Palin Interview
Last night I watched the first interview of Sarah Palin with Charlie Gibson on Nightline. As I watched this it became painfully evident that she was grossly ignorant of fairly simple foreign policy issues. Gibson has been accused of tossing softball questions in the past, and while I can't say he was hammering her with difficult questions, he didn't let it go when she didn't give direct answers and would ask them 2-3 times before moving on to the next one. He also let her hang herself on one question in particular with regards to the Bush Doctrine. Only when it was obvious she had no clue what the Bush Doctrine was, did he explain it. He then asked her the question again, which she also failed to directly answer.
Most critics have already called her on the pat and obviously coached answers, but I'm surprised they're not calling her out on the specifics:
- Didn't even vaguely know the Bush Doctrine.
- Didn't understand the full implications of US duties to go to war if Georgia and the Ukraine are made NATO members and are attack by Russia.
- Didn't understand Bush's go ahead for US troops to enter Pakistan and go after al Qaeda operatives against the wishes of the Pakistan government is an act of war on the part of the US.
But my favorite was her reply after Gibson showed a clip of her telling a church congregation that the war in Iraq was God's plan.
GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?
PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.
GIBSON: Exact words.
PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words when he said -- first, he suggested never presume to know what God's will is, and I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words.
But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side.
Except for the fact that Lincoln said we should pray that we're on God's side and Palin said that God is giving the orders in this war and we best march to He's beat - yeah they're saying the exact same thing. At best she doesn't understand what Lincoln was saying, at worst she's lying.
I suppose the Republicans would call me a self-loathing misogynist for saying the Empress has no clothes, as any attack on her is somehow an attack on her gender. Facetious Comment --> But as we all know, rational thought has an obvious gender bias.
I look forward to the second half tonight...
(EDIT - Forgot the link to the ABC interview: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5782924&page=1)
Most critics have already called her on the pat and obviously coached answers, but I'm surprised they're not calling her out on the specifics:
- Didn't even vaguely know the Bush Doctrine.
- Didn't understand the full implications of US duties to go to war if Georgia and the Ukraine are made NATO members and are attack by Russia.
- Didn't understand Bush's go ahead for US troops to enter Pakistan and go after al Qaeda operatives against the wishes of the Pakistan government is an act of war on the part of the US.
But my favorite was her reply after Gibson showed a clip of her telling a church congregation that the war in Iraq was God's plan.
GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?
PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.
GIBSON: Exact words.
PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words when he said -- first, he suggested never presume to know what God's will is, and I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words.
But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side.
Except for the fact that Lincoln said we should pray that we're on God's side and Palin said that God is giving the orders in this war and we best march to He's beat - yeah they're saying the exact same thing. At best she doesn't understand what Lincoln was saying, at worst she's lying.
I suppose the Republicans would call me a self-loathing misogynist for saying the Empress has no clothes, as any attack on her is somehow an attack on her gender. Facetious Comment --> But as we all know, rational thought has an obvious gender bias.
I look forward to the second half tonight...
(EDIT - Forgot the link to the ABC interview: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5782924&page=1)