The Screwups of Campaign '08

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Sarah Palin
Sept. 11, 2008

"In what respect, Charlie?"

—Palin, addressing ABC's Charlie Gibson during her first major primetime interview, when asked about the Bush Doctrine, a term that describes the Bush administration's justifications for the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, most notably the idea that the United States can wage preventive war against another nation even if the threat that nation poses it not imminent. Gibson responded, "Well, what do you interpret it to be?" to which Palin responded, "His world view?" That the term didn't resonate with Palin shocked political observers, but the McCain campaign quickly explained her unclear stance by calling the question's context "abstract," and some of her defenders argued that there are in fact several different Bush doctrines.