read all of this?

I forget where I found it originally.

As a veteran myself and anyone participating in the Guard in any State knows that this line is a very weak line of a attack gentleman. Not to mention the downright political hypocricy; ie Clinton used the National Guard line as experience in 1992, Bush in 2000, Reagan in 1980, and Carter in 1976.
What has changed? Has the role of the Governors office changed since then? These lines distract from issues that WILL actually draw the distinction that should be made in order to draw over middle America who will decide this election. These lines of attack do nothing, except insult veterans of members of our standing Guard units.

In fact, as I am sure a few folks are are aware the Governor of a State actually appoints ALL General and Flag officers for the National Gurd and Air National Guard not the President of the United States, not the Department of Defense and not the Department of the Army. The Governor appoints these offciers in command and they are confirmed my the legislature of the State, not a Federal Agency.

People on this line tend to want to ignore the struggles during the Civil Rights movement when some Governors used and in some cases misused the Guard units without Washington interference or blocked calls from Washington to expedite guard service.

Read every single U.S. State Consitution under Executive Authority headings and it spells the role of the Governor out very clearly in all the States.

None of this is a defense of Palin but a defense of the Office of the Governor. Its one thing to say that a Governor does not deploy or control troops overseas which is valid to a point, but anyway with military experience knows that the Feds request the deployment of National Guard troops through the Governors office. The Governor releases the units for service so in fact if there are any or has been any deployed troops from any State, the Governor office is involved in the process but not the command.

These distictions must be made clear.

Obfuscate. Get into great, irrelevant detail about how the bureaucracy works. Say it's a thin line between having no national security experience and having some national experience.

Thanks for your window into the McCain campaign's likely response!

It simply any role of any Governor including our own. On the one hand if they go out touting these things thats different, but if asked what her actual experience is; you go with hand your dealt no different than Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush.

I am curious why it is you have something against the actual State Consitututions and its framework regarding Executive Authorities. The point raised was "personally ordered the State Guard to do anything" which I think any Governors actions completely dispels.

I for one would have been ready to champion Gov. Kaine role in our Guard on the same grounds had he been the VP selection and someone challenge the authority and my bet is so would have you Green Miles.

Greenie,

Do you know what the state governor's responsibilities are for maintaining the preparedness of the National Guard for deployment, both under state control and when Federalized?  Do you understand the budget implications that this has for the governor?

Are you aware of the political fall-out that several state governors suffered after the first Gulf War when National Guard general officers that they had appointed were relieved or replaced by Regular Army authorities because of their performance?

Have you ever heard of the 207th Infantry Group (Alaskan Scouts) and what they do on a day-to-day basis under the governor's command through the state adjutant general?

These are hardly irrelevant details.  Before you and the other posters here shout down Indy4all, you might want to consider what he is trying to tell you.

BTW, the sum total of Harry Truman's national security experience when he became Vice President was serving as an artillery captain in the Missouri National Guard during the Depression, a time not only of no conflicts but also no budgets for training, deployment, or civil relief operations.  In other words, they did nothing.

This line of attack on Palin is a dog that won't hunt.

Why would I waste my time trying to shout down trolls? I'm way too busy trying to herd these cats and put this here toothpaste back in this tube. Get ... in ... there!

Normally, if the sentiment is right, I don't point out these things but Truman's time in WWI did several things, that really changed the course of this nation.  For anyone that reads these blogs you might be familiar with the "let's have Webb start a Truman commission" line.  That goes back to this.  The Truman commission was designed to liberate Truman from the party machine Pendergast. WWI, he met the nephew of Tom Pendergast, the Kansas City political boss.  He would rise up the machine as Judge and Senator. When he was Senator was the Great Depression. WWI taught Truman he could lead. He also didn't feel obligated to return back to the farm.  He started on the road to politics. So, he was Senator throughout the 30s and 40s at least 13 years.    

However, the Truman Commission focused on WW 2 contracts and came over 25 years after WW 1.  So, it was based on his expectations of wartime contracting from the perspective of a member of the Senate and not that of a serving military officer.  

debating or deriding the role of governors and the National Guard.  

The two key factors here are:
1. What SPECIFIC executive decisions has Palin made regarding the Alaska National Guard?

2. The Republicans have waaaay exaggerated the role in an effort to make her authority as governor sound like she has national security experience with the military.

We've yet to hear from anyone what orders she gave or decisions she made regarding the AK NG.  If she's really made none, then the Republicans should take this talking point off the table.  It doesn't count as experience if she's authorized to make a decision yet has never done so. If she has, lets hear what they are so we, the American people, can decide how valuable it is as "experience".

But so far, this is like saying a rookie fireman who has had training but never gone on a real call has the experience to be fire chief.  He's had the training to fight fires.  He has the authority and equipment to fight fires.  So why isn't he ready to be chief?

Eric its the same case every campaign has made for every Governor seeking or nominated by a Party. Its no different than the spin for either Party whether Clinton or Bush. The implication on "specific" implies that unless there is no natural disaster that the Gov. has no role at all and thats just not born out by the facts at all.

On a exective basis she makes the same moves any Governor does and gets the same readiness briefings just like Gov. Kaine was given and just like the Gov.s of TX, LA, AL and MS were given before the FEMA cam in a week ago before Gustav.

As a veteran its offensive to imply that all of us who may have served in peacetime really did not perform any real command duties because there was never a battle or conflict to execute such commands or leadership.

Your analogy is misplaced because a fire chief is hired and chosen to be that chief just as a Governor is hired/elected by the electorate to do the job.

Funny, many would say we elected Gov. Kaine to solve our transportation woes in the Commonwealth, but since he has been unable to get a solution or make any progress on it he has no real proven ability that he can actually do this so "specifically" since he has not provided a solution to the problem he might as well be that rookie fireman...alot of promise but no real proven experience with regard to transportation. I don't see it that way at all.

So a Governors only interaction with the Guard is if there is a disaster and that is the only involvement?
There are no disaster plans or emergency evacuations plan of actions that get worked out by every adminstration in the Executive Mansion?

I suggest you call your Governor and ask him just what kinds of descisions actually get made by the office....in fact Gov Kaine even said on radio in the past that the there is a tremondous amount of responsibility and time put in regarding his role.

Indy4all,
First of all, thank you for your service.  Second, thank you for taking the time to explain that veterans, as might be expected, have far greater insight when it comes to these things.  You are not trolling for McCain, as has been implied here.

As to your last point, I think today would be an especially good time to call Gov. Kaine and ask him about his interaction with the National Guard.

HisRoc's hattip to your service.  Regardless of which side of the political fence we may be on, all Americans owe our service men and women a big thanks.

Now on that topic, I'm perplex about where you've gotten the idea that I (or anyone else here) has implied peacetime service is not "real".  Or where we have implied that a governor's role in peacetime is "unreal".

The issue, again, is what Palin has actually done with regard to the Alaska National Guard.  Was she briefed?  Ok, that's something.  Did she deploy them anywhere? To do what?  What were the circumstances?

I'm not saying she absolutely didn't do anything, I'm saying that so far no one has been able to back up the commander style image that the Republicans have painted of her with any concrete examples of what she did.   She's an executive?  What executive decisions did she make (during peace or war, during a state emergency or a time of calm)?  What executive challenges with regard to the National Guard did she face?

Again, this is simple.  The Republicans have claimed she has all this executive experience and has pointed to the AKNG as a shining example.  If that's the case then they should be able to give examples of what she did to gain that experience.  That's all we're asking - no need to read into this as a slam on all governors, national guard members, or even firemen.

Eric,
The Republicans are clearly 'reaching' with this argument that Palin has national security credentials because she was the governor of Alaska.  As Indy4all has pointed out, Democrats dating back to Jimmy Carter and before have made that claim.  And, they were at the top of the ticket and not the VP candidate.

In this particular instance, Palin's people have a point.  The Alaska National Guard, the 207th Infantry Group (Alaskan Scouts) is deployed every day in a mission to protect our northwest borders against the former Soviet Union and Russia.  Did Palin prevent a Russian invasion?  Of course not.  But, she clearly has more credibility on the subject than Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who claimed national security experience based on being their state NG commanders.  

American Red Cross volunteers have been informed that Governor Tim Kaine has ordered a "state of emergency" as a result of the potential of Hurricane Hanna.

Seems we may have an opportunity to see that obfuscation and "bureacracy" at work potentially for the Guard if required.