Wait, wasn't being commander of the Alaska National Guard part of Palin's executive experience the McCain camp has been touting? I guess that means she runs things about as well as the rest of the Republican Party.

Veterans For America:

The post-deployment challenges facing Alaska's Army National Guard are more daunting and widespread than any seen by Veterans for America (VFA).

VFA's National Guard Program just completed a week in the state reviewing the needs of Alaska's citizen-Soldiers and the resources in place to meet them. The needs of Alaska's Guard members and their families far outstrip the available help.

Many of the Alaska's Guard members have been deployed, and redeployed, despite the shortage of care and treatment available upon their return. With more than one-quarter of Alaska's Guard members living 60 miles or more from a Veterans Affairs facility, many rarely if ever get treatment they need. Travel to Anchorage alone can cost more than $1,500 for each Guard member - an upfront cost too burdensome for many to shoulder, even if they are eventually reimbursed. With the economy worsening, the costs to Guard families for their own healthcare will mount and even fewer will receive treatment.

We owe our citizen-Soldiers better than this.

Read our findings

Probably because she doesn't have any. At all. Well, not unless you count the proximity of Alaska to Russia. Sarah Palin made her first unscripted appearance Wednesday at a town hall meeting with John McCain and proved exactly why the McCain campaign has tried their damnedest to keep her as far away from those things as possible. In this clip, a questioner throws up a softball about national security cred and Palin can't remember her talking points about being able to see Russia from some remote island or that she's the "Commander-in-Chief" of the Alaska National Guard.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governor Palin, there has been quite a bit of discussion about your perceived lack of foreign policy experience. And I want to give you your chance. If you could please respond to that criticism and give us specific skills that you think you have to bring to the White House to rebut that or mitigate that concern.

PALIN: Well, I think because I'm a Washington outsider that opponents are going to be looking for a whole lot of things that they can criticize and they can kind of try to beat the candidates here, who chose me as his partner, to kind of tear down the ticket. But as for foreign policy, you know, I think that I am prepared and I know that on January 20th, if we are so blessed as to be sworn into office as your president and vice president, certainly we'll be ready. I'll be ready. I have that confidence. I have that readiness.

And if you want specifics with specific policy or countries, go ahead and you can ask me. You can even play stump the candidate if you want to. But we are ready to serve.

Turns out the town hall was pre-ticketed and she still couldn't answer the question coherently. Sheesh.

McCain town hall style meetings are generally open to the public where anyone may wait in line on the day of the event and come in without an advanced invitation.

However, at tonight’s 3,500 person townhall in Grand Rapids, Michigan–the first time Palin is taking questions from the public– only ticketholders are allowed in.

This scandal is as easy to follow as it is transparently outrageous. Since choosing her as VP, the McCain campaign has been trying it's hardest to make the case that as "Commander in Chief" of the Alaskan National Guard, Sarah Palin has relevant national security experience. On August 31, the actual commander of the Alaska National Guard-- Major General Craig Campbell -- punctured a hole in that meme when the AP reported Campbell saying:

"[Palin plays] no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard."

On September 3, Campbell went even further, saying:

"The Alaskan governor is not in the site's chain of command and has no authority over its operations."

Realizing that Campbell was severely undercutting one of the campaign's main talking points, it appears someone leaned on him and got him to change his tune...on FOX News:

"In the last few days, I've been watching the press, and I've not been very pleased with what I've been seeing about the chastising of the National Guard by having it diminished by the insinuation that a commander-in-chief of the National Guard doesn't really control the military. The National Guard has 500,000 people in it around this great country, serving in states and overseas. National Guards are state military forces run by governors, and Sarah Palin does it great."

Now, for being a good soldier, Campbell has gotten a major promotion.

Change we can believe in, huh?

VetVoice has much more.