Amazing....Palin didn't do well in a forum in which she had to think?

Putin, Kim, et. al. would eat her alive.....let us hope we soon awaken from this national nightmare.

I don't know... personally I think it would be a huge tragedy if we followed up a president with -72% approval ratings with somebody dedicated to nearly all of the same policies.

That said, I think she did all right. They've sort of committed to the goofiness of Alaska being close to Russia somehow conferring foreign policy experience by proximity. Other then that, Charlie pressed for yes/no answers to tough, complex questions.

What is she supposed to say "Charlie, the Georgians are screwed. The Russians have them bent over a table, and there isn't a thing we can do about it! If Israel went after Iran, we would blast their planes from the sky, and bomb Tel Aviv for good measure! If Pakistan doesn't let us have open season to storm through their country shooting whoever we please, then they are not with us so they are against us, and we will start Operation Pakistani Freedom."

The part where she doesn't know what the Bush Doctrine is was sort of worrying.

That is the worst case of bullshitting through an interview I have ever seen.

Well she could at least have known what "The Bush Doctrine" was.

As for Georgia, you start out of the box by acknowledging that admitting Georgia to NATO has risks. And if she is willing to say that the US should be ready to go to war with Russia over Ossetia off the cuff, then she clearly doesn't understand the very delicate juggling act that is involved in dealing with Russia and eastern europe.

But of course the Palin lovers won't see that as a minus. The question is whether the indies will.

As for Georgia, you start out of the box by acknowledging that admitting Georgia to NATO has risks.

Do you? Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. If you start by saying that Georgia's admission to NATO is problematic, then the much more cautious Europeans (well they should be - it's going to be a cold cold winter for them if Russia cuts of the natural gas) completely torpedo it. If you come out strong for it, it just might be a lever you can use on an otherwise difficult to stop Russia. If the US giving up on Georgia's admittance to NATO could convince Russia to pull all the way back, that would be a good thing, no?

Much of US public policy towards Russia since the cold war started has been predicated on "we might be just that crazy". For example, the Berlin airlift. If they had started shooting down the US relief planes, we might just have been crazy enough to start WWIII.

So maybe what she said was part of a long history of US strategic ambiguity. Or maybe she doesn't have a clue.

Err sorry that should be "if Russia cuts OFF the natural gas"

I've had Freshman Composition students who could do a more convincing job of b.s. than Miss Congeniality. I'd like to find out if she actually could have provided a definition for "hubris."

And the Europeans torpedo admission of Georgia because?

That's right, because you don't know how to play NATO hardball politics.

Furthermore, lets say they DO torpedo Georgia's admission. How is that harmful to US National Security?

Or is Palin now the Mayor of Tblisi?

You might be right about the wisdom of a "we might be that crazy" policy, but I am pretty sure she just doesn't have a clue.

And the Europeans torpedo admission of Georgia because?

That's right, because you don't know how to play NATO hardball politics.

Ok newly ascended president Palin... Russia says that if Georgia or Ukraine are admitted to NATO, natural gas supplies to Europe are cut off. What hardball can you pull from your broke ass that will convince your NATO allies that their citizens should freeze for your global democracy foreign policy plan?

I'm not running for VPOTUS or POTUS. But even _I_ know that you don't lay your cards on the table in anticipation of negotiating with the Russians.

Remember the US has some bargaining cards. We can pull the unproven (read non-functional) missile defense from Poland and the Czek republics in return for Russia ascedeing to Georgia getting into NATO. We also can finally follow through on our promise to get Russia into the GATT. We threaten to kick russian trawlers off the Bering sea and to move the Med fleet to patrolling the Arctic Sea just off the Russian Coast.

That's how you play hardball. And the EU says "no Gas? No parts for your VWs, BMW,s and Mercedes".

yeah it can get ugly. But hardball is possible. Remember, that although Russia can turn off the gas, they also need the Euros. Without the Euros from selling LNG, the russian economy falters. Even more so when the EU stops shipping Russia any goods and locks out their shipping via the Baltic and Black seas. Suddenly the $E that Putin was bribing the population with to look the other way as he consolidates power, stops flowing.

Its economic brinksmanship but again, you can play that sort of hardball. UNLESS, like a numbnut, you lay out all your cards on the table trying to prove that you aren't a numbnut when it comes to foreign policy.