Palin doesn’t know what the Bush Doctrine is, so what?

The Bush Doctrine, which we have written about here bush doctrine, was central to why Bush lead us into the Iraq war ... you know the Iraq war, that same war that Sarah Palin prays is a task that is from God. Now is it all that important that she doesn't know what Doctrine lead us into this war? Was that just a small test question that she missed in her cramming. No it's not ... it tells us that she has not even been following this war and why it was waged ... and now she has the audacity to stand in front of us as a leader ... one short heartbeat away from commander in chief of the most powerful military force in the world. Should she become president she cannot lead by her own knowledge and deapth of experience, no she will be a puppet of the neocon warmongers who will be running her. Why not just turn our country over to the Dick Chaneys and the Rumsfields and the Sasquishes now?

In case you forgot or were not following international affairs back before the Iraq war was started, Hilzoy lays that all out for you in painful detail here. My spin on this is the dire consequences of her ignorance should a dreaded day come when she had to take the reins of commander in chief: she will be a puppet.

What was funny is what she said about Russia with a straight face "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska" ... as if to inform us guys down here in the lower 48 ... and we are left with the impression that she actually does think that is a qualifier. Based up this new Palin-logic i can finally update my resume: since i can see the top of Mt Rainier from my kitchen window (i have pictures to prove it) I'm a mountain climber.

I would have more respect for this girl if she would come clean ... admit her international experience is sorely lacking ... admit that she has no idea what the Bush doctrine is ... or whether she will be applying it. I wonder, how will she spin her ignorance?

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Mark de LA says

Enjoy the RWG - the acid taste in your throat just gets stronger as your mind melts!

Seth says

seth 2008-09-13 12:39:17 10477

I was careful in this item to quote Palin correctly. I think that my rendition: "Sarah Palin prays [the Iraq war] is a task that is from God" was an honest rendering of what she actually did say. But i acknowledge that some in the media and the blogisphere have taken liberties with her wording.

My point, of course, was not so much that the is a Sasquish but that her world view is distinctly local, almost like she has had no interest in global affairs for most of her life until she got the call. Consequently she will be a puppet of those around her who pay attention and care about those kinds of matters.

But now that you mention using God to win elections ... this video expresses my point better than my words have so far.

Seth says

M 2008-09-12 13:40:08 10477

seth 2008-09-12 11:29:57 10477

Btw i do not allow tag corruption on my blog. Make your comments respectfully as comments - use tags to classify for later retrieval. One quick way to tell the difference between a tag used as a comment and one used legitimately is if there are other items in the tag room.

Your phony picture & comments belies your legitimacy. Change them if you like.

My picture is irrelevant to my tagging policy. But now that you mention it, do you have evidance that this is not infact a picture of Sarah Palin? And, yes, if you can find such evidence, then i will change the picture.

Seth says

M 2008-09-12 11:00:14 10477

Given Obama's abysmal experience, just because he was [rediculous strawman reason deleted] doesn't qualify him in foreign policy either. Your desperado is showing.

What qualifies Obama is his time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his travel and contact with foreign dignitaries. Also the way he can talk about these subjects knowledgeably and not just parrot memorized phrases. Witness Palin's repitition of the phrase: "We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself" 3 times - i mean that's just all the information she got from her cramming ... or that's all that her puttitiers will allow her to say. Be honest Mark ... if Obama answered foreign relations questions like that would he have even gotten this far ... honestly?

Seth says

M 2008-09-12 14:08:26 10477

seth 2008-09-12 13:55:03 10477

M 2008-09-12 13:40:08 10477

seth 2008-09-12 11:29:57 10477

Your phony picture & comments belies your legitimacy. Change them if you like.

I really don't care if you want to be a megaphone for the left-wing blogosphere. I will comment as it moves me. Once I saw the picture I didn't need to read any further - I knew it would turn out to be spin & falsehoods. Unlike Obama, I don't need to strike down every rumor & ridicule that shows up. Enjoy the acid of the RWG. I don't even need to write couplets anymore.

Again i do not allow ending a thread with accusations of rwg. This comment will dissapear. It contains nothing but your own bile.

Seth says

M 2008-09-12 13:43:23 10477

IMHO, in your case the weakness & lack of experience is at the top of your ticket. If Palin shows weakness it is at least at the bottom. O did nothing of any note while on the Foreign Relations committee (except perhaps free trips at taxpayer expense).

That Palin is inexperienced in international relations is an existential fact, viewing Russia in the distance notwithstanding. But the problem i have with her latest interview is more dire than just a lack of experience ... she actually demonstrates a lack of comprehension and a lack of moxie in this area.

Btw, you might watch how many of your arguments take the school yard form or "So's your mother". It has become almost predictable. The question of what happens to us should Palin becomes commander and chief is quite independant is the only topic at point here ... bringing in Obama is just a distraction. The sos-your-mother form of retort just cheapens our dialogue.

Mark de LA says

See also Charlie Bit Me

Mark de LA says

M 2008-09-13 15:45:32 10477

Seth, please read Charles Krauthammer's article first before blowing it out your ass.
There are four things which could be called the Bush Doctrine. Palin was right to have it clarified as to what Gibson was referring.

BTW, Krauthammer claims coin on the phrase.

source: ... I know something about the subject because, as the Wikipedia entry on the Bush doctrine notes, I was the first to use the term. In the cover essay of the June 4, 2001, issue of the Weekly Standard entitled, "The Bush Doctrine: ABM, Kyoto, and the New American Unilateralism,"

...

Mark de LA says

I am more offended by a deliberate attempt by ABC & Charles Gibson to distort Palin's answer to offer liberal bloggers more red meat. Have I posted this cartoon yet - there are so many!

Seth says

M 2008-09-12 20:04:03 10477

Charles Gibson & Seth don't know what the Bush Doctrine is either!

; M$M hyperventilation notwithstanding. For one thing I don't think that W ever said here is my doctrine. The linked story in the Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer on politics & foreign relations, describes 4 distinct meanings or pronouncements that could be called the Bush Doctrine.

source: ...

It's the third in a series and was superseded by the fourth and current definition of the Bush doctrine, the most sweeping formulation of the Bush approach to foreign policy and the one that most clearly and distinctively defines the Bush years: the idea that the fundamental mission of American foreign policy is to spread democracy throughout the world. It was most dramatically enunciated in Bush's second inaugural address: "The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world."

This declaration of a sweeping, universal American freedom agenda was consciously meant to echo John Kennedy's pledge in his inaugural address that the United States "shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." It draws also from the Truman doctrine of March 1947 and from Wilson's 14 points.

...

Apparently you don't know what the Bush doctrine is either. Hint, Bush did not need to issue a document or pronouncement to make the term "Bush doctrine" refer to a specific thing.

Mark de LA says

If you had asked 15 people you would have gotten 15 different things. Crank it up. You obviously didn't read Krauthamer. Your bad!

Mark de LA says

Thomas Sowell wrote a nice editorial on the comparative foreign policy experience of the candidates in this article.

source: ... It is hard to know how many people could possibly have had foreign policy experience before reaching the White House besides a Secretary of State or a Secretary of Defense. The last Secretary of War (the old title of Secretaries of Defense) to later become President of the United States was William Howard Taft, a hundred years ago. The last Secretary of State to become President of the United States was James Buchanan, a century and a half ago.

... Senator Joe Biden's years of service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is even further removed from foreign policy experience. He has had a front-row seat as an observer of foreign policy. But Senator Biden has never had any real experience of making foreign policy and taking the consequences of the results ...

Out of the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates this year, only Governor Palin has had to make executive decisions and live with the consequences

As for Senator Obama, his various pronouncements on foreign policy have been as immature as they have been presumptuous.

He talked publicly about taking military action against Pakistan, one of our few Islamic allies and a nation with nuclear weapons.

Barack Obama's first response to the Russian invasion of Georgia was to urge "all sides" to negotiate a cease-fire and take their issues to the United Nations. That is standard liberal talk, which even Obama had second thoughts about, after Senator John McCain gave a more grown-up response.

Foreign policy experience means actually making policy & having to live with the consequences. (Like choosing Biden as O's running mate )

Seth says

What refutes Mark's spin above is Palin's own words. When asked what she interpreted it to be she said "Bush's world view". Point is she totally didn't know what it was. She would have more credibility now if she just coped to that. Who knows, given the right speech writer she might be able to come up with a Cherkers moment.

Mark de LA says

You get a break only if you can find the exact words of Obama on the situation & not some blogger's idea of what he said. As I recall he was suggesting taking action to force the government of Pakistan's hand. Such would never work & would drive Pakistan in the opposite direction.

Seth says

M 2008-09-14 09:10:38 10477

This was where it started. Later in the campaign there was the question of whether given actionable intelligence to actually make a raid into the boarder areas - that was where the term "military action" came from in what you quoted above. Some Republican spin artist changed that to "military action against Pakistan's government". The message has evolved over the campaign such that there now is almost no distinction between any of the candidates and even the actions of the Bush administration - diplomatic and economic pressure against the government and military action against terrorists given actionable intelligence. Evidently Bush seems to have that "actionable intelligence".

Mark de LA says

The real distinction is chasing insurgents across the border in hot persuit or on actionable intelligence & doing things that affect the whole country like sanctions or military action not confined to specific areas in an essentially ungoverned bunch of mountains. The government has recently changed there & what has worked in the past under Musharraf may be different under the current Pakistani administration. I will give you back about 1/3 of a break, but I am still chasing down what sounded like bullying tactics against Pakistan as a whole to force them to "give up" Bin Laden.

Seth says

M 2008-09-14 08:53:47 10477

seth 2008-09-14 08:50:11 10477

source: Mark cites the following as evidence of Obama's immature foreign policy

He talked publicly about taking military action against Pakistan, one of our few Islamic allies and a nation with nuclear weapons.

But in this specific case (and others as well) the current administration appears to be taking Obama's advise:

source: WASHINGTON (AFP)
US President George W. Bush has secretly approved orders allowing US forces to conduct ground operations in Pakistan without that government's prior approval, a report said Wednesday citing senior US officials.

... too bad about your choice of text to quote.

Too bad you are wrong again! Bush has covertly (?) taken action against insurgency from Packistan into Afganistan. That is not military action against Packistan nor it's government.

Give me a fucking break ... This is exactly the kind of action that Obama was talking about ... there is no way that Obama said anything about "military action against Pakistan's government".

Seth says

M 2008-09-14 11:46:44 10477

seth 2008-09-14 11:31:08 10477

Insisting, as Obama has done, that the military aid we give to Pakistan to fight the terrorists actually does go towards effectively fighting those terrorists should not be termed "bullying tactics".

That probably is correct. Sanctions would be.

Yeah, i haven't heard anybody talking sanctions against Pakistan. I did hear Palin recently taking sanctions against Russia, which i thought was a might bit premature and unnecessarily belligerent.

Mark de LA says
Maybe they should ask BO in the next debate if he knows what the BBUSH DOCTRINE is & which parts of them should he appeal if he became pres.

Seth says

And now this commentary from Campbell Brown seems to me to be a fitting end to this saga.

Seth says

Palin pays $110,000 for stylist!

I wonder how much Tina Fey paid for her doo ?

She's hotter!

Tina Fey for President in 2012

Seth says

M 2008-12-05 10:33:11 10477

I suspect it's about as much as Joe Biden paid for his hairplugs & Botox!

Well at least with Joe we get some smarts for the money. With the has been beauty pageant queen Palin all we get is mouth ... an a snotty one at that. With Tina, at least we would get some laughs.

Palin doesn’t know what the Bush Doctrine is, so what?

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