Unqualified Offerings

By Thoreau

I agree with the first commenter at ObWi:  It doesn’t matter if Palin had trouble giving an accurate explanation of the Bush doctrine and the distinction between pre-emptive and preventive war.  She was asked about the Bush doctrine, and she said that Bush attacked people who posed a threat to America.  Yes, there’s a difference between the general merits of a doctrine and the merits of a particular policy based on that doctrine.  That’s a fine distinction.  It’s a damn important one, mind you, but in the minds of many it’s a fine one.  And, while it’s an important distinction, it’s not the only important matter on the table here.  There is something to be said for going to the actual policies rather than the ideas underlying them.  Now, I’ll be the first to grant that the ideas matter just as much, because the ideas give you some indication of what the candidate will do in the future.  Still, she appealed to the voters by advocating a policy while her critics were busy drawing fine distinctions.  What, you say?  She was wrong about the merits of the policy?  Yes, I agree, she’s totally wrong.  But everybody who’s busy explaining the difference between preventive and pre-emptive war is letting her spend the time talking about concrete policies.

The academic in me is all in favor of recognizing fine distinctions, and evaluating the merits of the ideas underlying a policy.  But the election isn’t decided by a vote of the faculty.  (Note:  This is a good thing, overall.)  Sarah Palin is spinning, and you defeat spinners by exposing their bullshit and showing that they’re just plain wrong and they’re wrong in a way that’s bad for the audience, i.e. the people that you’re trying to persuade to ignore the spinner.

Palin needs to be debunked, but going at her over the fine distinctions is a losing tactic.  Focus on how she’s blatantly wrong.  And recognize that after her initial pause (which was, admittedly, a sign of weakness) she recovered and spun like a champ.  She’s a dangerous foe.