCain’s running mate.

The issue stems from the response a Palin spokeswoman gave to Politico blogger Ben Smith, who last week asked whether Palin had ever traveled abroad. The spokeswoman told Smith about Palin’s 2007 trip to Germany and Kuwait as part of a visit to Alaska National Guard troops. The spokeswoman also said Palin visited Ireland.

In a subsequent post, Smith clarified that Palin’s trip to Ireland “was a refueling stop on her trip to military installations in Germany and Kuwait, spokeswoman Maria Comella said.”

Unfairly or not, left-leaning bloggers have been quick to assail the Palin camp over the Ireland trip, seeing its mention as an attempt to puff up her foreign policy experience. Foreign affairs experience is considered a strength for Palin’s opponent, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden. He chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has traveled widely during his career, including eight trips to Iraq, according to his Web site.



Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/09/03/sarah-palins-refueling-stop-in-ireland-was-it-a-visit/

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:rofl:

[liberal N proud]

1. I stop in West Virginia for gas on my way to Florida

Does that mean I visited?

I guess I should start counting it.

[YDogg]

14. at least your feet touched the ground.

:-)

[Wabbajack_]

25. Absolutley!

I stopped to pee in Kentucky (terrible smoke-filled rest stop bathrooms) on the way to FL once. I consider it a visit.

[roguevalley]

29. that airport makes a sweet bread roll with white frosting that I still

dream about. I LOVE YOU, IRELAND!

[HopeHoops]

2. All she wanted was a pint!

[Ghost Dog]

20. Exactly. Did she at least make it to the airport bar at all at all?

And would that have been at dear old Shannon, just up the road from Dirty Nellie's for the tourists there where there used to be great craic, I can tell you, when the flights were fogged in...

[RoccoR5955]

3. They were refueling the BAR, not the plane! n/t

[Schema Thing]

4. Geez, I got to layover in Dublin for two nights

when I first went to Europe (France) at the age of 40. I tell people of the nice time I had there, but I always minimize it because it was indeed just a stopover; an evening/night, a nice day, another night, and leaving in the wee morning hours.

I just hope I get to be Ambassador to Isle in a McCain administration.

[undeterred]

5. On a business trip to Pennsylvania I got lost.

I flew into the Pittsburg Airport and rented a car, then started following my directions. At one point I saw a sign that said "Welcome to West Virginia". I started laughing. Then I realized they don't put up signs like that just to be funny.

So I got off at the first exit and drove back the same way until I saw a sign that said "Welcome to Pennsylvania". Then I asked for help with my directions.

I guess you could say I spent some time visiting West Virginia, like Sarah Palin did visiting Ireland.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Gosh that means

that I have 'visited' a few places I thought I'd never really been! Iceland, Winnipeg Manitoba, the State of Maine (Bangor galore!) New Oreleans.....hey, does a plane change count too, or does it have to be fuel? If plane chagnes count, the list is endless, and I should be Secratary of State at once!

[Jack from Charlotte]

7. Did she leave the plane and/or did she leave the airport?

Back in '85 I was returning home from Munich. Had one of those cheap charters that used to go to Europe. On the way back to America, we stopped in Iceland for fuel. Don't think we were on the ground for 30 minutes and we we're allowed off the plane. Could have been in Canada or Maine, for all I knew.

The thing is, her or her campaign, to say she .....visited.... Ireland, in the context of a question about her travels and her experiences abroad.... is incredibly deceptive if she never left the plane or the airport.

[Tracer]

8. I was in "Ireland" too!!

The ship I was on briefly anchored in Cobh Harbor.

By golly, I could actually SEE the shoreline!

Gotta put that on my Countries-I-Have-Visited list.

[itsrobert]

9. I been to this airport a couple times flying to and from tours in Southwest Asia

You get off the plane and it gets refuel and you grab a pint at the airport bar and than get back on the plane.

[LibDemAlways]

10. I've changed planes in Minneapolis, Memphis,

and Atlanta. I've touched down in Cleveland on a direct flight from Boston to LA that stopped to pick up passengers there. Stopped at Bangor, Maine once for refueling. I'm sure the vast majority of people who've flown have had similar experiences. And it's a safe bet that most of them would say that while they may have been technically at those locations for a very short period of time, they never actually visited them. I think a visit means that a person, at the very least, left the airport.

Mentioning Ireland as a place Palin had visited was nothing more than a transparent attempt to make it look like she's done more travelling than she has, which apparently is very little.

[Ghost Dog]

21. I think you can discount Kuwait and Germany too,

if all she did was airport, US military base, airport.

Besides, even if otherwise, since when was tourism to be termed "foreign policy experience"?

[Journeyman]

11. I was diverted to Chicago once, spent an afternoon in the airport bar. . .

I can't begin to believe I was ever actually in Chicago.

[MannyGoldstein]

12. Palin Is A Perpetual Christmas

A new gift every day. Wheeeeeeeee!

[TrogL]

13. That's means I've visited Chicago and know all about it

...at least the view from one of the passenger lounges at O'Hare airport.

[CitizenPatriot]

15. Unfair?

Like...when hillary said she took fire and the repukes never let that one die, in fact, they brander her a LIAR? but when it's Bloody Princess, Killer of Animals, it's OK to say untrue things and then whine about how people are mean if they call you on it?


OH GOD. really? Thanks for the laughs, GOP. You guys are outta your minds.

[sabrina 1]

16. I guess I've been to Greenland, then

although I never that, until now!

[struggle4progress]

17. I'm gonna say "Don't forget her plane refueled in Ireland" whenever her foreign affairs credentials

are under discussion: I believe that giving her full credit, for the refueling experience, is just the right thing to do!

[karynnj]

18. But that means I visited Texas!

All I know is that even as little kids, my kids did not include countries or states we landed in as connections when asked in school. Why? They already had a nice size list. This was done to increase her list to three from two. Also, in the other two countries< I would question whether she did anything other than meet with US military. If so, her real foreign travel is zero. I may be wrong she might have met with Kuwaitis and Germans - so she may have a little foreign travel.

Also, if Russia is so close - did she never ever think it would be interesting to visit?

[bikebloke]

19. She never had a passport until last year.

And that was for the Kuwait trip.

When I was kibbutzing in Israel, after they returned the Sinai, we made a trip to Taba. The Egyptian guards who were bored spitless sitting on the roadside in folding chairs at the new border (and good sports to boot) let us step over the road spikes so we could say we'd been in Egypt. So yes, I'm now an Egyptologist. I even own a 3 Mustaphas 3 CD.

[llmart]

22. Wow!

This means I'm a worldwide traveller! (I've been to Canada:)

[chelsea0011]

23. I loved my trip to Utah. That Salt Lake City airport was awesome.

[elehhhhna]

24. Then you should see the airports in St. Lucia & Puerto Rico! Sweet!

I also changed planes at Gatwick TWICE, so I guess I can negotiate for us w/ the British.

[Blecht]

26. This is really stupid

I count my brief (less than 2 hours, I think) stop in Iceland while flying Iceland Air to Europe as a visit to another country, and I'm not trying to pad my country total.

It is really stupid for people to make a big deal out of the statement by Palin's people; it's something out of the Republican playbook.

AND I LOVE IT! It's about time people do stupid things if they'll help us get good people elected.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

27. I had a two-hour stopover at Miami International on the way home from Brazil

So I am now full conversant on all aspects of Florida - government, politics, culture, tourism - you name it!

Oh - and I've also been in the Minneapolis airport once - same deal with Minnesota!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. I've always felt that airports are like countries in themselves...

You really don't get more than a tourist-eye view of the country they are in, and the atmosphere is so different from the towns, cities, and countryside. Travellers are in a different frame of mind, too.

So I guess you could say the refueling was a visit to another country...It just wasn't Ireland.