The big hubbub here at Daily Kos, as far as I can tell by the recommended list, is about Sarah Palin's comments that 'perhaps' we would go to war against Russia if they invaded a Georgia that was part of NATO. Yes, they are foolhardy and reflective of the warmongering neoconservative wing that John McCain and George W. Bush represent - maybe even more so than Bush - but technically speaking, it's not wrong. What's more, most Americans, whether it be right or wrong (and in the case of Georgia, it's many shades of gray), see Russia as a bullying aggressor that should be shown its place. Fighting a publicity war over the nuances of Palin's comments regarding Russia is a losing battle amongst a media that will simplify the matter down to a black-and-white topic - and a population that won't see through it.
It's a trap that the GOP is well willing to fight on. We should avoid it and focus on the other things that Sarah Palin said during her interview with Charlie Gibson.
First, courtesy of Talking Points Memo, here is evidence that Sarah Palin has no freakin' clue about what American foreign policy has been since the invasion of Iraq was talked up:
Second, go to this Huffington Post article and watch the second clip, which is about her insights as to why she believes she is qualified to provide insight as to how to handle Russia. Here's the transcript:
GIBSON: But this is not just reforming a government. This is also running a government on the huge international stage in a very dangerous world. When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?
PALIN: But it is about reform of government and it's about putting government back on the side of the people, and that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie, and that's with the energy independence that I've been working on for these years as the governor of this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy, that I worked on as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, overseeing the oil and gas development in our state to produce more for the United States.
GIBSON: I know. I'm just saying that national security is a whole lot more than energy.
Lastly, go read excerpts from the interview and pick and choose the best. Here are money quotes from the first two pages alone (there are four to examine):
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. But, Charlie, again, we've got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebody's big, fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state ... these last couple of weeks ... it has been overwhelming to me that confirmation of the message that Americans are getting sick and tired of that self-dealing and kind of that closed door, good old boy network that has been the Washington elite.
What the hell does reforming Washington and the 'old boy's network', as Palin is fond of deriding, have anything to do with meeting the leaders of other countries?
GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln's words, but you went on and said, "There is a plan and it is God's plan."
PALIN: I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan for this world is for good. I believe that there is great hope and great potential for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That, in my world view, is a grand -- the grand plan.
GIBSON: But then are you sending your son on a task that is from God?
PALIN: I don't know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is that my son has made a decision. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer.
So she was for God's plan before she was...agnostic about it? Yeah, it'll make the wingnuts who think it's our God-given right to do whatever the hell we want militarily feel warm inside, but it will scare the crap out of moderates alienated by Bush's holier-than-thou approach to foreign policy (remember about him asking a 'higher father' when it came to iraq?)
GIBSON: Would you favor putting Georgia and Ukraine in NATO?
PALIN: Ukraine, definitely, yes. Yes, and Georgia.
GIBSON: Because Putin has said he would not tolerate NATO incursion into the Caucasus.
PALIN: Well, you know, the Rose Revolution, the Orange Revolution, those actions have showed us that those democratic nations, I believe, deserve to be in NATO.
Putin thinks otherwise. Obviously, he thinks otherwise, but...
Instead of focusing on what followed next from that quote (the 'perhaps' we should fight Russia), focus on the fact that NATO is not a 'League of Democracies', as McCain might wish for it to be. It is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Turkey is probably as far geographically as you can get away with including countries that, theoretically speaking, have some sort of geographic tie to one another. We shouldn't be handing out NATO membership like candy to countries with less-than-stellar rulers simply because they 'deserve' it.
In closing, Kossacks - don't debate the point that is easiest for us to lose on. Fight Sarah Palin's words with her words alone - not the interpretation of them. Those are the points that we can win the easiest, and those are the ones the McCain campaign can do absolutely nothing to contest.