Fred Kaplan gives an excellent, excellent point by point assessment and critique of the national security portion of the Gibson-Palin interview. A few highlights:
Gov. Palin was obviously briefed by Sen. John McCain’s advisers, and briefed fairly well. She recited what were plainly the main points of these tutorials with an assertive confidence familiar to those who engaged in high-school debate competitions.
But it was painfully obvious—from the rote nature of her responses, the repetitions of hammered-home phrases, and the non sequiturs that leapt up when she found herself led around an unfamiliar bend—that there is not a millimeter of depth undergirding those recitations, that she had never given a moment’s thought to these matters before two weeks ago….
When Palin brought up her proximity to Russia (“They’re our next-door neighbor,” she proclaimed), Gibson asked what insights she derived from this fact. She replied:
“Well, I’m giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relations with all of these countries, especially Russia. We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relations with our allies, pressuring also, helping us to remind Russia that it is their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.”
What does this mean? I have no idea, and I doubt that she does, either.
Ok, first let’s pretend that this was a coherent answer. It simply doesn’t make sense to be saying you’d be ready for war with Russia (“so be it”) and at the same time stress the importance of the relationship and not starting a Cold War. They are mutually exclusive concepts of the relationship with Russia.
Second, it wasn’t a coherent answer, at all. And you know what her answer reminded me of?
Inform Your Consent 