THE REAL GAFFE

I’m on the road so forgive me for not elaborating further on Dean’s “Soviet Union” gaffe. No, it’s not the end of the world. But it’s hard to come down hard on the president’s linguistic difficulties while ignoring Dean’s. But what is serious is that Dean seems to think that we can prevent proliferation by buying the stuff from North Korea, Russia, or whoever. But what’s to stop rogue nuke states selling to Iran and to us? Is Dean that naive? And isn’t it true that the real source of Iran’s nuclear material has recently been Pakistan anyway? My bottom line: I don’t care if a presidential candidate commits a gaffe in foreign policy. I do care that his instinct is to buy off enemies, rather than confront them; and that he’s not on the ball about where the real threats are coming from. Dean is making me more nervous about his foreign policy ideas, not less. Hillary is far smarter (if predictably slimy).