Sunday, September 21, 2008

When "In Fact" Is Used To Start a Sentence That Has Few Facts In It

"I also know, if I might remind you, that she is commander of the Alaska National Guard. In fact, you may know that on Sept. 11 a large contingent of the Alaska Guard deployed to Iraq and her son happened to be one of them. So I think she understands our national security challenges..."
McCain said at a Town Hall meeting this week. What's funny is that Palin was by his side, and to the best of my knowledge, (meaning I have looked all over the Internet and can't find it) she didn't bother to correct him.

You see, Palin's son did deploy to Iraq on September 11, but he is in the regular Army and Palin has no authority over the regular Army. Let's hope that whatever understanding she has of national security challenges far exceeds McCain's lack of understanding regarding the structure of our military.

P.S. I was in the Army Reserves, and I can tell you that nothing would piss off someone more who is in the RA (Regular Army) than mistaking them for someone in the NG (National Guard, but NG in the Army also stands for "No Go," which is what you get when you fail a test.)

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