Sarah Palin’s team has now apparently “clarified” (yet again) the details of her one instance of foreign experience when travelling outside the United States. The vaunted trip to “Ireland, Germany, Kuwait and Iraq” is apparently still technically true, but…
WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin’s visit to Iraq in 2007 consisted of a brief stop at a border crossing between Iraq and Kuwait, the vice presidential candidate’s campaign said yesterday, in the second official revision of her only trip outside North America.
Following her selection last month as John McCain’s running mate, aides said Palin had traveled to Ireland, Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq to meet with members of the Alaska National Guard. During that trip she was said to have visited a “military outpost” inside Iraq. The campaign has since repeated that Palin’s foreign travel included an excursion into the Iraq battle zone.
But in response to queries about the details of her trip, campaign aides and National Guard officials in Alaska said by telephone yesterday that she did not venture beyond the Kuwait-Iraq border when she visited Khabari Alawazem Crossing, also known as “K-Crossing,” on July 25, 2007.
In Ireland, however, she did get off the plane long enough to buy a sweatshirt and a beer mug. It should be noted, once again, that there technically isn’t a lie in here per say. She apparently was inside of both of those countries and I suppose you could consider every square inch of Iraq a “battle zone” if you parse the language closely enough. Much like the “put that plane on e-bay story” this sounds like yet another case of the “small town hockey mom” being a lot more cagey than the rest of the team or even her running mate. It would be interesting to see if McCain (who also fell for the e-bay story and repeated it with embellishments) has told any stories on the trail about her dangerous travels inside the “battle zone.” Either way, Palin is looking like far less of a rube or Washington Outsider than the original billing and much more adept at twisting political tales to the advantage of the campaign without allowing herself to get caught in an actual “pants on fire” situation.