McCain & Palin Disagree On Pakistan

The McCain campaign seems to be is a state of disarray, where one hand has no idea what the other is doing. In the last couple of days, Bush and Palin have shown us they don't seem to be communicating very well.

During the debate Friday night, Obama said, "If the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out." The statement made sense to those of us that think Osama bin Laden should be brought to justice.

But John McCain acted like Obama had committed a mortal sin. He thought it was horrible that we attack al-Queda or the Taliban in the mountains of western Pakistan without first getting permission of the Pakistani government (even though in many instances notifying the Pakistanis is tantamount to notifying the Taliban).

So what happens the very next night? Palin disagreed with McCain. Either she didn't watch the debate, or didn't understand what her running-mate had said.

On Saturday night in South Philadelphia, a Temple student asked Palin if we should unilaterally cross into Pakistan to attack the Taliban. Palin told the student, "If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should."

That sounds like she was pretty sure of her answer -- "absolutely". But McCain nearly popped a blood vessel when he heard what she had said. In effect, she had shot his view down and agreed with Obama's position.

Yesterday, McCain tried to make it sound like Palin had been misunderstood. He told George Stephanopoulos, "She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest. In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's—that's a person's position… This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitve policy statement made by Governor Palin."

Maybe McCain and Palin should have a little talk and decide just what their positions are.

(Political Cartoon above is by Steve Sack in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune.)