ABOUT THAT PAKISTAN POLICY…. Campaigning in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, Sarah Palin fielded a few questions from local voters. A grad student asked Palin if she believed U.S. forces should be prepared to cross the Afghan border into Pakistan, and Palin responded, “If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should.”
Soon after, John McCain said Palin’s response doesn’t count, because questions from voters constitute “gotcha journalism.”
Today, just 23 days after Palin insisted U.S. forces should “absolutely” be willing to enter Pakistan in pursuit of terrorists, she blasted Obama for believing the same thing.
Describing “crisis scenarios” the next president might face, Palin initially bashed Obama’s willingness to support U.S. diplomacy with enemies. She added, “Now, Senator Obama, too, having advocated sending our U.S. military into Pakistan without the approval of the Pakistani government, invading the sovereign territory of a troubled partner in the war against terrorism, we gotta call that scenario number two.”
I’m curious, does Palin remember three weeks ago? It was a pretty big story — everyone seemed rather surprised that she agreed with Obama on U.S. counter-terrorism policy, specifically regarding Pakistan. There was quite a bit of follow-up on this.
And now she’s blasting Obama for having the same position she held less than a month ago? As Greg Sargent noted, “[W]hoever lets this sort of thing into her speeches is either incompetent or very, very brazen.”
I suppose it could be both — incompetence and shamelessness are not mutually exclusive — but I’m open to suggestion.
