It appears that Palin is following McCain in providing another vehicle for 8 more years of neocon foreign policy in the White House.
McCain and Palin aren't as bad as Bush. They're worse. By treating Russia like an enemy, they will turn it into one. An American attack on Iran, which McCain is thirsting for, could lead to a wider conflict with Russia that has incalculable consequences.
While the connection of neoconservatives and McCain is more profound than Palin's, it is misleading to make the "McSame" criticism as it obfuscates the point that McCain followed the neoconservatives before Bush. McCain was already aligned with the neoconservatives in 2000 (like regime change in Iraq) while Bush held less aggressive positions in the 2000 primaries (and up to 2002) that originated from Colin Powell's camp. McCain's national security team currently features a strong neoconservative presence. Catchy slogans like "McSame" don't adequately capture the events of the last 8 years, and they certainly don't fully capture concerns about neoconservatives and McCain and Palin.
It appears that Palin is following McCain in providing another vehicle for 8 more years of neocon foreign policy in the White House. Jacob Heilbrunn, author of They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons, makes this statement on McCain and Palin vis-a-vis the neocons:
If John McCain and Sarah Palin are elected, they will make the Bush administration look like a dress rehearsal for what's coming. McCain and Palin aren't as bad as Bush. They're worse. By treating Russia like an enemy, they will turn it into one. An American attack on Iran, which McCain is thirsting for, could lead to a wider conflict with Russia that has incalculable consequences.
Indeed, the Telegraph adds to this story connecting Palin as a new figure to help put them back into the administration.
Neoconservatives whose influence had been waning in Washington have hitched their colours to rising star Sarah Palin in a bid to shape US foreign policy for another decade.
While the connection of neoconservatives and McCain is more profound than Palin's, it is misleading to make the "McSame" criticism as it obfuscates the point that McCain followed the neoconservatives before Bush.
USA Today 02/18/00
FOREIGN POLICY: McCain says he'd support, in some fashion, forces trying to overthrow regimes in ''rogue states'' such as Iraq and North Korea. He'd also ''use our primacy in world affairs for humanity's benefit.''
Bush, too, counsels against isolationism but has emphasized more than McCain that the United States should intervene in conflicts when it is in the nation's direct interest to do so.
Sometimes we forget that, while Bush held positions in the 2000 primaries (and up to 2002) that originated from Colin Powell's camp[1], McCain was already touting the neoconservative inspired model[1996][1998] of regime change in Iraq. In fact, the title "McSame" is a little disingenuous, as it forgets the actual struggle within the 43rd administration between the State Department and the neoconservatives, and the period up to the first part of 2002 where Bush followed Powell's advice[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].
McCain, on the other hand, was already aligned with the neoconservatives in 2000[16], and in 2008, McCain's national security team still features a strong neoconservative presence[17]. Much as they proved problematic to Reagan[18], and Bush 43[see links above][19], (Bush 41 called them crazies in the basement and kept them out[20]), neoconservative advisers, like Randy Scheunemann is already posing problems for McCain, even before the election[21]. Catchy slogans like "McSame" don't adequately capture the events of the last 8 years, and they certainly don't fully capture concerns about neoconservatives and McCain and Palin.