Palin, anti-isolationist

The Politico ^ | July 1, 2010 | Ben Smith

[2ndDivisionVet]

Sarah Palin is often cast as a reincarnation of Pat Buchanan, who tapped into the nationalist, even nativist, sentiment that's always been a strand of American political life.

But in one important respect, as Josh Rogin points out today, Palin is the anti-Buchanan: She's emerged as the spokeswoman for a hawkish, confrontational, Cheneyite foreign policy that would make Buchanan shudder. She just posted a rather long foreign policy speech to Facebook, and it's worth a read.

And she's fighting an important battle inside the loosely organized conservative grass roots to head off calls from some tea party types and fiscal conservatives like Mitch Daniels to shrink government in part by cutting defense spending:

Palin's drive to lead the charge against defense cuts on the right was on display in a June 27 speech at "Freedom Fest," a conservative gathering in Norfolk, VA, where she sent a clear message to Republicans that deficit reduction can't come at the expense of the military.

"Something has to be done urgently to stop the out of control Obama-Reid-Pelosi spending machine, and no government agency should be immune from budget scrutiny," she said. "We must make sure, however, that we do nothing to undermine the effectiveness of our military

[9YearLurker]

Your ‘fact’ is her saying something when she was a closely scripted VP candidate and while her party’s sitting President espoused exactly what she expressed. She honors our military and veterans every time she speaks and she talks about their protecting our freedom and serving us—not going out to establish global democracy. She’s also been quite straightforward about believing in furthering and defending American power, not pulling it back for the sake of an equality-based national determinism worldwide.

[mnehring]

Sarah Palin is often cast as a reincarnation of Pat Buchanan

Huh? Patty O' Goebbels is nothing like Palin.

[RobbyS]

Not many people are pacifists, then. Maybe the Shell People in 1000000 B.C.

[Captain Kirk]

Well....there are many who are much closer to the pacifist position than Obama including Sheehan, Ghandi, Tolstoy, and ML King. Obama is not even close to being a pacifist. He is very much on the warmonger side of the spectrum compared to these and many others.

[rob777]

"She was a frigging VP candidate—it doesn’t make sense to hold her to what she said then."


That is not an excuse, she publicly expressed her difference with McCain on Alaska drilling. If she had a disagreement with him over other issues, why would she not express her own opinion on them as well? I could see keeping quiet on disagreements, but not expressing opinions that the actually disagreed with simply to tow the McCain line. If she was really doing that, it would bother me more than if she actually agreed with the McCain position.

[skintight buffoonery]

Appreciate the research, cap’n.

I can’t imagine how sane i.e. conservative person could believe in this “spreading democracy” nonsense. Liberal democracy of the sort we see in the U.S. and Western Europe is based on centuries and centuries of conflict, cultural development and sheer happenstance. It’s a system that can only really work with European or culturally Europeanized peoples, and not even with all of them.