tas,
Actually, it is a gotcha question, as the media has defined “Bush Doctine” in four different ways over the years. I always thought it was “with us or against us”. Charlie Gibson thinks it means preemptive military action. Many think it means spreading democracy into troubled regions. Both Charles Krauthammer and Wikipedia claim Krauthammer originated the term, and his original use of it referred to:

“the Bush administration policies of unilaterally withdrawing from the ABM treaty and rejecting the Kyoto protocol, together with others, amounted to a radical change in foreign policy that should be called the Bush doctrine. ”

I think I saw, further back in this blog, some of you guys sneering that Palin did not know the “Bush Doctrine”. However, if you guys honestly sat around and discussed, the group of you would come up with different answers for the meaning of “Bush Doctrine”.

And here’s the thing: had she ever heard of the Bush Doctrine(?) — it doesn’t matter! If it mattered, Barack would’ve never defeated Hillary. Voters know Palin and Barack are not Colin Powell, but rather will be taking advice from Colin Powell. The voter’s gut question is not about their knowledge, but rather about their demeanor and their decision making judgment.

The key thing Palin said was: you can’t blink when making big decisions. Voters will remember: she’s run a state with that demeanor and by not blinking in the face of big decisions. The specifics of the rest of her answers are already fading into unimportance in the minds of voters.

Voters will also remember how Barack (running a campaign qualifies me for POTUS) has reacted to Palin in the race.

I thought ABC interview-raped her with their scatter-editing. I read a full transcript of the interview. In places where she might’ve given a 6 sentence answer, ABC might’ve removed the middle two sentences of her answer. IMO, the editing was intentionally malicious – never more so than in the instance of “you can see Russia from Alaska”. They removed 50+ words she said spoke before that answer, and they removed 50+ words she spoke after that answer, and they presented “you can see Russia from Alaska” completely devoid of the context in which she spoke the words, and they did their best to make her look like an airhead, and they succeeded. It was interview-rape.