"Well, you do score highly on how to deal cautiously with media questions"

Thanks Charles,but I am not qualified, and far from experienced enough for that high post.

I suggest that caution is normally as much exercised in elections as it is in diplomacy. (You know, the old think before you talk rule).

I suspect caution is also advised when one is running for Vice President, not President (whom common sense would tell me makes the really big decisions on policy diring an election and after one).

In addition, McCain has huge foreign policy experience, so why not defer to the better? One should understand that VP statements can be viewed as speaking for McCain, and could paint him into a policy corner? Outside protocol, success at the ballot box can be directly impacted by a loss of respect for cautioun, and well thought out responses, especially in a first interview (first impressions can never be made again).

I hope "the Ruskies" were not watching the TV (or NATO partners). If so, the "poker player" advantage (as displayed by Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis) may have just been lost.