I was about to go to bed this evening when I suddenly got a flash thought. It was triggered by a short section of an interview I saw this evening with Sarah Palin that I presume will be aired soon on one of the national networks (hopefully, all of them) – I believe the reporter was Charles Gibson of ABC. The republicans must have picked him because he was willing to give her some pretty bland questions so as not to “put her on the spot” about her true “expertese.”

During this interview there were some questions relating to foreign policy and I want to comment on one answer in particular, but first I have to say that I’m not sure how many people will pick up on this, but Palin has no idea what the “bush doctrine” relating to foreign policy is. Now if someone asked me what the bush doctrine was I would probably say something like “how much time do you have?” And my perception would probably be quite a bit different than how bush would portray it to the world, but I can guarantee you that I would have a specific response. Sarah Palin looked completely confused by the question. Later in the interview she was asked some questions about Russia, which is what really got my attention.

First of all, Sarah Palin said something very close to “Russia’s invasion of Georgia was totally unprovoked.” The questioner asked her to repeat that or said something like “are you sure?” I’m sure he fully understood that Georgia initiated the conflict by unleashing a barage of bombs on South Ossetia (you can read some of my previous posts if you want my full opinion of the Georgian conflict) and he seemed a bit surprised that he was talking to a potential vice president of the United States, a “heartbeat” away from the presidency of a 72 year old cancer survivor and she didn’t have a clue about what was happening in the country that is so close to the state she governed – this closeness being what, according to many republicans, is what makes her qualified to be our commander in chief.

She went on to say that “of course” we would have to go to war with Russia if, after a list of countries including Ukraine joined NATO, Russia invaded one of them. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want us to sit around and let Russia invade a bunch of countries. But I believe that Palin has about a front page knowledge of what is really going on in this world. I don’t proclaim to have much more than that, but let me suggest here that the real problem lies in Washington DC with a bunch of radical right wing “neo-cons” who – almost like the guy in a spy movie I saw many years ago (can’t remember the name of it) saying “I’m going to rule the world!”

We were supposed to be building a positive relationship with Russia, but I think they’re getting a bit impatient with us – after our so-called “free market” experts went in and made their economy much worse after the fall of communism. And of course, with Russia sitting on huge reserves of bush and cheney’s favorite “idol” – oil – well it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that the bushies are trying to figure out how to get their hands on as much of that oil as possible without the Russians getting anything for it – you know, this is what they’ve done in numerous places around the world over the last many years, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. What is a surprise to me, is that so many people are surprised that Russia is not surprised – and not going along with bush/cheney any more. So, can you imagine the mayor of a city that is probably smaller than Hazel Dell, who’s been the governor of a state that’s about 1/8 the size of Seattle (population wise) dealing with the other country in the world that has the strength to make Armegeddon real – thinking we would have to go to war with them (I’m not sure where we’d get the troops at this point, but that’s a story for another day)

The other day I wrote about how the election is between Obama and mccain and that Sarah Palin has been successfully used to be a sideshow by the republicans to take the focus off of mccain and his gaffes. However, this woman needs to be fully vetted, interviewed, and the American people need to know what they’re voting for on November 4th. I fully understand that there are millions of Americans who will vote for her because she’s a right wing Christian. Being a Christian, I don’t want to say anything more than, to me, that doesn’t qualify anyone for anything – even a job at a church. Any person should be thoroughly interviewed for any job of importance – and for the job she’ applying for, she needs to be vetted completely and asked, in public, to explain any and all inconsistencies in her record. That only makes sense for the good of the country.

Tonight, I’m hoping that at least she has to explain why she didn’t know that Georgia initiated the violence in South Ossetia. To me, that is unacceptable. And I don’t think she was lying to protect the position of mccain (he probably played a significant part in encouraging Georgia’s president Saakashvilli to start the conflict) I think she just didn’t know. I don’t think she knows much about foreign policy, foreign governments, diplomacy, the military, and on and on. And the suggestion that she, one who managed a sports journalism degree from the University of Idaho, would be a fast learner – gives me little confidence that my daughters, son, granddaughter, my students, and everyone I know would be in good hands if she had to take the reins of our nation. As I listened to her this evening the only thing at all positive that I took from the interview was that if she’s really qualified for the office she’s running for then I could be vice president!!!!