Nanochick wrote:

The State Department has a message for White House candidates wanting to expound on sensitive diplomatic issues: Shut up...

First it was Barack Obama's talk of dialogue with dictators and invading Pakistan to kill Islamist militants, then it was Hillary Rodham Clinton refusing to rule out the use of nuclear weapons to that end. Now, the Democratic front-runners have been joined by radical Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo, who threatened to bomb Muslim holy sites to stop terror attacks....

"To somehow suggest that an appropriate response to terrorism would be to attack sites that are holy and sacred to more than a billion people throughout the world is just absolutely crazy," he said, denouncing "any suggestion that the defense of the American homeland or the defense of American interests would ever justify attacking holy sites."

Amen....I shudder at the fact that Tom Tancredo actually got elected to Congress.

This is exactly what you want. Candidates should be able to grandstand as much as they like in this regard. Foreign policy is probably the first (if not the closest second EVAH!) agenda item for the new administration. What are YOU going to do Mr./Mrs. Candidate? Bare your teeth now, cuz if you blow it once you take office, then that's that.

RE: U.S. State Department cringes as presidential hopefuls muddy diplomatic waters - International Herald Tribune