OpEdNews - Article: Palin Casually Speaks of War with a Nuclear Armed Russia

Now we know why the McCain/Palin campaign wants to keep Palin away from interviews and reporters. Before the interview, we knew a lot about her that was scary. She inquires about banning books at the local library. She abuses what little power she has as a small town mayor and Governor of Alaska. She talks about God being a part of our war in Iraq. That all pales compared to the things that start to come out of her mouth when interviewed. As reported by the associated press, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/ap_on_el_pr/palin_interview , during Palin’s interview with Charles Gibson of ABC News, she was asked if Georgia became a NATO ally and Russia invaded Georgia whether the US should go to war with Russia. Palin replied “Perhaps so”. A video of the exchange is on YouTube and can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxVFiUZglH4 . She says “Perhaps so” with the kind of nonchalance someone might respond with when asked if one wants to go to the movies this weekend. Upon hearing this, I went to the website of the NTI or “Nuclear Threat Initiative”. NTI maintains a database of each country’s nuclear capabilities. Russia’s page can be seen here http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Russia/index.html and mentions among other things:

According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Nuclear Notebook, as of 2008, Russia is estimated to have around 14,000 nuclear weapons, although total stockpile size is uncertain because there is no accurate count of tactical nuclear weapons. Under the provisions of the START I and the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (Treaty of Moscow), the Russian nuclear arsenal has been reduced to approximately 5,200 strategic nuclear warheads. The SORT Treaty requires Russia to reduce the number of deployed strategic warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 by the end of 2012.

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Palin has casually talked of war with a country that has thousands of nuclear warheads each many times greater than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs and this same country unequivocally has the ability to deliver these weapons to every part of the United States. In fact, Russia has a triad of methods to deliver these weapons similar to the US’s own triad, that of Land Based, Undersea submarine based and Aircraft Launched or Dropped weapons.

I’m only surprised Palin didn’t start mentioning precious bodily fluids (look it up if you don’t understand the reference) and how Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face. Wherever Peter George, Stanley Kubrick, and Peter Sellers are, they must be smiling and shaking their heads.

The other item of note from the ABC interview is that she couldn’t even describe what is meant by the Bush doctrine of preemptive war. Is there any question that McCain and his campaign didn’t do the necessary work in vetting this person, a person that former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee has characterized as “a Cocky Wacko”? A person about whom independent minded Ed Koch, the former Democratic Mayor of New York who endorsed Bush in 2004, was prompted to say that the thought of her as President “is Scary”? Perhaps so.

Did John McCain choose a running mate that takes the lives of all human beings on this planet lightly? Perhaps so. Is Sarah Palin a far right wing religious nutjob? Perhaps so. Did John McCain fail to spend the necessary time and effort vetting his choice for Vice President? Perhaps so. If Palin likes references to God so much, I’ll give her one. God help us if this crazy inept person becomes one heartbeat away from the Presidency.