The Bush Doctrine

The other night in her interview with Charles Gibson on ABC, Palin was asked about the Bush Doctrine and didn't know what it was. I knew what it was, but I've talked to others today who weren't so sure what it was, so I guess there is some confusion out there. Anyway, the Republicans have pushed really hard today to make it appear that actually Palin was correct, i.e., there really wasn't a Bush Doctrine per se. But others in the media disagree with this assessment, that in fact the Doctrine was laid out in a memo in 2002, which was my understanding. The Bush Doctrine actually formed the foundation for the rationale for the invasion of Iraq. (A side note: What's particularly ironic here is that they guy who wrote the memo that formed the basis of the Doctrine is now Palin's foreign policy advisor....)

"There is a right-wing smokescreen emerging in an attempt to camouflage Sarah Palin's utter unfamiliarity with the Bush Doctrine. The new line, assayed by Charles Krauthammer and Peter Feaver among others, is that there were many Bush Doctrines. That is untrue. There was only one Bush Doctrine. It was enunciated in this speech, delivered by the President, at the West Point graduation in 2002." The Bush Doctrine - Swampland - TIME