Larison, pivoting off Walter Shapiro, tears into the governor's answer:
What really stands out in Perry’s response is how both issues have absolutely nothing to do with the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal (how would selling fighters to Taiwan give them the ability to intervene in Pakistan?), but his answer was even worse than most people think. Perry remarks on India managed to get the essential facts wrong. Perry said, “For instance, when we had the opportunity to sell India the upgraded F-16s, we chose not to do that.” In fact, what made the Indian decision to reject American bids for the new fighter jet contract so bothersome was that the administration had actively lobbied on behalf of the bids. The problem wasn’t that the U.S. chose not to sell jets to India. Despite the fact that it would have angered Pakistan, the administration was eager to sell them. Because the purchase was so large and will eventually make up half of their air force, India’s government didn’t want to buy from American companies because of a fear of what future administrations might do.
Steve Benen thinks Perry just doesn't care to learn anything:
Sure, Perry is a fairly new candidate with no meaningful foreign policy experience, and maybe if he brushed up on the basics, he wouldn’t appear quite this incompetent. But at a certain level, that’s not reassuring — he’s been on the trail for over a month, and doesn’t appear to have invested any time at all in learning anything at all. Indeed, Perry has dabbled in foreign policy quite a bit lately, but with consistently ridiculous results. Hell, the other day, Perry blamed “instability in the Middle East” on President Obama “apologizing for America’s exceptionalism,” which is plainly idiotic.
The Dish 