Palin Issues, Rescinds Claim to Have Seen Africa from her Window

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running-mate, was forced to retract a statement made earlier in the day in an apparent bid to boost her foreign policy credentials. Asked in an interview several weeks ago about her experience in the field of international affairs, Governor Palin offered the fact that she could see Russia from her window as a qualification for higher office. A subsequent interview with CBS’s Katie Couric failed to elicit a clear explanation of how the view from Palin’s residence would inform her approach to national security and diplomacy. A press statement issued today at 11 a.m. local time continued to duck that question while reporting that the Governor had “succeeded in spotting Africa” from her bedroom window earlier in the morning. Upon further investigation, it was found that what Governor Palin had in fact seen was a member of Alaska’s very small African-American community on a neighboring sidewalk. Sources inside the Governor’s office report that an earlier, unreleased memo describing Governor Palin’s apparent sighting of “Japan, China, or possibly Korea” was the result of a similar incident involving another passing pedestrian.