Zingers Are Not Good Foreign Policy

In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, renowned foreign policy commentator David Ignatius criticizes Sen. McCain's tendency to give provocative speeches - which often turn out to be plain reckless - when discussing foreign policy issues.

As Ignatius explains, zingers don't make good foreign policy, however much Sen. McCain loves to deliver them.

Relating this troubling approach to foreign affairs to recent events, Ignatius slams Sen. McCain for encouraging Georgia to believe America would back them up in a crisis.

"That expectation was naive, and it was wrong to encourage it. It was especially wrong to give a volatile leader such as Saakashvili what he evidently imagined was an American blank check."

Ignatius concludes with the sober reality often forgot by Sen. McCain:

"The rhetoric of confrontation may make us feel good, but other people end up getting killed."