[BRIGADE] PJB: The Neocons' Palin Project
Published: Tue, 09/16/08
By Patrick J. Buchanan
Will the neocons who tutored George W. Bush in the ideology he
pursued to the ruin of his presidency do the same for Sarah Palin?
Should they succeed, they will destroy her. Yet, they are moving
even now to capture this princess of the right and hope of the party.
In St. Paul, Palin was told to cancel a meeting with Phyllis
Schlafly and pro-life conservatives. McCain's operatives said Palin
had to rest for her Wednesday convention speech.
Yet, on Tuesday, Palin was behind closed doors with Joe Lieberman
and officials of the Israeli lobby AIPAC. There, according to The
Washington Post, Palin took and passed her oral exams.
"Palin assured the group of her strong support for Israel, of her
desire to see the United States move its embassy from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem and of her opposition to Iran's aspirations to become a
nuclear power, according to sources familiar with the meeting."
AIPAC's mission, like that of Likud, is to goad America into
launching air and missile strikes on any and all Iranian nuclear
facilities.
AIPAC went away happy. Purred spokesman Josh Block, "We were
pleased that Gov. Palin expressed her deep personal commitment to
the safety and well-being of Israel."
Heading home to Alaska to prepare for her interview with Charlie
Gibson, Palin was escorted by Randy Scheunemann, McCain's foreign
policy guru and, until March, a hired agent of the Tbilisi regime.
Scheunemann's lobbying assignment: Bring Georgia into NATO, so U.S.
troops, like 19-year-old Track Palin, will be required to fight
Russia to defend a Saakashvili regime that has paid Randy and his
partner $730,000.
Reportedly, a phone conversation was held between Saakashvili and
Palin, in which Palin committed herself to the territorial
integrity of Georgia, though South Ossetia and Abkhazia have
declared independence and been recognized by Moscow, which now has
troops in both.
Also on Palin's plane was Steve Biegun, formerly of Bush's National
Security Council, and Scheunemann's choice to tutor her. Of Biegun,
Steven Clemens of the New American Foundation says, "He will turn
her into an advocate of Cheneyism and Cheney's view of national
security issues."
During her interview with Gibson, Palin often took a neocon line.
Three times she said that, should Israel decide to attack Iran, the
United States should not "second guess" Israel's decision or
interfere.
This contradicts U.S. policy. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the
joint chiefs, has warned Israel not to attack Iran, as the United
States does not want a "third front." And the Pentagon is
withholding crucial weapons the Israelis want and need to carry out
any such attack.
Palin also volunteered that the Russian invasion was "unprovoked,"
though Georgia attacked South Ossetia first. She followed up by
saying that Georgia and Ukraine should be brought into NATO.
Would that mean America would have to go to war with Russia on
behalf of Georgia in any new conflict, asked Gibson.
"Perhaps so," said Palin.
Scheunemann should get a fat severance check from Saakashvili for
that one.
One ex-White House aide at American Enterprise Institute, asked by
Tim Shipman of the Daily Telegraph if AEI sees Palin as a
"project," replied: "Your word, not mine. ... But I wouldn't
disagree with the sentiment. ... She's bright, and she's a blank
page. She's going places, and it's worth going there with her."
In fairness to Palin, on issues like NATO membership for Ukraine
and Georgia, her answers reflect the views of the man who chose
her. She has no option at present but to follow the line laid down
by Scheunemann.
But make no mistake. Sarah Palin is no neocon. She did not come by
her beliefs by studying Leo Strauss. She is a traditionalist whose
values are those of family, faith, community and country, not some
utopian ideology.
Wasilla, Alaska, is not a natural habitat of neoconservatives.
And her unrehearsed answers to Gibson's questions reveal her
natural conservatism. Asked if she agrees with the Bush Doctrine,
Palin asked for clarification. "In what respect, Charlie?"
Gibson: "Do we have the right of an anticipatory self-defense?"
Yes, said Palin, "if there is legitimate and enough intelligence
that tells us that a strike is imminent against (the) American
people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the
president has the obligation, the duty to defend."
Exactly. The intelligence must be legit and the threat "imminent."
Interviewed by Alaska Business Monthly in March 2007 on the surge,
Palin said, "I heard on the news about the new deployments, and
while I support our president, I want to know that we have an exit
plan in place."
That is not the language of empire or "benevolent global hegemony."
Palin may disappoint many conservatives in the next seven weeks by
having to parrot the McCain-neocon line on NATO expansion, NAFTA
and a "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens. But the battle for
Sarah's soul is not over.
For, again, the lady is no neocon. Nor is the husband Todd, First
Dude of Alaska and former member of the "Alaska First" Independence
Party.
SOURCE: http://buchanan.org/blog/2008/09/neocons-palinproject/