Here’s part one of Brian Williams’ interview with John McCain and Sarah Palin:
Chuck Todd had some interesting comments after watching the interview:
Like Justin, I’m not sure that I agree with Todd’s observations. Frankly, I think he’s a better political analyst than a psychologist and that we tread into dangerous territory when we try to guess what’s going on in a politicians mind.
On substance, though, I agree with Ron Chusid when he notes that Governor Palin seems to have no understanding of what “preconditions” mean in a diplomatic context:
It is clear from this answer that Sarah Palin has no idea what precondition means. Instead of answering she attacked Obama and then switched the topic to Joe Biden, also distorting a statement he recently made. Obama has made it clear he has no intention of going into a meeting without a diplomatic strategy and laying out the groundwork for such talks. Preconditions refers to whether the final outcome of diplomacy is decided before even talking. In the case of Iran, McCain refuses to talk to Iran unless they agree prior to negotiating to give up their nuclear weapons program. Obama is willing to talk to Iranian leaders without such a precondition with the goal of achieving a stop to Iran’s nuclear program as a result of a process of negotiations. Which approach clearly has a better chance of success? This does not mean he will talk to Iranian leaders without talks at a lower level, or that he will agree to their anti-Israel demands as many conservatives writers have often been claiming this means.
I don’t agree with Obama on much, but on this preconditions nonsense, it’s clear that McCain and Palin are distorting Obama’s position.
