There are a few people making the exceedingly stupid argument that since Sarah Palin is the governor of Alaska, and Alaska has a close physical proximity to Russia, then Palin must have some foreign policy experience. (Ed has a couple of good video examples of this claim.) Now, besides all of the other things that make this an incredibly dumb argument that I won't get into, I'd just like to note that "proximity" is something of a relative thing.
For instance, surely one of the defining attributes of sheer proximity to Russia is not closeness to the border, but closeness to the leadership of the country. According to the City Distance Tool, Juneau, Alaska is 4542 miles from Moscow, Russia "as the crow flies." Which is made even less impressive by the simple fact that according to the same page, Chicago, Illinois is 4997 miles from Moscow. Five hundred miles' difference is apparently all that's necessary to mark one as a keen eye of Russian politics versus a no-nothing Scary Black Dude who hasn't the experience to know his ass from a hole in the ground.
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