McCain And Palin Off Message In Response To North Korea Diplomacy
McCain And Palin Off Message In Response To North Korea Diplomacy
Yesterday, the Bush administration announced that the United States was removing North Korea from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. The decision was made after North Korea “agreed to resume disabling a plutonium plant and to allow some inspections to verify that it had halted its nuclear program.”
The administration’s move quickly split the McCain-Palin ticket. John McCain issued a preemptive statement on Friday expressing his displeasure with the agreement:
I have previously said that I would not support the easing of sanctions North Korea unless the United States is able to fully verify the nuclear declaration Pyongyang submitted on June 26. [...] I expect the administration to explain exactly how this new verification agreement advances American interests and those of our allies before I will be able to support any decision to remove North Korea from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
When asked about the deal on Saturday, McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin — trying desperately to demonstrate her own foreign policy competence — offered a contradictory response:
Condoleezza Rice, of course, having worked on this strategy for quite some time, I have faith in her that they’re making this wise decision and North Korea, of course, better live up to its end of the bargain there, in speaking with the other countries whom they’ve been working with, in promising the verification. That end of the bargain has got to be lived up to.
Watch it:
As CNN’s Don Lemon noted, McCain and Palin were also off-message last month when Palin suggested that the U.S. should go after Taliban and Al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan — a position McCain opposes. The candidates tried to dismiss the disagreement as “gotcha journalism.”
This most recent chasm appears to show that Palin is unaware of McCain’s radical views on U.S. policy toward North Korea. In 1994, McCain talked of “the threat of extinction” in dealing with its nuclear program. Just before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, McCain offered similar rhetoric. He urged President Bush not to “appease” North Korea, lamented his decision to take the use of force off the table, and called for “isolating” the communist country. He also used the issue as justification for military action against Iraq:
North Korea and Iraq present different faces of the same danger. Today, North Korea poses a greater danger than Iraq, and confronting it presents a more difficult challenge. That is all the more reason to take whatever action necessary to prevent Saddam Hussein from becoming a threat of equal magnitude and just as difficult to confront.
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Palin speek:
Condoleezza Rice, of course, having worked on this strategy for quite some time, I have faith in her that they’re making this wise decision and North Korea, of course, better live up to its end of the bargain there, in speaking with the other countries whom they’ve been working with, in promising the verification. That end of the bargain has got to be lived up to.
Wow she can talk in two directions!
October 12th, 2008 at 12:52 pmThey are just being “Mavericky”.
October 12th, 2008 at 12:53 pmMy grandpa used to say that the problem with lying is that you have to keep track of all the lies you tell.
Is this why they cannot be “on message”?
October 12th, 2008 at 12:56 pmJeebus, listening to Palin reminds me of high school debate class. Seriously, WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
October 12th, 2008 at 1:02 pmOT
October 12th, 2008 at 1:05 pmOne HUNDRED days to go before the WORST President in history goes back to Crawford — a stopover before he moves on to Paraguay where there is no extradition.
Palin: “North Korea, of course (of course!), better live up to its end of the bargain there, in speaking with the other countries whom they’ve been working with, in promising the verification.”
(She forgot to add “also”)
(Also that should be “who they have been working with” or “with whom they have been working” –Palin has a Degree in Journalism don’t-cha know!)
October 12th, 2008 at 1:06 pmWhy didn’t mccain get advised by palin about the ticket’s foreign policy stand toward NK. Didn’t he say something about often seeking her advice?
October 12th, 2008 at 1:08 pmThe Bush Administration has claimed that North Korea WILL allow inspectors to verify that ALL Nuclear agreements ARE being met….but only IF North Korea is removed from the Terrorist List.
If McCain wants to keep North Korea on that list, I gather that America will have To GUESS what Kim Jong Il is up to.
BTW…The Pentagon has presented North Korean’s in Submarines off America’s Coast as the boogyman, in order to justify Blasting the Eardrums off of the poor Whales with Sonar Testing.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:09 pmBearCountry Says:
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Why didn’t mccain get advised by palin about the ticket’s foreign policy stand toward NK. Didn’t he say something about often seeking her advice?
I think he said he had “often” seeked her advice.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:12 pmAnother Joe Says: My grandpa used to say that the problem with lying is that you have to keep track of all the lies you tell.
And my grandfather told my father “Stick to stewed fruit son, and you’ll be alright” ( It’s true!) . And grandpa told me “what are you called again?” (also true).
Ah, different times! :)
October 12th, 2008 at 1:13 pmForget, for a moment, that Senator McCain and Governor Palin are on opposite pages: that is almost a given. What’s truly shocking is her demonstrated inability to formulate and express a coherent sentence.
“Condoleezza Rice, of course, having worked on this strategy for quite some time, I have faith in her that they’re making this wise decision and North Korea, of course, better live up to its end of the bargain there, in speaking with the other countries whom they’ve been working with, in promising the verification. That end of the bargain has got to be lived up to.”
What the hell? Try to diagram those sentences. I double-dog dare you! Her inability to speak clearly and consistently is simply terrifying. She is quite possibly the least articulate—alright, effectively the dumbest—individual to ever run for such a high public office. Republican ears must simply be deaf. Governor Palin elevates former Vice President Quayle upward into the MENSA realm.
It has become increasingly painful to listen to her meandering, unstructured, senseless rhetoric, delivered in a nauseatingly nasal fashion, with her newly found pseudo-mid Western drawl. (Knowin’ what I mean here, aren’t ya buddy?)
Lord, deliver us from this mediocrity! November 4th cannot come soon enough.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:18 pmO/T – apologies, just needed to get this out there.
Here’s the video of the man caught by ABC that was ashamed of his monkey doll. In this video, he is proud of his doll and wants the world to know about it.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:25 pm“Condoleezza Rice, of course, having worked on this strategy for quite some time, I have faith in her that they’re making this wise decision and North Korea, of course, better live up to its end of the bargain there, in speaking with the other countries whom they’ve been working with, in promising the verification. That end of the bargain has got to be lived up to.”
Instead, she could simply have said, ‘I have faith that Secretary Rice has structured this agreement in such a way that North Korea will live up to its obligations.’ Adding something to the effect of, ‘It is encouraging to see such cooperation in a historically unstable and dangerous part of the world.’ Or, something.
Good God, Governor Palin is hopelessly stupid.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:27 pmBadger they got subs?
October 12th, 2008 at 1:27 pmI remember when the Russins built a titanium sub to try
to defeat our technique of detecting them by their
effect on the earths magnetic field. The problem was
they could be heard over a thousand miles away.
I suspect the subs that Korea would have would be easy to
detect “passively”. Normally they “ping” to target.
So if North Korea comes off the State Terrorism list, what does that mean? (apart from making the Team America movie look really stupid now–which would be a shame).
Well it’s pretty awkward because Iran gets it’s ballistic missile technology from North Korea.
Presumably to get off the State Terror list NK will also have to stop the transfer of that technology to Iran.
If that happens then Iran can’t launch nuclear missiles at Israel (they can’t anyway because they have no nuke warheads and they don’t have the missiles with the required range because the NK missiles don;t have the range either—but that’s besided the point!).
Anywhoo…logically then the ‘threat’ to Israel would be completely undermined because the Iranians will empirically not then have even the faintest chance of attacking Israel with NK missile technology ( which doesn’t work properly anyway–see http://www.janes.com/news/defence/systems/jmr/jmr081007_1_n.shtml ).
And then THAT would also make the US/Polish/Czech anti missile system that pissed of the Russians so much utterly pointless too ( as it always was) becasue inf Iran doens;t have NK missile technology that can’t reach Israel anyway, it sure as hell can’t reach Eastern Europe either! ( Not that it ever could anyway).
October 12th, 2008 at 1:30 pmcompletely shallow here, and OT,
October 12th, 2008 at 1:32 pmbut i’d love to see a story about this woman’s wardrobe makeover… i mean, i’ve seen pictures, and the change from the frumpy flowery ruffly look of not too long ago – what, 6 weeks now? – is so dramatic… who’s paying for that? and who’s the stylist?
that’s deserves-an-award territory…
oh, i don’t mean the TP should do that story… lawd no…
October 12th, 2008 at 1:40 pmlurker.. from what I can gather NK has mostly Soviet Foxtrotm Golf and Romeo class subs, diesel electric.
Despite being old diesel electrics are actually very stealthy, in part because the US detection systems are designed to detect modern nuclear subs which have far different signatures00the older subs being assumed to be utterly obsolete and useless.
In fact exercises with the Dutch, Norwegian and Australian navies have shown that a modern conventional sub with a well -trained crew can seriously damage a typical US Carrier Group.
But by all accounts the North Korean subs would be better detected by looking for a debris trail of rust and oil leaks than by advanced sonar.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:46 pmNorth Korea has been blowing smoke about their
October 12th, 2008 at 1:46 pmnuke program. I remember seeing some of the footage
at one of their reactors and this guy with a lab coat and a clipboard was doing I’m not sure what, but all the dials
on the panel he was looking at were at “zero”. (remember SH admitted he was scared iran would find out he had no WMD)
They know they have to appear threatening.
Michael LaffertyL Instead, she could simply have said…
Not mavericky enough , Mike. YOur suggestion lacks maverickness. It possesses no maverickial qualities. It fails to approach the requisite degree of maverickosity. It is in fact ex mavericus. :)
October 12th, 2008 at 1:52 pm5th Estate The primary technique of detecting them is by their
October 12th, 2008 at 1:54 pmeffect on the earths magnetic field.
I don’t speak Palinese, so the only sentence in her rant I could make somewhat sense of is “I have faith in [Rice] that they’re making this wise decision”.
Seems to me Palin and Bush got their Talk A Lot But Say Nothing degree from the same school. Although I have to admit both speak a language that bears a vague resemblance to English.
Thanks to those of you who offered a translation.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:58 pmHere she goes again just spouting incoherent nonsense. And again ending up completely contradicting her running mate and making a total fool of herself
October 12th, 2008 at 1:58 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
Where have the trolls been?
I think they are greatly disillusioned by the farce called the McCain Campaign and by what George “Hoover” Bush has done to economy.
Also, there is no more troll money available. No more 10 cents per troll any more lol
October 12th, 2008 at 2:00 pmSo Palin’s answer to ever foreign policy question seems to praise any and every move of the Bush administration. Yes, what a bold move by Condi in working on the NK deal for so long. She’s a “lover of freedom…”
http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ssablog/
October 12th, 2008 at 2:05 pmkaty…gawker has some info in Palin’s makeover team. Search Gawker or Wonkette. Basically $1,500 a day for the stylist. Wardrobe is another few grand . The McCain campaign I guess pays for it. Makes Edwards $300 haircuts look kinda stupid.
October 12th, 2008 at 2:09 pm5th Estate, you make some good points.
Advocates of Missile Defense NEED a Belligerent North Korea . That’s why the Bush Administration poked N. Korea in the eye in 2001, causing them to cancel Clinton Era Agreements and kicking out the inspectors.
I don’t recall Missile Technology being mentioned in the pending agreement, but I would guess that ANY Ship that leaves a North Korean Port would be tracked by US Surveillance Satellites and the US Navy.
If Iran did develop a Nuclear weapon, and decided to attack Israel with it, they would probably not use a Missile with a return address. They would most likely smuggle a Nuke into Lebanon or Syria, and have Hezbollah try to deliver it in a suicide mission.
I think this scenario is a paranoid fantasy. If Iran wants a Nuke, they want it to Deter an attack from Israel or America. I wonder why they think Israel or America would attack them????
October 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pmI think they are off message so often because Palin doesn’t care about learning McCain’s positions. Notice immediately following the 1st Presidential Debate, Palin contradicted McCain’s position on taking out Bin Laden if we have direct intelligence of where he is in Pakistan? That was a huge part of McCain’s criticism of Obama’s foreign policy in the debate, and there was Palin the next day essentially agreeing with Obama. It was clear that Palin, running as Vice President, did not even bother to listen to the Presidential candidates’ debate! Wouldn’t watching the Presidential debates be important to you if you were running for Vice President??? It was so unimportant to Palin, she did not listen to any of it, or even read a transcript to make sure her message was consistent with McCain’s. That is George W Bush level amateurism. If she’s not doing her homework now, she never will.
October 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pmAnd, she’s an expert on those diplomat things, there.
Helped Bush install a Moosal Defense System, right next to the rising head of that Putin guy.
Those Russian moose can’t just come over here, not respecting our borders, or our female moose.
God Bless America.
October 12th, 2008 at 2:12 pmPalin has NO clue and is NOT credible. She has NO leadership abilities and cannot coherently make a statement without it sounding like gibberish.
If this woman is elected, well, be afraid…!
October 12th, 2008 at 2:27 pmLondongal Says:
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Palin has NO clue and is NOT credible. She has NO leadership abilities and cannot coherently make a statement without it sounding like gibberish.
Palin has NO clue and is NOT credible. She has NO leadership abilities and cannot coherently make a statement without speaking gibberish.
I fixed that for ya
October 12th, 2008 at 2:36 pmBadger Says:
“If Iran did develop a Nuclear weapon, and decided to attack Israel with it, they would probably not use a Missile with a return address. They would most likely smuggle a Nuke into Lebanon or Syria, and have Hezbollah try to deliver it in a suicide mission. I think this scenario is a paranoid fantasy.”
Indeed. The only case of nuclear missiles being smuggled anywhere that I can think of was the Russians delivering missiles to Cuba (and I’m not sure that they were actually nuclear-tipped). There is STILL no such thing as a ‘suitcase’ nuke contrary to Fred Thompson’s claims (though the US has been trying to develop one for about 5 years now as part of a $10 billion next generation nuclear weapons program).
Also Hezbollah isn’t IMHO exactly an ‘Expeditionary Force’ in Lebanon under Iranian control as the reactionary neocons like to paint them. If the Iranians had a nuclear strike capability I can’t imagine they’d hand such high-tech equipment over to Hezbollah—and besides the use of such a weapon would kill, maim and irradiate Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and Lebanese. It’s altogether ridiculous.
October 12th, 2008 at 2:42 pmAll this time we thought the pushmi-pullyu (pronounced “push-me-pull-you”), one of Hugh Lofting’s Dr. Doolittle’s characters, was imaginary.
October 12th, 2008 at 2:57 pmThe animal had two heads at opposite ends of its body and when it tries to move, both heads try to go in opposite directions.
If one wants to learn why McCain is having trouble getting traction with voters, his campaign spokespersons are a good reason Why. They never met a metaphor they couldn’t mangle:
Concern in G.O.P. After Rough Week for McCain
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
After a turbulent week that included disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin and signs that Senator John McCain was struggling to strike the right tone for his campaign, Republican leaders said Saturday that they were worried Mr. McCain was heading for defeat unless he brought stability to his presidential candidacy and settled on a clear message to counter Senator Barack Obama.
Again and again, party leaders said in interviews that while they still believed that Mr. McCain could win over voters in the next 30 days, they were concerned that he and his advisers seemed to be adrift in dealing with an extraordinarily challenging political battleground and a crisis on Wall Street.
The expressions of concern came after a particularly difficult week for Mr. McCain. On Friday night, new questions arose about his choice of Ms. Palin as his running mate after an investigation by the Alaska Legislature concluded that she had abused her power in trying to orchestrate the firing of her former brother-in-law, a state trooper.
“I think you’re seeing a turning point,” said Saul Anuzis, the Republican chairman in Michigan, where Mr. McCain has decided to stop campaigning. “You’re starting to feel real frustration because we are running out of time. Our message, the campaign’s message, isn’t connecting.”
Tommy Thompson, a Republican who is a former governor of Wisconsin, said it would be difficult for Mr. McCain to win in his state but not impossible, particularly if he campaigned in conservative Democratic parts of the state. Asked if he was happy with Mr. McCain’s campaign, Mr. Thompson replied, “No,” and he added, “I don’t know who is.”
[snip]
Mr. McCain’s advisers said they remained confident of victory.
“My sense of where things are: John McCain beat back what was a political climate that would have snuffed out any other candidate in the Republican Party,” said Nicolle Wallace, a senior adviser. “He’s beat back every hurdle that was ever placed in front of him.”
Now if one is in a race that has hurdles, one is expected to jump over the hurdle, not beat it back. To “beat it back” would be a disqualifing mistake.
While campaign staffers are partly to blame, the real reason he’s being erratic in his message, is because the republican base he’s trying to appease is fracturing, and sending so many mixed signals to McCain’s pollsters, that he doesn’t know which way to jump. That he can’t please them all, only makes them madder, and more inclined to direct this anger against their standard-bearer’s opponent. Ironically, they have become the biggest impediment to their candidate’s chances of victory.
October 12th, 2008 at 2:59 pm5th Estate
…besides the use of such a weapon would kill, maim and irradiate Arabs and Jews, Palestinians and Lebanese. It’s altogether ridiculous.
This has bothered me too especially with a missle that may
October 12th, 2008 at 2:59 pmstray off course. Even if they hit Iseral the Palestinians
would be screwed too.
Methinks Sarah has joined the same Toastmasters group as Miss Teen South Carolina; that coupled with logic and world history classes taught by Professor Irwin Corey have really sharpened her up,
October 12th, 2008 at 3:02 pmbarfly
October 12th, 2008 at 3:11 pmWith the palin pick he has aligned himself with rabid
“agents of intolerance”. Any thinking republicans (there are a few) see what a joke she is.
lurker Says:
barfly
With the palin pick he has aligned himself with rabid
“agents of intolerance”.
Any thinking republicans (there are a few) see what a joke she is.
I think that’s true. The Republican Party is not as monolithic as we on the left so often claim, but that’s because the Republicans have painted themselves as a monolithic ‘majority’ and thus far have most importantly have acted as a monolithic cohesive entity, This impression has also been promoted by the MSM.
The GOP and conservatives in general are facing a perfect storm of a decade of essentially Republican/Conservative rule that has been a failure for the nation and even for their own particular interests. They hoped Bush would be another Reagan. He wasn’t. McCain is just another Bush but without the support of his father’s conservative cabal.
October 12th, 2008 at 3:33 pmTheir policies have run their course. Their arrogance has run its course. They are hoist by their own petard of unquestioning loyalty to theory and fantasy.
And because the GOP base has fractured the so-called ‘independents’ have no-one they can comfortably vote for as they usually do–a Republican with sound support.
thanks, 5th estate… i’ll check that out…
isn’t anna marie cox aka wonkette? or used to be? or something?
she must have a crush on mcGRAMPY, making up stuff… like:
Cox reports this update:
Indeed, he just snatched the microphone out the hands of a woman who began her question with, “I’m scared of Barack Obama… he’s an Arab terrorist…”
“No, no ma’am,” he interrupted. “He’s a decent family man with whom I happen to have some disagreements.”
total lie. the woman with bed-hair did not say “terrorist”,
and grampy did not snatch the microphone… she changed the whole scenario…
i liked her sense of humor ok, till i realized she’s a liar…
October 12th, 2008 at 3:41 pm@ 44:
Funny thing – early observers of the clip reported that the word ‘terrorist’ was uttered, though it it clearly is not on the presently available copy of the clip. One suggested explanation is that the audio portion of the clip was subsequently edited. The woman herself, in a subsequent interview, claims that she did, in fact, use that descriptive phrase: ‘Arab terrorist.’ One possible explanation: she thought she did, but didn’t.
To ’snatch the microphone’ is not an accurate description, as he simply took it from her to expound upon his disagreement with her statement.
It was, fairly, not an even handed portrayal of the event, and I won’t make excuses for the manner in which she related the story. Her so called ‘lies’ pale by comparison, however, to the obvious, overt misrepresentations and outright lies offered every day on the campaign trail by Senator McCain and Governor Palin. You’ll have to try harder than a back handed slap at Wonkette to balance the bad behavior of the campaign team that you have chosen to support.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:04 pm.
CNN forgot to add the caveat…
… On a clear day, Sarah can see North Korea from her backyard.
.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:35 pmMichael Lafferty Says:
…to balance the bad behavior of the campaign team that you have chosen to support.
and which team do you think that is?
’cause the only bad behavior i’ve seen comes from the mcFAILIN campaign… and that ain’t MY team.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:43 pmPailin’ pailin’ over the bounding main… Here comes Sarah, all hams on deck, spitting our her latest bogus BS. This person has the mental outlook typical of that of a fourteen-year-old. Go home.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:50 pmDoes this really surprise anyone?? While McSwine is off trying to make a country extinct, McPlain is trowing pucks all over the Philly hockey stadium – AND almost getting BOOED out of the place.
These McSame folks are a joke to believe Gov. McPlain adds anything to this stupidity….
A bag of hammers come to mind….IQ test??
October 12th, 2008 at 4:52 pmApparently, McCain doesn’t have confidence in U.S. weapons inspectors.
October 12th, 2008 at 5:15 pmAh, yes, the collective wisdom of . . . Sarah.
Youbetcha she did pretty good on this here TV game show, too –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXRcFQowXwQ
October 12th, 2008 at 5:19 pmAre you sure she’s off message? From her garbled grammar and syntax, I’m not entirely clear about what exactly she said. Whatever it was, I am relieved that it better be lived up to.
Disorganized speech as the manifestation of a disorganized mind, perhaps? Have we seen anything written by this woman?
October 12th, 2008 at 6:40 pmI wonder what John McCain will think of having Todd Palin hanging out with him all the time and telling him what policy will be.
October 12th, 2008 at 7:07 pmAnother Miss Teen South Carolina syntactically byzantine imbecilic answer.
October 12th, 2008 at 7:40 pm>Have we seen anything written by this woman?
I believe she used to have a blog where she made mental bowel movements opining about “liberels” and other pesky woodland creatures..
October 12th, 2008 at 9:23 pmThis woman is a certified nut,,McCain is more stupid,,you can’t in a fleeting moment go up to someone you have only met and talked to a few hours and say by the way,,would you be interested to be vice president of the United States? I think McCain could be as dumb as Palin is.
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