Jeffrey Goldberg has written a detailed and insightful essay on John McCain’s approach to war, from Vietnam to the present. The key conclusion:
“John McCain has been said to have neoconservative inclinations; to critics, this suggests a commitment to the unilateral deployment of military force to bring about a democratic transformation in once-hostile countries. The question of whether he’s a neocon, however, is not entirely relevant; McCain has advisers from both the neocon and realist camps, and he’s too inconsistent to be easily labeled. In one area, though, he has been more or less constant: his belief in the power of war to solve otherwise insoluble problems…His willingness to speak frankly about the utility of military intervention sets him apart from his opponent. Senator Obama, though certainly no pacifist, envisions a world of cooperation and diplomacy; McCain sees a world of organic conflict and zero-sum competition.”
This is frightening. And he is clearly giving Sarah Palin tutorials. When asked if the United States should go to war with Russia over Georgia, her response was “perhaps so”. Think about this. McCain and Palin are calling for immediate NATO membership with Georgia, which would involve getting into a shooting war with the Russians. Not even Bush and Cheney would go this far. And in her bid to replace Dick Cheney, she stated that Americans soliders en route to Iraq were going to “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.” And oldie, but not a goodie.
As sane Republican Dan Drezner puts it: “Having chatted with a few members of this mandarin class, I would describe the range of opinion about Palin’s foreign policy bona fides as varying from “underwhelmed” to “you gotta be f#$%ing kidding me?” But then again, she’s only following McCain’s lead…
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In