Palin Continues to Embarress GOP

Check out •••this video from CBSNews••• which aired tonight.

Palin continues to make gaff after gaff*. My favorite is what she says about Joe Biden, when asked about a joke she made about listening to his speeches since the 2nd grade. OH, and the part where she refuses to name what magazines and newspapers she reads.

[*link to NYTimes article]

Here is part of the transcript:

Before a rally in Columbus, Ohio, the candidates sat down with Couric for their first joint interview, where Couric and Palin focused on energy policy.

Couric: Gov. Palin, almost every expert says it will take about 10 years for domestic drilling to have an impact on consumers. So isn’t the notion of “drill, baby, drill” a little misleading to people who think this will automatically lower their gas prices, and quickly?

Palin: And it’s why we should have started 10 years ago tapping into domestic supplies that America is so rich in. Alaska has billions of barrels of oil and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of clean, green natural gas onshore and off-shore. Should have started doing it 10 years ago, but better late than never. It’s gotta be an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence.

Couric: Gov. Palin, I know you’d like to see drilling take place in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. And Sen. McCain, you oppose this. You call it, quote: “one of the most pristine and beautiful parts of the world.”

McCain: Uh huh.

Couric: Who’s right?

McCain: Did you expect two mavericks to agree on – (laughter) to agree on everything? Look, I …we just have, we’ll be talking more and more about this issue. We do agree on the off-shore drilling and other means of limiting our dependence on foreign oil. But for us to agree on everything would make us, I think, a little boring. You can … say a lot about us, but we’re anything but boring.

Palin has brought plenty of energy to the campaign, attracting huge, enthusiastic crowds, like one at Capital University.

Her trademark feistiness is on display as she delivers a punchy sound bite about her rival, Joe Biden: “I’m looking forward to meeting him, too. I’ve never met him before. But I’ve been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade,” she said at a campaign rally.

Couric: You have a 72-year-old running mate – is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden’s been around a while?

Palin: Oh no, it’s nothing negative at all. He’s got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we’ve been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he’s got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I’m the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he’s got the experience.

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Then it’s off to the bus where Palin sits down for a wide-ranging interview.
Couric: What’s your position on global warming? Do you believe it’s man-made or not?

Palin: Well, we’re the only Arctic state, of course, Alaska. So we feel the impacts more than any other state, up there with the changes in climates. And certainly, it is apparent. We have erosion issues. And we have melting sea ice, of course. So, what I’ve done up there is form a sub-cabinet to focus solely on climate change. Understanding that it is real. And …

Couric: Is it man-made, though in your view?

Palin: You know there are – there are man’s activities that can be contributed to the issues that we’re dealing with now, these impacts. I’m not going to solely blame all of man’s activities on changes in climate. Because the world’s weather patterns are cyclical. And over history we have seen change there. But kind of doesn’t matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is: it’s real; we need to do something about it.

Couric: If a 15-year-old is raped by her father, do you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion, and why?

Palin: I am pro-life. And I’m unapologetic in my position that I am pro-life. And I understand there are good people on both sides of the abortion debate. In fact, good people in my own family have differing views on abortion, and when it should be allowed. Do I respect people’s opinions on this. Now, I would counsel to choose life. I would also like to see a culture of life in this country. But I would also like to take it one step further. Not just saying I am pro-life and I want fewer and fewer abortions in this country, but I want them, those women who find themselves in circumstances that are absolutely less than ideal, for them to be supported, and adoptions made easier.

Couric: But ideally, you think it should be illegal for a girl who was raped or the victim of incest to get an abortion?

Palin: I’m saying that, personally, I would counsel the person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in. And, um, if you’re asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an … abortion, absolutely not. That’s nothing I would ever support.

Couric: Some people have credited the morning-after pill for decreasing the number of abortions. How do you feel about the morning-after pill?

Palin: Well, I am all for contraception. And I am all for preventative measures that are legal and save, and should be taken, but Katie, again, I am one to believe that life starts at the moment of conception. And I would like to see …

Couric: And so you don’t believe in the morning-after pill?

Palin: … I would like to see fewer and fewer abortions in this world. And again, I haven’t spoken with anyone who disagrees with my position on that.

Couric: I’m sorry, I just want to ask you again. Do you not support or do you condone or condemn the morning-after pill.

Palin: Personally, and this isn’t McCain-Palin policy …

Couric: No, that’s OK, I’m just asking you.

Palin: But personally, I would not choose to participate in that kind of contraception.

Couric: Do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or as one of several theories?

Palin: Oh, I think it should be taught as an accepted principle. And, as you know, I say that also as the daughter of a school teacher, a science teacher, who has really instilled in me a respect for science. It should be taught in our schools. And I won’t deny that I see the hand of God in this beautiful creation that is Earth. But that is not part of the state policy or a local curriculum in a school district. Science should be taught it science class.

The governor told us though she’s not a member of any church, she visits a couple of them regularly when she’s home. She took issue with news reports that one of them, The Wasilla Bible Church, sponsored a conference where gays could be made straight through prayer.

Palin: Well, it matters though, Katie, when the media gets it wrong. It frustrates Americans who are just trying to get the facts and … be able to make up their mind on, about a person’s values. So it does matter.

But what you’re talking about, I think, value here, what my position is on homosexuality and you can pray it away, because I think that was the title that was listed on that bulletin. And you know, I don’t know what prayers are worthy of being prayed. I don’t know what’s prayers are going to be asked and answered. But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my “gay friend,” she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn’t a choice that I have made. But I am not going to judge people.

People may judge her after Thursday’s debate, where she’ll be unfiltered and unedited – something reporters complain the campaign has resisted.

Palin: The campaign knows that I am an open book. My record is out there and my life is out there.

Polling Trends

This is from today’s RealClear Politics. Click on the image to go to the site for much more information.

Compare Contrast – McCain and Obama

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin #2

•••Check this video out••• from last night’s Saturday Night Live.

God I love Tina Fey!

***BONUS VIDEO: Obama’s “Zero” ad:

The Money Changers

If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks…will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
… The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.
-Thomas Jefferson

History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.
-James Madison

If congress has the right under the Constitution to issue paper money, it was given them to use themselves, not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.
-Andrew Jackson

The Government should create, issue, and circulate all the currency and credits needed to satisfy the spending power of the Government and the buying power of consumers. By the adoption of these principles, the taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. Money will cease to be master and become the servant of humanity.
-Abraham Lincoln

Issue of currency should be lodged with the government and be protected from domination by Wall Street. We are opposed to…provisions [which] would place our currency and credit system in private hands.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Despite these warnings, Woodrow Wilson signed the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. A few years later he wrote:

I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.
-Woodrow Wilson

Years later, reflecting on the major banks’ control in Washington, President Franklin Roosevelt paid this indirect praise to his distant predecessor President Andrew Jackson, who had “killed” the 2nd Bank of the US (an earlier type of the Federal Reserve System). After Jackson’s administration the bankers’ influence was gradually restored and increased, culminating in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Roosevelt knew this history.

The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial
element in the large centers has owned the government ever since
the days of Andrew Jackson…
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
(in a letter to Colonel House, dated November 21, 1933)

Conservative Slams Palin As Unqualified

Shortly after John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, I found myself in the car with my father. “It’s a brilliant choice,” he insisted, no matter what I said.

This is such a monumentally bad selection, however, the nation is turning against her. Her negatives rose approximately 17 points in a week. And now, conservative commentators are turning against her. One such commentator is Fareed Zakaria.

From Newsweek.com:

WORLD VIEW
Fareed Zakaria

Palin Is Ready? Please.

McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, that is simply not true.
Published Sep 27, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Oct 6, 2008

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, “to spend more time with her family”? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS’s Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn’t help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

“It’s very important when you consider even national-security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America. Where—where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to—to our state.”

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. “It is from Alaska that we send out those …” What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. (“We mustn’t blink.”) But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.

Couric asked her a smart question about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the American financial sector. It was designed to see if Palin understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit and liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that that’s why, in the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the government needs to step in to buy up Wall Street’s most toxic liabilities. Here’s the entire exchange:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

This is nonsense—a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN’s Campbell Brown, have argued that it’s sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that’s causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb.

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic challenges.

Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to get much worse if they are not handled soon.

And the American government is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush tax cuts, homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout, the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the retirement of the baby boomers begins with its massive and rising costs (in the trillions).

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

Hockey Mom The Movie

Leave it CollegeHumor.com to make a trailer for Disney’s next great comedy!

You can view it ••here••.

Enjoy!

Idiot

Here’s the video of Sarah Palin trying to explain why the proximity of Alaska to Russia gives her foreign policy experience.

I defy you to figure out what the hell she said.

**UPDATE: Definitely watch this reaction to the Palin interview by CNN’s Jack Cafferty!

**2nd UPDATE: Here’s the video from Youtube!

Rage Over The Bailout

Check out •••this article••• about the boiling rage over the Wall Street bailout…

I particularly liked this part:

“This week the White House is going to try to push through the biggest robbery in world history with nary a stitch of debate, to bail out the Wall Street bastards who created this economic apocalypse in the first place,” he wrote. “This is the financial equivalent of September 11. They think, just like with the Patriot Act, they can use the shock to force through the “therapy,” and we’ll just roll over!”
He added:

Think about it: They said providing health care for 9 million children, perhaps costing $6 billion a year, was too expensive, but there’s evidently no sum of money large enough that will sate the Wall Street pigs. If this passes, forget about any money for environmental protection, to counter global warming, for education, for national healthcare, to rebuild our decaying infrastructure, for alternative energy.

This is a historic moment. We need to act now while we can influence the debate. Let’s demonstrate this Thursday at 4 pm in Wall Street (see below).

What Suspension?

M E M O R A N D U M

To: Interested Parties

From: J. Jioni Palmer, Media Matters Action Network

Re: McCain’s Non-Suspension Suspension

Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008

On Wednesday, Sen. John McCain declared that he would suspend his campaign for the presidency and return to Washington, D.C., to help address the nation’s economic crisis.

Those covering the economic crisis and/or the campaigns of McCain and Sen. Barack Obama should be aware that after “suspending” his campaign, the Arizona senator has:

Allowed his surrogates to continue to appear on TV attacking Obama
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/25/mccain-suspend-campaign/
http://mediamatters.org/items/200809250010

Allowed an adviser to conduct a live chat with The Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/livechat/2008/sep/25/mccain-economic-adviser-nancy-mitchell-pfotenhauer/

Continued to run TV ads
http://mediamatters.org/items/200809250007

Kept campaign offices throughout the country open
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/25/mccain-campaign-still-act_n_129327.html

Continued accepting campaign donations
http://www.johnmccain.com/

Reportedly met with several campaign staff members in his Senate office
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/Nope_nothing_campaignrelated_here.html
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/Salter_on_debate_Well_see.html

Reportedly will appear on three network newscasts tonight http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/McCain_to_do_round_of_network_interviews_tonight.html

###

Media Matters Action Network is a progressive research and information center dedicated to analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation; ensuring accuracy, appropriate balance, and accountability; and empowering and expanding progressive voices in the U.S. media. For more information, visit www.mediamattersaction.org.

Nigerian Scam on a Grand Scale

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

Palin Explains the Importance of Proximity to Russia

**UPDATE: You can watch the video ••here••. She really is clueless, isn’t she?

From Politicalwire.com:

An excerpt from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric to be aired later tonight on the CBS Evening News:

COURIC: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land– boundary that we have with– Canada. It– it’s funny that a comment like that was– kind of made to– cari– I don’t know, you know? Reporters–

COURIC: Mock?

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our– our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They’re in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia–

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We– we do– it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is– from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to– to our state.

Yup, sounds perfectly reasonable to me! Good luck debating Joe Biden!

This Freaked Me Out!

Check out

–this site==

It’s freaky!

Tormenting the Telemarketers

List of Foreign Leaders Met By Joe Biden

From ••the Washington Post••:

Meetings with Foreign Leaders? Biden’s Been There, Done That
By Glenn Kessler
Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but after two weeks of requests for a list of the world leaders that Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden, Jr., has met with, his office released one — on the very day GOP vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin met with her first world leaders.

Judging from the eight-page document — which Biden’s office said was only a “partial list” — Biden has quite a headstart on Palin.

As of September 23, his office says, he has met with the leaders of nearly 60 countries, territories and international organizations (such as the United Nations and NATO.) The list of names runs to about 150 people — including nine Israeli prime ministers (ten if you including prime minister designate Tzipi Livni), four Soviet leaders and two Russian presidents, a few kings and a queen (of England), Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama, and even a few tough guys like Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi and Serbian president Sloban Milosevic.

The complete list provided by Biden’s Senate office is below:

As of September 23, 2008

Senator Biden/Meetings with World Leaders

This is a partial list of world leaders that Senator Biden has met with at least once over his nearly 36 year career as a United States Senator. As mentioned, this list is not exhaustive. As chairman of the subcommittees on Europe and Africa earlier in his career, the list is certainly much longer. ****The dates listed indicate when the foreign leader was in office.

Iraq
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (May 2004 – April 2005)
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (April 2005 – May 2006)
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (April 2006 – Present)
President Jalal Talabani (June 2005 – Present)
Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani (June 2005 – Present)
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (March 2006 – Present)

Israel
Prime Minister Golda Meir (March 1969 – June 1974)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (July 1992 – November 1995)
Prime Minister Shimon Peres (November 1995 – June 1996)
Prime Minister Menachem Begin (June 1977 – October 1983)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (October 1986 – July 1992)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (June 1996 – July 1999)
Prime Minister Ehud Barak (June 1996 – July 1999)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (March 2001 – April 2006)
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (April 2006 – Present)
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (January 2006 – present)

Palestinian Territories
Chairman Yasser Arafat (September 1993 – November 2004)
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (November 2004 – Present)
Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad (June 2007 – Present)
Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (October 2003 – March 2006)

Jordan
King Hussein (August 1952 – February 1999)
King Abdullah (August 2005-Present)

Egypt
President Hosni Mubarak (October 1981 – Present)
President Anwar Sadat (October1970 – October 1981)

Libya
Prime Minister Col. Muammar Qaddafi (March 1977 – March 1979)

Lebanon
Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri (October 1992 – December 1998)
Prime Minister Najib Mikati (April 2005 – July 2005)

Bahrain
Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (March 1999 – Present)

Syria
President Bashar al-Assad (July 2000 – Present)

Turkey
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (March 2003 – Present)
President Ahmet Sezer (May 2000 – August 2007)
Prime Minister/President* Abdullah Gul (November 2002 – March 2003, Current President)
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit (January 1999 – May 1999)
Prime Minister Demirel (November 1991 – June 1993)

Greece
President Kostis Stephanopoulos (March 1995 – March 2005)
Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis (March 2004 – Present)
Prime Minister Kostantinos Mitsotakis (April 1990 – October 1993)
Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou (October 1981 – July 1989)
(October 1993 – January 1996)

Cyprus
President George Vassiliou (February 1988 – February 1993)
President Glafcos Clerides (February 1993 – February 2003)

Afghanistan
President Hamid Karzai (December 2001 – Present)

Pakistan
President Asif Ali Zardari (September 2008 – Present)*
Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani (March 2008 – Present)
President Pervez Musharraf (June 2001 – August 2008)
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (December 1988 – August 1990, October 1993 – November 1996)
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (November 1990 – July 1993, February 1997 – October 1999)

India
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (May 2004 – Present)
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (May 1996 – June 1996)
(March 1998 – May 2004)

Sri Lanka
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe (May 1993 – August 1994)
(December 2001 – April 2004)

Russia
President Vladimir Putin (May 2000 – May 2008; current Prime Minister)
President Boris Yeltsin (July 1991 – December 1999)
Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev (March 1990 – December 1991)
Soviet Union President Andrei Gromyko (July 1985 – October 1988)
Premier of the Soviet Union Alexey Kosygin (October 1964 – October 1980)
Premier of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev (May 1960 – July 1964)

France
President Jacques Chirac (May 1995 – May 2007)
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (May 2005 – May 2007)
President Francois Mitterrand (May 1981 – May 1995)

U.K.
Queen Elizabeth (February 1952 – Present)
Prime Minister Tony Blair (May 1997 – June 2007)
Prime Minister John Major (November 1990 – May 1997)
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (May 1979 – November 1990)

Ireland
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (June 1997 – Present)
Prime Minister John Bruton (December 1994 – June 1997)
Prime Minister Albert Reynolds (February 1992 – December 1994)
Prime Minister Charles Haughey (December 1979 – June 1981)
(March 1982 – December 1982)
(March 1987 – February 1992)

Germany
Chancellor Angela Merkel (November 2005 – Present)
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (October 1998 – November 2005)
Chancellor Helmut Kohl (October 1982 – October 1998)
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (May 1974 – October 1982)

Italy
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (June 2001 – May 2006)
(May 2008 – Present)
Prime Minister Romano Prodi (May 2006 – May 2008)
Prime Minister Cossiga (July 1989 – April 1992)

Serbia
President of Serbia Boris Tadic (July 2004 – Present)
Prime Minister of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica (March 2004 – Present)
Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Djindjic (January 2001 – March 2003)
President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic (May 1989 – July 1997)

Yugoslavia
Premier of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito (January 1953 – May 1980)

Croatia
President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman (May 1990 – December 1999)

Slovenia
Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Drnovsek (December 2002 – Present)
President of Kosovo Ibrahim Rugova (March 2002 – January 2006)
President of Slovenia Milan Kucan (October 1991 – December 2002)

Bosnia and Herzegovina
President of Bosnia Haris Silajdzic (November 2006 – Present)
President of Bosnia Sulejman Tihić (October 2002 – November 2006)
President of Bosnia Alija Izetbegovic (March 1992 – October 2000)

Kosovo (as an independent nation)
President Fatmir Sejdiu (January 2008 – Present)
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci (January 2008 – Present)

Poland
President Lech Walesa (December 1990 – December 1995)
Prime Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz (October 1993 – March 1995)

Czech Republic
President Vaclav Havel (February 1993 – February 2003)

Hungary
Prime Minister Gyula Horn (July 1994 – July 1998)
President Arpad Goncz (August 1990 – August 2000)
Prime Minister Viktor Orban (July 1998 – May 2002)

Finland
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (April 1995 – April 2003)

Romania
President Ion Iliescu (December 1989 – November 1996)

Georgia
President Mikheil Saakashvili (January 2004 – Present)
President Eduard Shevardnadze (October 1995 – November 2003)

Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbayev (December 1991 – Present)

Ukraine
President Viktor Yushchenko (January 2005 – Present)

Canada
Prime Minister Paul Martin (December 2003 – February 2006)
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (September 1984 – June 1993)

NATO
Secretary General Lord George Robertson (October 1999 – January 2004)
Secretary General Javier Solana (December 1995 – October 1999)
Secretary General Manfred Woerner (July 1988 – August 1994)
Secretary General Lord Peter Carrington (June 1984 – July 1988)

China
President Jiang Zemin (March 1993 – March 2003)
Premier Zhu Rongji (March 1998 – March 2003)

Hong Kong
Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa (July 1997 – March 2005)

Taiwan
President Chen Shui-Bian (May 2000 – Present)

Korea
President Kim Dae Jung (February 1998 – February 2003)

Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (June 1959 – November 1990)
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (November 1990 – August 2004)
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (August 2004 – Present)

Indonesia
President Megawati Sukarnoputri (July 2001 – October 2004)
President Bambang Yudhoyono (October 2004 – Present)

Australia
Prime Minister John Howard (March 1996 – December 2007)
Prime Minister Paul Keating (December 1991 – March 1996)

Philippines
President Gloria Arroyo (January 2001 – Present)
President Fidel Ramos (June 1992 – June 1998)

Vietnam
Prime Minister Phan Van Kai (September 1997 – June 2006)

East Timor
President Ramos Horta (May 2007 – Present)

Tibet
The Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (1950 – Present)

Colombia
President Alvaro Uribe (August 2002 – Present)
President Andres Pastrana (August 1998 – August 2002)
President Cesar Gaviria (August 1990 – August 1994)

Mexico
President Vincente Fox (December 2000 – December 2006)
President Ernesto Zedillo (December 1994 – November 2000)

Bolivia
President Jaime Paz Zamora (August 1989 – August 1993)

South Africa
President Thabo Mbeki (June 1999 – September 2008)
President Nelson Mandela (April 1994 – June 1999)

Liberia
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (January 2006 – Present)

Lesotho
Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan (July 1965 – January 1986)

United Nations
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (January 2007 – Present)
Secretary General Kofi Annan (January 1997 – January 2007)
Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali (January 1992 – January 1997)

Vatican City
Pope John Paul II (October 1978 – April 2005)

Slovakia
President Rudolf Schuster (June 1999 – June 2004)

Turkmenistan
President Saparmurat Niyazov (October 1990 – December 2006)

*Senator Biden met with leader before he or she became head of state.