Memo Re Palin
Kristol at Fox, via Moderate Voice: Free Sarah Palin!
Mona Charon at NRO’s The Corner: Yeah … and while you’re at it, stop foreign-policy cramming, stick to making sense. A lot of the answers that have drawn fire lately could have very simply been answered according to the principle McCain voiced in the debate: It’s not whether you may, hypothetically, someday, invade Pakistan or declare war on Russia or not. It’s whether you intend to make a soundbite and/or campaign plank out of it.
More to the point, it’s whether elements of the media want to make a campaign plank out of it. The following genesis of a misrepresentation might be helpful to understanding that:
CNN: Palin contradicts McCain on Pakistan.
“So we do cross border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan you think?,” Rovito asked.
“If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,” Palin responded, before moving on to greet other voters.
Those comments appear to contradict McCain’s long-standing position of negotiating with Pakistan before carrying out attacks on terrorists within their borders. The GOP nominee criticized Barack Obama in Friday night’s debate for his willingness to strike unilaterally inside Pakistan.
I dunno. Not clear how “If that’s what we have to do” precludes negotiating with the Paks. The “invade Waziristan” remarks are as conditional and ultimately innocuous as her “declare war on Russia” remarks were.
Moving on, CNN: McCain “retracts” Palin’s Pak remarks. Actually, it’s more of a clarification.
“She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we’re not going to do anything except in America’s national security interest,” McCain told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos of Palin. “In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that’s—that’s a person’s position… This is a free country, but I don’t think most Americans think that that’s a definitive policy statement made by Governor Palin.”
Anyway, definitive policy positions aside, I guess the important thing to take from this is, the ‘08 election has two candidates who are new to the national stage and new to foreign policy, and are learning some hard lessons about the press and public statements as they go. One of them is running for veep. The other is running for president.
My unsolicited advice to Palin … what Mona said: Don’t respond to hypotheticals, don’t discuss specific actions. Talk principles.
My advice to Obama: Keep up the good work!
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 4:13 pm on Sunday, September 28, 2008
One Response to “Memo Re Palin”
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September 28th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
“She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we’re not going to do anything except in America’s national security interest,” McCain told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos
I think this is the salient point. I trust her political instincts and belief in the country a whole lot more than I trust Obama’s self-serving, whatever-it-takes, mean-America attitude.