Posted on 09/11/2008 7:08:14 AM PDT by gridlock
In state after state, rally after rally, Sarah Palin is generating record levels of enthusiasm among the Republican base. Crowds chant her name, congressional candidates cite her in their ads and there are numerous reports of a surge in grass roots volunteers for the McCain campaign. The acclaim for the vice-presidential nominee is all but deafening within the GOP, except in one small but influential corner: the party’s foreign policy establishment. Among that mandarin class, the response to Palin’s nomination has been underwhelming, marked by distinctly faint praise or flat out silence.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The only person David Paul Kuhn quotes with a negative view of Sarah Palin on foreign policy is David Paul Kuhn.
Here are the quotes, isolated. See how you think they add up...
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) - No quote
Sec. State Rice - “These are decisions that Senator McCain has made. I have great confidence in him. I’m not going to get involved in this political campaign. As secretary of state, I don’t do that. But I thought her speech was wonderful.”
John Bolton, Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - “You want your strength on national security at the top of the ticket... I feel very comfortable with her as a vice presidential nominee, how it plays politically beyond that I don’t know... As somebody who spent a good part of his professional career on foreign policy matters I was delighted by her nomination... What you have to look for is extensive executive experience.”
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) - "(Palin is) intelligent, she has a lot of tenacity, she is a risk taker and she is plenty energetic.”
Anonymous McCain policy adviser - “To a lot of people it was a surprise choice so there was caution... There was a pause because they didn’t know her. My own personal view is I’m feeling more and more enthusiastic and I think they will too.”
Robert Kagan, a foreign policy advisor to McCain - “I don’t take this elite foreign policy view that only this anointed class knows everything about the world... I’m not generally impressed that they are better judges of American foreign policy experience than those who have Palin’s experience.”
Anonymous (One top conservative foreign policy wonk) -“I don’t see why Tim Pawlenty has any greater knowledge of foreign policy and nobody would have raised a peep about him,”
Max Boot, a Council on Foreign Relations fellow - “like most people, I don’t think I had any impression at all... she was a great way for McCain to generate excitement and interest in his campaign, one day after the Democratic convention... I don’t know what her foreign policy views are. I’m not sure how important that is.. No one thinks that a McCain administration would be guided by the foreign policy of a vice president. The office of the vice president is not set up to be a second national security advisor or secretary of state... The lesson of the last eight years is that we had a president who was not that well versed on foreign affairs coming into office and we had a vice president who was supposed to make up for that deficiency... It seems to me the Obama campaign is trying to establish the Bush model.”
maybe she should go to Berlin and give a meaninfless speech...
You mean she is not a member of the CFR? (gasp!)-yet another plus!
I agree with you - the article was positive as were the quotes.
What makes me mad is that Yahoo won’t let us post comments to these articles - they just want everyone to believe their point of view.
"I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate,” he said. “I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy.”
To date, Lugar has been silent regarding Palin.
Praise from that weak, droopy dog Lugar may not be all that great.
Completely agree with your analysis.
The TRUTH of the matter is that she is positively captivating, energetic, smart, beautiful, and just a joy to watch and listen to. I think she has the Dems scared to death because she is already so loved and admired. I think she is a modern day Margaret Thatcher and forget what foreign policy experts think. This woman has it all and the Dems know it too. They are running scared and Barack has made a huge mistake by selecting the blowhard, windbag Biden. He thinks he is smarter than everyone else and can’t hide is disdain for lesser minds than himself. That type of personality will self-destruct and we will all be able to watch it happen.
I’ll bet James Baker disapproves...and that’s enough for me. I like her!
Consider the source.
Unfortunately, too many will just read the title and take it for what it says, rather than the comments —— which belie the title.
H'mmm.
Attack line for McCain?
"Hussein is another George Bush!"
Can't happen soon enough. This "If you don't agree with me, you're stupid" argument is getting a little tiresome.
I gotta think that insulting 90% of the American Electorate cannot be a good campaign strategy.
Bad headline...but ya can bet the Republican weasels in the Senate arent happy with Palin.
McCain should run a 10 second commercial that says:
“Vote for McCain/Palin - we’re not lawyers.”
‘Experts’ on foreign policy, I would trust less than an amateur.
I wish I had read your post first. The media is in meltdown. They can’t help be negative even when it hurts the 0bamassiah.
Does anyone think these so-called experts were anymore fond of Reagan than they are of Palin? I didn’t think so.
Dick Lugar is a tired, pompous ass. He has no comment? Fine. He should retire, return to his “farm” in Indiana, and collect the agricultural subsidies that we taxpayers provide the poor impoverished “gentleman farmer”.
Dick Lugar has been in Washington way too long. He is no longer a Hoosier and does not represent Indiana values.
I don’t think it’s just the DEMS she’s got scared.....the entrenched bureaucracy in DC knows she could be a problem for them.....Republican or Democrat.
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