humanah humanah humanah

Now don't get me wrong, I'm entirely in favor of anything that makes Palin come off looking like the fool she is.  However, as a pretty regular follower of politics and international affairs, I don't think it's particularly fair to count this supposed flub against her.  I surmised from Gibson's question that he was likely talking about the dubious doctrine of preventative warfare, something that sticks out as the most salient feature of Bush (foreign) policy.  However, a source as eminent and reliable as Wikipedia confirms my initial reaction, which was to say that the doctrine of preventative warfare, evidently to what Gibson was referring, is not universally (or even commonly?) referred to as the "Bush Doctrine."  And in fact, it seems the phrase "Bush Doctrine" is a term that stands in for any number of Bush policies arising in the aftermath of 9/11.  As such, I hardly think it was unreasonable for Palin to ask for more specificity from Gibson.  Of course, that doesn't explain the stunned deer-in-headlight look.  

Update: apparently liberty's most steadfast and ardent defender, Andrew Sullivan, is in agreement with his bosom buddy Josh Marshall about Palin's flubbing of the Bush doctrine question.  Who knows, maybe she's secretly part of that dread fifth column.   

Update: Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks there's a good deal of ambiguity surrounding the term "Bush Doctrine."  While Josh Marshall apparently thinks this is ridiculous, the more I read the more I'm convinced that Palin was in the right for asking Gibson for clarification on what he meant, and Gibson was being needlessly coy when he refused to elaborate on what he was referring to.  Granted, it was foolish and belied a lack of confidence for Palin not to have followed up with something like, "Well Charlie, I'm assuming you're referring to the doctrine of preventative warfare. . . "  If anything, Palin demonstrated she lacks the confidence to discuss foreign policy, a sin in and of itself when running for VP, but she it can't fairly be said or implied that based on Palin's evident lack of understanding of the term Bush Doctrine that she was completely unfamiliar with the policy set forth in the National Security Strategy document.  Weirdly, despite Marshall's and Sullivan's disingenuous claims to the contrary, I think Krauthammer makes the most sense when he attributes the gaffe to Gibson.