Palin Gets Afghanistan Commander's Name, Strategy Wrong

Sarah Palin gets wrong both the commanding general in Afghanistan's name and position.

Watch:

The commanding general in Afghanistan didn't merely state that Surge tactics won't work! He also said that tribal involvement in the COIN strategy wouldn't work either! Absolutely right on infrastructure in Afghanistan though! Know what they really need in Afghanistan to enhance security? ROADS.

Palin thinks our commander in Afghanistan is someone named "McClellan." It is, I believe, McKiernan. And Palin is DEAD WRONG. He absolutely said that tribal involvement in Afghanistan COIN strategy would not work.

McKiernan: "I do think there's a role for traditional tribal authorities and tribal structure in Afghanistan, in the rural areas especially, to play in a community-based sense of security, of connection with the government, and of environmental considerations. But I think that has to be led, that tribal engagement, it has to be led by the Afghan government. I specifically tell my chain of command in ISAF [International Security Assistance Force, the name for NATO's mission in Afghanistan] that I don't want the military to be engaging the tribes to do that. It has to be through the Afghan government to do that. But of course, there's danger in that. There's always, "Is this particular tribe, is it being reached out to for all the right reasons?" That has to be watched very closely."

McKiernan: "First of all, please don't think that I'm saying there's no room for tribal engagement in Afghanistan, because I think it's very necessary. But I think it's much more complex environment of tribal linkages, and intertribal complexity than there is in Iraq. It's not as simple as taking the Sunni Awakening and doing the Pashtun Awakening in Afghanistan. It's much more complex than that."

UPDATE: Ilan Goldenberg sums up the foreign policy portion of the debate:

1. Palin mispronounced our commander in Afghanistan, Dave McKiernan's name and also claimed that he supported the idea of using the Iraq surge as a model for Afghanistan even though just yesterday he said he did not.

2. In response to a question on Iran and Pakistan Palin answered by starting to talk about Iraq. Similar to McCain's obsession on Iraq with complete neglect for all other national security priorities.

3. Palin promised that the Middle East peace process would be a top priority for a McCain administration. But McCain's own advisors last week said that it wouldn't.

4. Palin was unable to distinguish any specific difference between Bush and McCain on any foreign policy issues. Joe Biden made that point very clearly.

5. Sarah Palin seems to rely quite heavily on her notes and on a very limited set of talking points. She has been dodging questions all night long.

Comments

[Berettasskeeter]

07:44 PM on 10/03/2008

The intellectual dishonesty of most of you is enormous! Where was your scorn when Biden continuously mispronounces names and historical events. Yes, Palin misspeaks occasionally. She's human! Do none of you ever misspeak? Does Obama never misspeak? Try to rein in your hysteria and recognize that both make, have made, and will make errors. Then try to determine rationally whether those errors are mere slips of the tongue or real lack of preparation or knowledge.
Semper fi

[M4DN3SS]

07:51 PM on 10/03/2008

Sticking to her canned talking points is the issue here. The fact that she got the name wrong just compounds it. Joe talked at length about real issues. Sarah had about five speeches that she used for every question regardless of the topic. Yes people make mistakes. We all know that.

[RatgurlSD]

10:20 PM on 10/03/2008

Ah, I've got you figured out..... many, MANY marines have vocalized their support for McCain. It's sad, though, because McCain will NOT return any favors to those who have served their country so patriotically, as he has claimed to do.

You're just following blindly, as ordered. Clearly you make a good soldier.

[Berettasskeeter]

07:36 PM on 10/03/2008

Can you please point to the part of his speech where he said tribal involvement absolutely would not work? I read your excerpt and could not find it.
Semper fi

[Kiana1]

04:13 PM on 10/03/2008

I'd like to see Palin a heartbeat or two away from a polar bear that she doesn't feel needs protection.
t's incredible the blatant lies and spin they resort to. That's okay, McCain's "no maase" in Michigan will probably follow with him "bailing out" of Pennsylvania very soon also.
The self proclaimed messiah of the financial bail out, is bailing out on the unions in these key battleground states. Sarah that is what is truely a "white flag" and surrender, get it right!! lol.

[smark]

06:26 PM on 10/03/2008

She couldn't get it right even if her life depended on it!! She can only recite memorized talking points and attack lines! It appears she has nothing between her ears to give any thoughtful answers of her own!

[deanatali]

04:02 PM on 10/03/2008

Think that Palin has got more to talk about? How well do you know her in terms of her thoughts in foreign policy? Did her not get the Afghanistan commander's name right would do any harm to her reputation at this moment?There are more of Palin that can be found in www.dailysource.org/palin.

[aaronburr]

03:59 PM on 10/03/2008

Wow, McClellan instead of McKiernan. How terrible! A disagreement over the strategy in Afghanistan. How shocking!! Do you really think voters worried about losing their jobs and their life savings give a rat's fuzzy rump about this kind of trivial pursuit politics??

[edwarvir]

02:26 PM on 10/03/2008

Sarah Palin is your typical Rebublican they think everyone else is stupid.
She like the gift that keeps on giving. She keeps on putting her
foot in her mouth. Over and Over and over again.

[estreya]

02:47 PM on 10/03/2008

But what use is it if the Main Stream Media won't cover it. This, and several other "gaffs," are MAJOR. And yet because she was able to mate a noun with a verb, everything is reporting that she did GREAT!

GADZOOKS what has our nation become?

[smark]

06:29 PM on 10/03/2008

It seems like all the Crybaby Mc campaign has to do is whine about it being unfair and they all give in. I think Gwen Ifill did not do a good job of calling her out on her nonanswers to the questions at hand. It is understandable, though, considering the whining that the Mc camp did all day yesterday about the moderator!! It wasn't enough that they had to change the format to suit Little Miss Dumb Moose!!

[moonrider 73]

01:58 PM on 10/03/2008

Palin's Afgan surge: Load up in helicopters like we do in Alaska and shot them like wolves as they try to cross the border.

[WolfLarsen]

01:44 PM on 10/03/2008

At least she got the country right. Her career has been defined by aggression and homespun rhetoric to cover up an alarming ignorance, which demands that she react with a decisiveness that rules out reflection or caution.

She is a political parrot with the depth of a puddle. She derides intelligence because she possess little....rejects scrutiny because her positions are flawed and makes up for her private insecurities with a maniacal sense of self-righteousness.

She is like the smiling neighbor handing out the apples with razor blades.

[zview]

01:29 PM on 10/03/2008

It is remarkable how much serious discussion has been created by this absolute joke.

I feel completely insulted that the republicans continue to promote this Sarah Palin fiction, as should all Americans, regardless of their political beliefs.

This is not a Disney movie, this election will literally decide life, death and suffering for millions of people all around the globe. And they think we are too stupid to know the difference.

[Berettasskeeter]

07:39 PM on 10/03/2008

The election will also literally decide life and prosperity for millions. And I don't think any Socialist has a good reputation for that! Freedom does, and freedom does not flow from Socialism.
Semper fi

[sueno]

11:33 AM on 10/03/2008

Ask yourself-
should we be surprized?????

[mx4simps]

11:22 AM on 10/03/2008

I'm not impressed with Sarah Palin's ability to memorize the Republican/McCain platform and perform what she learned like a trained seal. Even with her week-long crash course in everything a VP should know, she couldn't manage to answer all the questions without side-stepping to get "impassioned" energy and taxes points across. And certainly we were nonetheless fooled by this diversionary tactic to cloak the likelihood of her not being practiced enough or not at all on the questions she chose to ignore. I definitely know malarky when I see it! So who is Sarah Palin? What we do know is that she can acceptably perform material committed to memory. But after last night, what do we know about any independent thinking that goes on in her mind? The Couric interviews, among others, revealed more about who this woman is far more than the debate last night. One thing no one ever debated regarding Hillary Clinton is that she is an extremely intelligent woman! Did last night’s debate convince you of this reality regarding Sarah Palin? I continue to shudder when I think that she could be a heartbeat’s throw from the office of the POTUS in just a few weeks. Seriously, I really shudder.

Vote Obama/Biden 08

[NJmikeV]

11:14 AM on 10/03/2008

What Would Grant Do ?

[rockyb26]

11:02 AM on 10/03/2008

Please, please, please call or send an email to the MSM networks and tell them how disappointing their analysis has been!!!! They are treating us like we're idiots and dumbing down the qualifications necessary to hold the highest office in this land!!!

Let them know that we deserve better!

[Annemariefay]

11:02 AM on 10/03/2008

Excuse me Kimba1: "Us Midwesterners are sick of" the "condescending attitutudes" toward "us"?
Ever heard of the state of Illinois? It's a firmly Democratic State. Michigan has just been conceded
by McCain. Even Indiana, where I am from, is not a swing state. What planet are you living on?
And in your earlier post, to say Sara (sic) "doesn't have to talk to anyone"?
This is exactly the kind of belligerent, ignorant comment that does give "us midwesterners"
a bad reputation. The rest of "us midwesterners" are as intelligent as thinking people everywhere.
Stop trying to turn this into a "crazy coastal leftists" versus sane patriotic midwesterners.
It's b...s..t.

[Berettasskeeter]

07:41 PM on 10/03/2008

Sorry, Illinois is not a firmly Democratic State. Chicago is a firmly Democratic city, and its population controls much of the rest of the state's voting. Most of Illinois is very conservative! I lived there as well, and in Indiana, which has the same problem: control by Indianapolis and the Muncie/Ft Wayne/Gary Democrats.
Semper fi

[feo]

10:43 AM on 10/03/2008

Like all Republicans, she hates taxes. Yet she raised taxes on the oil industry in Alaska. Didn't that hurt business. Didn't that hurt job creation? Her philosophy and her policies contradict each other. In short, typical Republican thinking.

[jtmoney]

11:51 AM on 10/03/2008

People need to also understand her entire record on taxes in Alaska. As mayor of Wasilla she got property taxes lowered which obviously helps the wealthier voters. But she also raised sales taxes which hurts the middle and lower class voters. Look at her record, and you will know where she stands.