|
Edited on Fri Sep-12-08 03:35 PM by Median Democrat
She leans moderate conservative, but will vote Obama/Biden this year, but her thoughts on the Gibson interview were interesting:
1. On the Bush doctrine/preemptive war - The friend thought it was a bit unfair of Gibson to ask this questions, since Palin was only newly selected as VP so she needed more time to prepare. My response was she may need to step in as President, and if she is not ready to do so with a clear foreign policy vision, then McCain should have chosen someone else. No disagreement on this point.
2. On NATO/Georgia - My friend thought this was a bit overblown, because how could we expect Palin to understand the U.S.'s obligations under NATO. I said that yes, we can't expect a person a few years removed from being a mayor of a small town to understand the U.S.'s obligations under NATO. But, McCain could have chosen someone else. I also noted that it is not exactly obscure knowledge to know that only Congress can declare a war, thus even if Georgia was a NATO member and was attacked, this does not force the U.S. into a war with Russia regardless of what the treaty says. The question always remains whether Congress will declare war, though the Congress will probably take the obligations of the NATO treaty and the interests of the US seriously under consideration before deciding to declare war. On this point, I was accused of being a geek.
In short, the disconnect appears to be that any gaffes were foregiven because there is not a real appreciation that Palin could very well end up being the President if McCain is elected and something happens to him. I would not be surprised if this perception is common.
|