Thursday, November 25, 2010

Can you see North Korea yet from your backyard?

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Stand with our North Korean allies’: Sarah Palin Her appearance on The Glenn Bleck Program came amid a busy schedule for Ms. Palin, now promoting a new book ripping President Barack Obama on health care reform and foreign policy (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

Agence France-Presse November 25, 2010
WASHINGTON — U.S. conservative favorite Sarah Palin is choosing sides in the latest conflict pitting the two Koreas against one another, but a verbal slip-up saw her make an unexpected pick.

“Obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies,” she said Wednesday on the radio show of fellow conservative icon Glenn Beck.

The host immediately corrected her and Ms. Palin repeated: “Yeah. And we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes.”
Although it was clear Ms. Palin had an unfortunate slip of the tongue, it is the type of error the former Republican vice-presidential candidate must scrupulously avoid to dispel doubts about her credibility in a potential run for the White House in 2012.

Ms. Palin, who left midway through her first term in office as governor of Alaska, was battered by the “lamestream media” for her awkward speech and apparent lack of knowledge on key foreign and national matters when she was John McCain’s running mate for his failed 2008 presidential bid.

Her appearance on The Glenn Bleck Program came amid a busy schedule for Ms. Palin, now promoting a new book ripping President Barack Obama on health care reform and foreign policy.

A TLC television reality show featuring her family fishing, kayaking, bear-watching and relaxing in their tiny hometown of Wasilla recently launched and she made a show of support for her daughter Bristol, who finished third in the finals of hit ABC show “Dancing with the Stars.”

The remainder of Ms. Palin’s remarks on Tuesday’s deadly artillery attack that marked the worst violence between North and South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War stuck to traditional U.S. policy talking points.

The United States should “remind North Korea, well, we’re not going to reward bad behavior and we’re not going to walk away and we do need to press China to do more to increase pressure on that arena,” she said.

“This is stemming from, I think, a greater problem when we’re all sitting around asking ‘Oh no, what are we gonna do,’ and we’re not having a lot of faith that the White House is gonna come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea’s gonna do,” Ms. Palin added.

“So this speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policies.”

Ms. Palin’s prominence grew as the ultra-conservative Tea Party gained momentum this year and her reputation as a political kingmaker has solidified, with several candidates she endorsed romping to victory in the November 2 elections.

But the polarizing populist is no favorite of the Republican establishment, which regards her as a bad nationwide match-up against Mr. Obama in 2012 and has looked on with dismay as she has becomes an increasingly powerful player.

Agence France-Presse

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