Friday evening, Mort Kondracke of the Beltway Boys said during the roundtable portion of Special Report that Sarah Palin wasn’t qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. I took offense with that, especially considering the ineptitude and qualifications of Sen. Obama, who wouldn’t be “one heartbeat away from the Oval Office”.

This morning, I wrote an email to Mr. Kondracke. Here’s the text of that email:

Mort, You’ve really outdid yourself this time. Saying that Gov. Palin, who’s visited Kuwait to talk with the troops from Alaska’s National Guard deployed in the Gulf, who’s rooted out corruption within her own party, isn’t qualified is uninformed opinion. It’s also irresponsible journalism.

Why haven’t you talked about Obama’s lack of qualifications? As you know, he chairs a subcommittee with oversight on Afghanistan. As you know, that subcommittee hasn’t met under his control. He’s been to Iraq twice. The last time he visited, he couldn’t even admit that the surge had worked because his hyperpartisanship wouldn’t allow him to admit that.

Who’s qualified to be commander-in-chief? It isn’t the junior senator from Illinois.

What about his reaction to Russia invading Georgia? Saying that both sides needed “to show restraint” is one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever heard from a politician, much less a political party’s presidential nominee.

Obama talks about changing Washington but it’s just that: talk. He grew up politically in Chicago but he never uttered a peep about the corruption running freely through that old boys network. Sarah Palin saw corruption in her own party & went to work to dismantle it. She’s done what he’s talked about.

Who’s qualified on reform? It isn’t the junior senator from Illinois.

After NRO’s Stanley Kurtz started digging into the documentation to determine the nature of Sen. Obama’s relationship with terrorist Bill Ayers, the OBAMA CAMPAIGN sent out a blast email telling his supporters to flood the phone banks so that “Republican hatchetman Stanley Kurtz” couldn’t smear Sen. Obama.

In other words, the Obama campaign didn’t think twice about trying to silence free speech.

Who’s qualified to “defend & protect the Constitution of the United States”? It isn’t the junior senator from Illinois. He’s shown his disrespect for the First Amendment.

You’ve talked about bipartisanship but you’ve got a nasty left lean. You’ve largely given Sen. Obama a free pass on whether he’s qualified but you’ve jumped down the throat of Sarah Palin, who represents the next generation of conservative reformers. What’s with that?

You’d be better off if you left the Beltway & went back to reporting from the Midwest. It’s obvious that the Beltway has warped your sense of priorities.

Gary Gross

Anyone who’s read this blog knows about my disdain for Beltway pundits. It’s something that I speak out loudly against. It’s my biggest pet peeve about Washington. Their conventional wisdom is usually misguided at best. It’s rarely wisdom at all. Frequently, it’s just a pile of BS. In fact, if you do the opposite of the CW, you’ll be better off more often than not.

As I pointed out, Sarah Palin has a history, a track record, of not tolerating corruption. I suspect that that’s because it goes against every principle she holds dear. That attitude and track record will endear her to millions of voters, be they conservatives, moderates or Lieberman liberals, nationwide.

As Newt said in his email to Bill Kristol, people will be drawn to Gov. Palin because she’s authentic. She’s got an irrefutable history of reform. Sen. Obama talks incessantly about change. He’s never lifted a finger to expose the corruption known as Chicago machine style politics. Gov. Palin didn’t spend much time talking about corruption. She just spend endless hours taking it on and demolishing it.

McCain-Palin style change is the change I’ll be enthusiastically voting for this November. In fact, I can’t wait to cast my vote.

Technorati Tags: Beltway, Mort Kondracke, Beltway Pundits, Elitism, Obama, Chicago Politics, Corruption, McCain, Sarah Palin, Reform, First Amendment, National Security, Surge, National Guard, Change, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. “I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.” - Sarah Palin

   Thanks for making it easy.

   Comment by Liem — August 31, 2008 @ 11:10 am

2. “And, also, remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.” - Cindy McCain on Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience.

   Comment by Liem — August 31, 2008 @ 1:56 pm