Week 2, Item 1

By Jared Behrend

Vice Presidential Debate: Sarah Palin's Policy on Iran

The recent Vice Presidential debate on Thursday the 2nd presented an opportunity for Sen. John McCain's running mate, Alaska Governer Sarah Palin to bolster her delegation's stance on important issues, including our nation's view of our relationship with Iran. In many ways she reiterated McCain's official view on Iran, when she stated "An armed, nuclear armed especially Iran is so extremely dangerous to consider. They cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons period." She discusses the inherent threat to Israel this will create, aligning the United States' interests again with Israel's. Palin in this instance draws a distinction of identities between the U.S. and Iran, which is used to show that Iran is not a nation which believes in the Western ideals of democracy, as she relates President Ahmadinejad to dictators such as Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il. She also alludes to the disruption of a balance of power between democratic nations and theocratic nations and dictatorships. The realist ideals of McCain's form of Republicanism shine through in Palin's descriptions of the necessity of foreign policy, characterized by her discounting of Obama's plan to meet diplomatically with nations such as Iran, albeit by mischaracterizing Obama's statement by stating that he would meet without any lower-level diplomatic preparations. She stated that Obama's ideas on Iran go "beyond naivete" and "beyond poor judgment" including her ideas of their "downright dangerous" nature. It seems that Palin has twisted this issue to make political gains for herself and her running mate, discounting the options available for dealing with the rise of a nuclear Iran.

Full transcript of the Vice Presidential Debate can be found at:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=84382