More Palin Failin'

GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?

PALIN: There in the state of Alaska, our international trade activities bring in many leaders of other countries.

GIBSON: And all governors deal with trade delegations.

PALIN: Right.

GIBSON: Who act at the behest of their governments.

PALIN: Right, right.

GIBSON: I'm talking about somebody who's a head of state, who can negotiate for that country. Ever met one?

PALIN: I have not and I think if you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you.

Really? Well consider this.

Cheney - met with dozens of world leaders as Secretary of Defense including Saudi leaders before Desert Storm
Gore - met with numerous world leaders while chair of the Governmental Affairs Senate committee and other congressional delegation trips
Quayle - member of Senate Armed Services committee, on several congressional delegations abroad
George Bush - Ambassador to China
Walter Mondale - spent much of his time in the Senate traveling abroad as chair of Intelligence Committee, met with NATO leaders on a regular basis
Nelson Rockefeller - Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs
Gerald Ford - traveled abroad numerous times while serving as House Minority Leader, met with leaders in Europe, Africa, and southeast Asia
Spiro Agnew - met with Western European leaders on trade negotiation trip while governor of Maryland
H.H. Humphrey - several trips to Western Europe on behalf of his chairmanship of the Select Committee on Disarmament
LBJ - long history of meeting with foreign leaders, most notably while Senate minority leader
Nixon - met with West German chancellor while art of Herter Committee on the Marshall Plan
Alben Barkley - met with Churchill to secure the details of the Lend-Lease Act
Truman - met with Churchill and other Allied leaders while part of the Senate Truman War Committee
Henry Wallace - met with south central Asian and Russian leaders as Secretary of Agriculture
Jack Garner - met with Mexican federal officials during World War I
Chuck Curtis - Met with French, Dutch, and British leaders in regards to defense in the Caribbean as Chairman of the Committee on Coastal Defense
Charles C. Dawes - Met the King of Sweden when awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (among many, many other instances)
Calvin Coolidge - cannot find any evidence he met with any foreign leaders prior to the Vice Presidency
James Sherman - Chair of Committee on Indian Affairs (in 1900, the Indian territories were still considered to be sovereign, and thus he negotiated treaties with their leaders)
Charles Fairbanks - member of Joint High Commission which brought American and British leaders together with Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier to deal with issues of land ownership in the Yukon
Theodore Roosevelt - met pretty much farking everyone
Garret A Hobart - Probably the closest analogue to Sarah Palin, spent most of his time in state government, but hosted "sultans and kings" at notorious parties in his Paterson, NJ mansion.
Adlai Stevenson Sr. - spent time in Ireland, but not sure who he met
Levi P. Morton - Ambassador to France, amazingly popular, secured the donation of the Statue of Liberty
Thomas Hendricks - met with French representatives in New Orleans but it doesn't appear he met with any head of state
Chester A. Arthur - met Robert E. Lee, if you want to count that
Will A. Wheeler - now we're starting to get into an age when international travel was not as easy
Schuyler Colfax - attended John A. MacDonald's inauguration as first Prime Minister of Canada
Andrew Johnson - see above regarding Robert E. Lee
Hannibal Hamlin - Minister to France, negotiated the Treaty of 1831
John C. Breckinridge - Negotiated Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in Mexico City
William R. King - Secretary of Legation (aka Consul) to Italy and Russia
Millard Fillmore - no foreign leadership, but was extremely accomplished regardless
George M. Dallas - Ambassador to Russia
John Tyler - nothing
Richard M. Johnson - Met with Tecumseh, much to Tecumseh's dismay. AKA death.
Martin Van Buren - Jackson's Secretary of State.
John Calhoun - JQA's Secretary of State.
DD Tompkins - Turned down a chance to be Secretary of State.
Elbridge Gerry - Delegate to France. It didn't work out so well, if you remember your history.
George Clinton - Negotiated the 1783 treaty with Britain
Aaron Burr - Went all over Europe, played both sides of the French Revolution
Thomas Jefferson - Minister to France, Secretary of State
John Adams - Hung out with the King of France, obviously

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