A moose in the headlights

Sarah Palin shows once again why only a reckless fool would try to put her a heartbeat from the Presidency.

More from our heartbeat-away department:

*Sarah Palin doesn’t know what the Bush Doctrine is, but she’s for it anyway. When she explains what she’s for, it turns out to be the opposite of the Bush Doctrine: pre-emptive war (striking to forestall an imminent attack) not preventive war (striking a regime that might be mean to us at some undetermined future moment.

* Sarah Palin agrees with Barack Obama and disagrees with John McCain about attacking al-Qaeda targets inside Pakistan. Of course, she doesn’t know either what her running-mate has said or what their opponent has said on the topic. And someone should tell her that, while “keeping all options open” is a coherent idea, “exercising all options” is gibberish.

* Sarah Palin talks casually of going to war with Russia, which last time I checked had several thousand nuclear warheads deliverable on the U.S. Maybe there’s no target in Alaska worth hitting.

* John McCain claims that Sarah Palin “knows more about energy than probably anyone else in the United States of America.” (Is ExxonMobil aware of this?) What she knows, apparently, is how to write a $500 million subsidy check and get absolutely no promise that any actual energy will result.

What did you do today to make John McCain regret the choice of Sarah Palin? Not what should Barack Obama do, what should reporters do: you don’t control that. What did you do? And what will you do tomorrow?

It’s not just up to swing voters and journalists whether he gets away with this crap. It’s up to you and me, and our friends. Don’t get mad; get even.

Bt

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com