The Only Flag in Palin's Office?

"The only flag at my office is an Israeli flag," Sarah Palin told Israeli President Shimon Perez, according to the (now-defunct) New York Sun. "I want you to know and I want Israelis to know that I am a friend."

Remember all the fuss about Barack Obama not wearing a flag pin? Seems a bit silly compared to the governor of an American state having a foreign flag in her office instead of an American flag. Even if Palin misspoke and she meant that the Israeli flag is the only foreign flag in her office, what is she doing with foreign flags in her office? And if she's going to start putting up foreign flags, is she seriously saying that Israel (a country she has never visited) is more important to Alaska than Canada, where she wants to build a giant natural gas pipeline? Or Russia, a country from which Palin claimed to receive trade missions, but apparently never did?

Maybe her support for Israel has something to do with her church's view that terrorist attacks against Israel are a good thing, because they are the beginning of the final battle between good and evil that will result in the slaughter of the Jews and the return of Jesus.

(Via Andrew Sullivan)

Wayne Allyn Root's Foreign Policy

The web site Jewish Exponent has an article about Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate - and never-ending embarrassment to the party - Wayne Allyn Root. This is amusing because the site talks about Root's Jewish roots and Jewish upbringing, but never mentions that Root has since converted to evangelical Christianity, and now calls himself a "completed Jew" (I'm sure Jewish people love the implication that their faith is incomplete). But the Jewish Exponent article is still worth reading, since it sheds some light on Root's foreign policy beliefs.

On Iraq, Root says he supported the troop surge. On other occasions, he has said that he doesn't want the Iraq war to end.

On Afghanistan, he wants to "do the same thing," with a troop surge there, too.

On Israel, Root calls himself "as pro-Israel as any human being in the world can possibly be," and says that the U.S. should strengthen its alliance with Israel. "You don't abandon your friends."

On Mexico, Root wants to deploy the U.S. military to the border so that it can shoot at people who want to come and work in menial jobs in this country.

Bonus Root foreign policy position: On France, Root told an interviewer two months ago that "I usually hate France." Why, because the French didn't support this disastrous war?

Tell me again, why did this guy leave the Republican Party?

I am Disappointed

First things first - congratulations Barack Obama. I look forward to voting for you in November, and I look forward even more to the work you will do come January to end the war, restore our civil liberties and bring honesty, transparency and new thinking to the federal government.

My joy over Obama's victory was tempered today, however, after I read about his remarks before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Obama had a chance today to tell the AIPAC crowd some truths that they don't want to hear - that the U.S. shouldn't support the building of West Bank settlements, for example - the same way he told Cuban-Americans last month that he would ease the embargo.

Instead, Obama used his speech to promise that the U.S. will join in any war that threatens Israel, needlessly antagonized the Palestinians by saying that Israel shouldn't divide Jerusalem and took a bellicose posture against Iran that would make George Bush proud. I'd like to hope that this is all just political posturing (not that that's alright), but I'm just not sure.

The only solace I take from Obama's speech today is that it wasn't nearly as bad as John McCain's AIPAC speech. Sigh.