Proximity to Russia as proxy for foreign policy experience

Apparently, since Alaska is very close to Russia, then Gov. Palin, now McCain's running soul mate, has sufficient foreign policy experience to take over as commander-in-chief if 72 year-old McCain becomes incapacitated.

Here's what Cindy McCain says when ABC's George Stephanopoulos asks her about it:

STEPHANOPOULOS: But she has no national security experience.

CINDY McCAIN: You know, the experience that she comes from is what she’s done in government, and remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. It’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.

She must have got this nugget of wisdom from one of America's most intelligent foreign policy experts, Steve Doocy, of Fox News. When discussing the fact that Joe Biden (Obama's running mate) has been chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the U.S. Senate, Doocy says this about Gov. Palin:

But the other thing about her, she does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia

Huh. Interesting. Well, since proximity to Russia is all that is needed to command the mightiest military in the world, let's take a closer look (all distances calculated in GoogleEarth and in miles).

If you're the governor of Alaska you hang out in the capital, Juneau. This is approximately 1,230 miles from the closest point in Russia (Cape Dezhnev along the Bering Straight). Perhaps Palin spends most of her time doing business in Cape Prince of Wales, which is also on the Bering Straight and ~53 miles from Cape Dezhnev. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say she doesn't ... if you can prove me wrong, please put in comments below.

Hmmm ... but, wait ... doing some foreign policy and stuff might mean interacting with people in the Russian government, not just being near the easternmost point in an essentially uninhabitated part of the continent.

So, if you are in Juneau and you want to do some foreign policy-ing and what not, you'd probably interact with some folks in the Russian capital, Moscow. Turns out that Moscow is approximately 4,470 miles from Juneau (as the crow flies).

Well ... since proximity is a proxy for sufficient foreign policy experience (it is! Fox News said so, leave it alone!), let's see how close Mr. fancy-pants Obama is to Moscow!

Since Obama is a senator (as is his running mate Biden), he has an office in Washington, D.C., which means he is a mere 4,865 miles away from Moscow.

A ha! Juneau is 395 miles (or ~8%) *closer *to Moscow than Washington, D.C.!! That's way closer ... ha ha Obama/Biden ... you guys are suckers with your serious and comprehensive platform. I want the lady who is closer to Russia ... she's way better at doing the foreign policy stuff.

Clearly.

UPDATE (9/3/2008): Wow, McCain himself is using the proximity argument now too!! Unreal.

UPDATE (9/13/2008): I wrote this post right after it happened the first time (~2 weeks ago) thinking it was so ridiculous that would be my one shot to make snarky comments ... but they're still making this argument:

GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

Amazing.

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