Palin Hits Obama For Stance On Pakistan She Recently Seemed To Support

By: Scott Conroy
Topics: Sarah Palin

(CBS)

From CBS News' Scott Conroy:

(RENO, NEV.) - Shifting gears from the economy to foreign policy, Sarah Palin began her rally here with a series of scathing attacks, centered around Joe Biden's recent comment at a fundraiser that a President Obama would face an international crisis within his first six months in office.

"Our opponent wants to sit down with the world's worst dictators," Palin said. "With no preconditions, he proposes to meet with a regime in Tehran that vows to 'wipe Israel off the map.'"

The Alaska governor criticized Obama for advocating cross-border attacks into Pakistan without that nation's approval, disparaging him for suggesting that the U.S. should engage in "invading the sovereign territory of a troubled partner in the war against terrorism."

But it was less than a month ago that Palin herself advocated invading the sovereignty of Pakistan, though she did not specify that the attacks would be without Pakistan's approval.

"So we do cross-border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan, you think?" Temple University graduate student Michael Rovito asked Palin at a Philadelphia restaurant on Aug. 27.

"If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," Palin said.

When it was noted that Palin's comments to Rovito seemed to echo Obama's position on Pakistan while contradicting McCain's, Palin accused the media of engaging in "gotcha journalism."

But Palin has a different standard of what constitutes "gotcha journalism" when it comes to her opponents' interactions with voters.

She has repeatedly criticized Joe Biden for an off-the-cuff comment he made to a voter in Ohio about clean coal. And at the rally here, she hammered Obama for impromptu comments that the Democratic nominee made to "Joe the Plumber" about redistributing wealth.

"So when he left Joe's neighborhood in Toledo, I don't think that our opponent was real pleased," Palin said. "It seems that their staged photo-op got ruined by a real person's real question. Joe wanted more than a handshake and a campaign button. He wanted some answers. So he asked, he just simply asked a simple and straightforward question and he spoke for so many Americans, and the Obama campaign did not appreciate that."

Scott Conroy
Scott Conroy is a National Political Reporter for RealClearPolitics and a contributor for CBS News.
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by dburfears October 22, 2008 12:45 AM EDT: The old wise men of the Republican foreign policy community are either supporting Obama, not taking sides, or supporting McCain out of loyalty or friendship while publicly contradicting him on foreign policy.

* Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama.

* Richard Lugar, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has endorsed Obama''s approach to diplomacy over that of McCain.

* Brent Scowcroft refuses to endorse either way. Pretty telling for a former Republican national security advisor, especially since he was opposed to the war in Iraq.

* James Baker continues to support direct talks with Iran and has for the past two years. (Actually just read the entire five secretaries of state even transcript from CNN. It''s one big endorsement of Obama''s foreign policy)

* Kissinger and Schultz are op-eds in the Washington Post and Financial Times calling for a more moderate approach towards Russia.

* Kissinger has also called for direct talks with Iran (At the Secretary of State level).

* Chuck Hagel has traveled to Iraq with Obama and while not publicly endorsing looks to be pretty clearly in favor of Obama.

* Secretary of Defense Bob Gates is giving speeches that sound a lot more like an Obama foreign policy than a McCain foreign policy.

The dirty little secret is that all of these pragmatic conservatives have little in common with McCain and Neoconservatism.; Reply to this comment


by intankinated October 21, 2008 10:37 PM EDT: The only thing Palin supports is her own ambition to be president...she''s constitutionally ignorant of the role of the office that she''s running for. Telling school kids that the VP "can really get in there and work with the Senate to enact policy..." is laughable. And this comes after she told a journalist the same thing? I guess this would be reverse gotcha journalism. What a maroon. So at this point, the woman has no credibility in anything she says....McCain would be better off sending her back to Alaska to wait out the election results.; Reply to this comment


by empilou October 21, 2008 9:19 PM EDT: I am so looking forward to November 5th when Palin will no longer be of any consequence.; Reply to this comment


by gully881 October 21, 2008 8:50 PM EDT: It seems as though Palin has nothing better do with her time than bash Obama. She should be worried about her own image and convince the people how her and McCain will help to make our country better. After watching the vice presidential debates she made it clear that she is not ready to run this country, neither is McCain. There have been many statements made by Palin before she was nominated for the VP role that she later flip-flopped on. There is plenty of video footage out there to show this. Go to http://dailysource.org/palinvideos and you can see some of them. They have a lot of video footage of interviews and speeches.; Reply to this comment


by mattcat25 October 21, 2008 8:05 PM EDT: You kin actually see parts of Pakistan from land in Alaaaaskah don%u2019t ya know%u2026

%u201CTAAAAD!!!%u201D

%u201Chas the baby been fed?%u201D; Reply to this comment


by darlene91406 October 21, 2008 7:58 PM EDT: Palin gets asked a question by an everyday voter (citizen) and its "Gotcha Journalism"---Obama gets asked a question by Joe the Plumber and he was just a regular guy asking for more than a handshake and a button. The guy that asked Palin that question about Pakistan was looking for more than watching her buy a hoagie! Whats the difference???

Gimme a break about these two!; Reply to this comment


by usclimey October 21, 2008 6:34 PM EDT: There are two reasons that Palin was elected Governer of Alaska. 1) she was the only one of the 79 women who live in the state who ran; 2) everyone else is an ice road trucker, crab fisher or oilman.; Reply to this comment


by dburfears October 21, 2008 6:30 PM EDT: Palin and McCAIN MAKE STUFF UP and DISTORT EVERYTHING they can to try to win...

"The Alaska governor criticized Obama for advocating cross-border attacks into Pakistan without that nation%u2019s approval, disparaging him for suggesting that the U.S. should engage in %u201Cinvading the sovereign territory of a troubled partner in the war against terrorism.%u201D

But it was less than a month ago that Palin herself advocated invading the sovereignty of Pakistan, though she did not specify that the attacks would be without Pakistan%u2019s approval.

%u201CSo we do cross-border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan, you think?%u201D Temple University graduate student Michael Rovito asked Palin at a Philadelphia restaurant on Aug. 27.

%u201CIf that%u2019s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,%u201D Palin said.

McCain and Palin are LIARS.; Reply to this comment