I love how I keep hearing from people that Sarah Palin didn’t know which countries were in North America, which I assume is a ‘telephone effect’ of the original statement that she didn’t know all the countries in NAFTA.
Next time someone says that, just ask them, ‘Which countries make up North America?’. What? It’s more than Canada, Mexico and the United States? Today while you are doing whatever you do, ask someone. (Dramatic news guys voice) The answer might suprise you:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- The Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Canada
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat)
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United States of America
Moral of the story is, don’t make fun of people if you are in the same boat.
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#1 by Jarlskov on November 7, 2008 - 2:10 pm
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Depends on how you define north America.
Greenland is on the North American continental plate, but political it’s a part of Europe, and it’s not part of Nafta.
#2 by sharms on November 7, 2008 - 2:14 pm
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Right Nafta is Canada, Mexico and the United States, but that isn’t what I see on TV or hear, they specifically say ‘Countries in North America’
#3 by Jarlskov on November 7, 2008 - 2:22 pm
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Yeah, just pointing out that Greenland isn’t really a part of north america, depending on how you want to define it. But then again, I guess that just proves your point on how hard a question it is to answer
#4 by Bash on November 7, 2008 - 2:27 pm
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America#Countries_and_territories
#5 by Maxo on November 7, 2008 - 2:29 pm
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I have not heard anyone claim that she didn’t know which countries make up North America. I have only heard that she did not know which countries are part of NAFTA. The later question is more shocking. When I first heard that I thought to myself, “Wait do I know?” I named all three and then read the answer. “Fhew, I did know.” But what is less shocking is that I might not know. I wasn’t running for VP, or anything other important position. She, however, was running for VP, so in that light it is shocking if she doesn’t know who is included in NAFTA. I absolutely will criticize any presidential or vice presidential candidate for not knowing about important political topics, even if I myself don’t understand them, unless I am that VP or P candidate.
#6 by Harm Hilvers on November 7, 2008 - 3:13 pm
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As Maxo is already saying, the point is not that Palin didn’t know what countries are part of NAFTA, but that she was to ignorant/arrogant/whatever to prepare herself for this question and other questions like it.
Her aides have pointed out to her that she would be receiving these kind of questions, but for some unknown reason Palin decided that she didn’t need to prepare for them. That’s the real problem at hand, not that she didn’t know what countries are part of NAFTA (which is pretty stupid nevertheless).
#7 by Marc on November 7, 2008 - 4:01 pm
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Cue all the intellectuals trying to memorize these countries ASAP. LOL
(BTW, did you know that there’s some sort of a focus problem with your anti-spam field?)
#8 by Derek Buranen on November 7, 2008 - 4:38 pm
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It’s Fox that is trying to smear Sarah Palin with this stuff. Liberals are content knowing she lost.
#9 by Russ on November 7, 2008 - 5:28 pm
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Personally, I think its all a smear. I really doubt that the Governor of the state for which NAFTA has largest impact doesn’t know the details of NAFTA.
#10 by jim on November 8, 2008 - 1:05 am
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Russ, no I suspect she really didn’t know. All signs point to a woman who is quite sheltered and not that well educated (jumped around between 7 or so universities and worked as sportscaster – solid credentials for someone wanting to be VP of the USA). Although I’m sure the news networks like smearing the muck around as much as possible. It’s how they stay in business. Kind of sad really.
#11 by Janne on November 8, 2008 - 10:24 am
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If you are applying for a job where knowing your political neighbourhood is absolutely central then it is fair to be panned for not knowing.
You may not be able to play a single note on an instrument and still fairly criticize a musician making a lousy performance.
#12 by tikal26 on November 8, 2008 - 2:54 pm
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Well it depends. I think most people forget that there is such a thing as Central America I would know since I come form there and most people south of Mexico and North of Colombia would say so. I went to school in a couple of places in the world and it all depends since some claim Central America is a subcontinent of North America while other claim North America is a subcontinent of America, but most people do forget the islands which politically belong to Europe (mostly). I think you just opened a can of worms
#13 by Alberto on November 8, 2008 - 3:00 pm
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Well, I think there is a problem of definition here.
First: What is America?
Second: What is North, Central and South America?
In the narrowest definitions North America is just the land that goes from the Artic sea to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and that is (from North to South) Canada, Alaska, the continental United States and Mexico (which are the members of NAFTA, and the reason behind the name of the treaty). In the widest definition is the land that goes from the Artic sea to the Colombia-Panama border and the islands that surrounds them (and that includes all the nations the author listed and is the definition that is mainly used in the Wikipedia article cited). In the middle there is a definition that includes the NAFTA members and the island nations in the Caribbean sea (which is also refered in the Wikipedia article cited and is the central one used in the Central America article)
I think Sarah Palin doesn’t know a word about this discussion, but getting back to the NAFTA: Since that treaty was one of the key issues of the campaign, to ignore the countries which are parties of that treaty is an unforgivable lack of knowledge.
PS: I need to recognise that, although I know a lot about political geography, I got a serious lack of knowledge in the Caribbean and African countries.
#14 by Jojo Man on November 8, 2008 - 4:03 pm
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Well I do know that Africa is a continent and that South Africa is not some sort of Provence/State within the “country” of Africa…
Can i make fun of her now??
(Yes Sarah Palin thinks Africa is a country and South Africa is a part of the country of Africa)
#15 by chris burkhardt on November 9, 2008 - 2:09 pm
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I still don’t know what the Bush Doctrine is.
#16 by Jordan G on November 10, 2008 - 12:42 am
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Asking what countries are in NAFTA is not the same as asking what countries are in North America.
What you did was change a relatively simple question, which Gov. Palin did not know, into a question that no one was even suggesting.