Whoops: Palin advocates war with Iran, apparently misreading column

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has always tried to portray herself as tough on national security.

On Sunday, however, Palin may have taken it too far. Speaking to Fox News' Chris Wallace, the onetime Republican vice presidential nominee signaled that she supported war with Iran, referring to a recent online column by conservative Pat Buchanan.

"Say he played, and I got this from Buchanan, reading one of his columns the other day," Palin quipped. "Say he played the war card. Say he decided to declare war on Iran, or decided to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do. But that changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three years."

Only, Buchanan said the opposite thing.

"Should war come," he wrote Friday, "that would be the end of GOP dreams of adding three-dozen seats in the House and half a dozen in the Senate."

In addition to costing the GOP politically (the speechwriter turned pundit said that war would ensure the reelection of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Buchanan said war with Iran was simply unwise -- and even more than that, unfounded.

"Despite the hysteria about Iran's imminent testing of a bomb," Buchanan wrote, "the U.S. intelligence community still has not changed its finding that Tehran is not seeking a bomb."

"And if Iran is hell-bent on a bomb," he added, "why has Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair not revised the 2007 finding and given us the hard evidence?"

Palin, seemingly misreading Buchanan's piece, remarked, "Things would dramatically change if he decided to toughen up and do all that he can to secure our nation and our allies."

Palin's remarks come about 3:15 into the following YouTube video. The exchange -- and the column by Buchanan -- was first noted by Talking Points Memo.