August 29, 2008

Palin's foreign policy experience

By: Sonny Bunch

Andrew replies to my critique:

But still: there’s inexperience and inexperience. Has Palin ever even said anything about foreign policy in her entire career? That’s all I’m asking. What have been her views on Iraq and Afghanistan? Darfur? Georgia? Russia? The EU? I’d like to see evidence that she has addressed these issues or has substantive views on them. That’s all. Is that too much?

I think this is a little unfair: Palin’s the governor of a state. What business would she have talking about Darfur or Georgia or Russia or the EU or anything else? It wouldn’t make sense for her to either campaign on foreign policy or write op-eds about the surge/Darfur/Russian aggression for the “Anchorage Times” (or whatever the name of the main Alaska newspaper is).

Is she fair game in the VP debate? Absolutely. She’s going to need a crash course in foreign affairs. I’m sure McCain has one or two people who can tutor her over the next couple of weeks. I’m also sure that we’ll find more out about her foreign policy views over the next couple of weeks. We should probably hold off judgment on the foreign policy front until we do hear a little more.