Attention liberals and progressives: This is how you shut down Republican foreign policy talking points. During the "Face Off" segment on "Race for the White House" today, Rachel absolutely eviscerated every pre-packaged argument Noah Oppenheim had to offer about McCain's supposed strong suit. 

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Here is just a small taste of the smackdown:

Maddow: "Noah, when it gets down to concrete issues, and when it gets down to making a judgment call, I think if people are looking at Bush and McCain in deciding to go after Osama bin Laden by invading and occupying for five years a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 -- or -- actually going after Osama bin Laden where he is, probably in Pakistan, I think people will probably go with the latter judgment.

Oppenheim: "Are you suggesting an invasion of Pakistan?"

Maddow: "He hasn't said he would invade Pakistan. He said he would go after Osama bin Laden where he is instead of outsourcing the fight against al Qaeda to General Musharraf who happily took our billions of dollars worth military aid and then gave al Qaeda and the Taliban safe haven in the tribal regions. So go after bin Laden or fight Iraq? I'd take the former."

Ouch. Remember when President Bush said this in his 2004 State of the Union address?:

"America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country. "

The same people who defended President Bush and attacked Senator Kerry back then are now attacking Senator Obama for stating that, as President, his policy will be to pursue Osama bin Laden wherever he is, even if that means we have to go into Pakistan against Musharraf's wishes. How is that possibly a controversial concept? Are these right-wingers really arguing that we need a "permission slip" in order to hunt down the man responsible for 3000+ Americans?

Thank the media gods for Rachel Maddow.