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WASHINGTON: Griffin DuBois of New York is one of thousands of people
who think their foreign policy credentials make them more qualified
to be vice president of the United States than Governor Sarah Palin
of Alaska.
“I live above a Greek family and next to an
Egyptian family. I’m more qualified than Sarah Palin,” DuBois
said in a message posted Thursday on the “I have more foreign
policy experience than Sarah Palin” group on Facebook, the social
networking site.
As of Thursday afternoon—six days after
Republican presidential candidate John McCain unveiled Palin as his
choice for the number two spot in Washington—the Facebook group
founded by University of Washington student Timothy Goyder had more
than 17,000 members.
And some 100 new adherents from around the world
were joining every 10 minutes.
“I studied some French phrases to get ready
for a trip to Paris . . . in doing so, I’ve leapt miles [or
kilometers] ahead of Palin’s foreign policy experience,” said
Matt Eichstedt of Chicago.
Ed Rooney of Vermont claimed to be the man for
the job that has gone to a woman for the first time in the history
of the Republican Party because: “I recently ate Chinese food
which makes me an expert on US-China relations.”
“I’m from Taiwan. Can I be VP?” asked
David Wang, a high-school student.
Others mentioned how often they have eaten at
the US fast-food chain, the International House of Pancakes,
italicizing the word “international.”
Palin burst from relative obscurity in Alaska,
where she has been governor for less than two years, to take center
stage in US politics when McCain tapped her to be his running mate
last week.
Her credentials for the number-two job in
Washington immediately came under scrutiny, and critics have homed
in on her lack of foreign policy experience.
According to posts on the “I have more foreign
policy experience than Sarah Palin,” the 44-year-old governor of
Alaska only got a passport last year and has visited three foreign
countries.
Prominent Republicans have defended her by
pointing out that Alaska borders Canada and is separated from Russia
by the narrow Bering Straits, which sometimes freeze over to create
a walkable bridge to Siberia, although the Republicans did not
mention that.
-- AFP
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