Oh. My. God.

McCain's "grasp" of foreign policy scares the hell out of me.  It's not because I'm in the military; it's because I'm American (and a citizen of the world) and don't want to live through nuclear war with Russia.

In an obvious attempt to claim the mantle of "strong, principled leadership," McCain dove off the deep end.  His extreme bellicosity shows that he is unfit to be president.  While Obama and (of all people) Bush showed measured responses befitting Presidents of the United States, McCain basically trumpeted his unwillingness to work with the Russians should, god forbid, he win the election.  Granted Bush deserves quite a bit of blame for letting Georgia think we had their back (stupid liberals, always wanting to blame America first!), but we've learned to expect this kind of thing from him.  McCain is the one campaigning on foreign policy credentials.  Here's a little "straight talk" international relations 101 for McCain: foreign leaders don't like being told what to do. 

In diplomacy, leaders are supposed to work calmly and rationally together to solve crises such as this one.  But other nations will not be eager to listen to you if you step so wholeheartedly in lockstep with their enemies.  We should be outwardly neutral in the conflict so that we can negotiate in good faith.  That doesn't mean not condemning Russia for their invasion - all parties have been right to do that.  But when McCain has an ich-bin-ein-Georgian moment, it really is not helpful.  What it comes down to is that all we can do here is ask Russia (nicely) to withdraw its forces... But they don't have to listen to us, and they wont listen to us if they think we are only involved in order to keep an American ally on their doorstep.

John McCain (and others) are pushing for Georgia to be a member of NATO, and for sanctions against Russia.  Some of his neocon friends have suggested an Ameican troop presence in Georgia as a Korea-style trip wire.  McCain himself said that he spoke for all Americans when he said that today "we are all Georgians."  Such rhetoric may work against North Korea, which is scared of the U.S. Armed Forces.  But Russia is a nation with thousands of nuclear weapons and a HUGE conventional military.

John McCain, I am NOT a Georgian, and I wont consent to World War Three on their account.