FOREIGN POLICY JARGON AND THE PALIN-GIBSON DEBATE: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS NRO'S GOLDBERG BY A WEEK

JONAH TODAY:

while she absolutely needs to talk about these things with more fluency, the talking and fluency are not synonymous terms. Foreign policy talk isn't necessarily a code, but it is a sort of lingo all its own. That Sarah Palin doesn't have the lingo down is kind of obvious, but what that fact actually says about her grasp of the basic concepts and principles is still unknown.

... What is clear, however, is that the ability to talk like a State Department cookie-pusher is not a great political asset (just ask John Kerry) nor is it a sign that you're automatically right on the issues (Just review John Kerry's, Joe Biden's, Bill Clinton's, or Jimmy Carter's records). Warren Christopher talks like he's being simultaneously translated from the French, but I would rather have Phil Graham, invoking Dickie Flats and all that, setting our foreign policy objectives.

I don't want to be read as saying that an inability to speak diplomatese is a good thing in and of itself. I've generally disliked the argument on the right in Bush's behalf that a general inarticulateness should be celebrated simply because it passes for "speaking American." Good communication skills are very important for politicians and, particularly for conservatives, who have to be able to explain why so much liberal conventional wisdom is wrong.

Where Palin figures into this remains to be seen. My own gut, plus what I've seen and heard from Palin, suggests that she actually will be an effective communicator of foreign policy even if she never completely masters the lingo. But only time will tell.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS LAST WEEK:

PALIN ON ABC WITH GIBSON

I just watched her on ABC with Gibson.

She was okay.

It will play better in the Heartland than in the Beltway and with the DC elites.

She doesn't have all the foreign policy jargon down yet - but most Americans don't either.

SURE: Most Americans don't have to, a vice president does. SHE WILL.

But it was obvious whose side she's on - something you can't say about Pelosi or Durbin and many others in the Democrat Party.

McCain is obviously much better on foreign policy than Palin -she's better on energy and other issues. They COMPLIMENT each other.

Does Palin know as much as Biden about foreign policy?

She knows less - but EVIDENTLY, all his "knowledge" wasn't good enough for him to back either the Gulf War in 1991, or the Surge.

JONAH IS GRRRREAT! HIS BOOK LIBERAL FASCISM ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT IN DECADES.

BUT WE BEAT HIM THIS TIME!

• WE BEAT THE BIGGIES ALL THE TIME.
• REGULAR READERS KNOW THIS.
• SPREAD THE WORD. BLOGROLL US!