I wouldn't call Saakashvili an idiot. You try running a tiny little county with pipelines in a strategic east-west corridor between Europe and the oilfields of the Caspian, at the doorstep of Russia. Pretty much since Saakashvili has come to power he's had to be looking over his shoulder at Russia wondering when. I agree, iIt was not smart to randomly shell the regional captial of South Ossetia, but chances are that specific order came from a general, not the President himself. Georgian police were attacked by a roadside bomb, and later, snipers killed 3 more Georgian troops acting as Peacekeepers. You don't let this type of thing slide, you can't. By sending in troops he broke the 1992 ceasefire line, but conflict like this rarely has black and white solutions. I'm definitely not saying that Georgia is a completely innocent party here, but far more so than Russia. There is basically no military infrastructure left in Georgia, Russian destroyed almost everything. Medvedev said he would withdraw troops starting on August 18th. Guess what, they are still there. And not only in the disputed regions, Russian troops patrol the port city of Poti, well within Georgian territory.
There is a Russian in my office. We argue a lot. I tend to know more than most about this issue.
With regards to Cheney's comments. Talk is cheap. Hardly war-mongering when you don't (and won't) back it up. There is no way the US would intervene to save a country like Georgia. Now Ukraine, that is a different story. (More on that later).
I also fail to see how Palin would use her power as VP for more personal ends. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the only controvsery here is she got involved in the firing of some allegedly dirty cop that was in some way related to her family? Big national crisis there. She doesn't have very close ties to defense contractors or oil companies (all of them hate her for busting up what was a pretty good situation for them up in AK) and is unlikely her ties to commercial fishing through her husband is going to be a problem.
Back to the Ukraine. Back in the early 90s (1994), John Major and Clinton signed a pact with the Ukraine (and Yelstin actually) guaranteeing Ukraines security in the face of aggression by Russia. Russia actually acknowledged that if they try to harm the Ukraine that they know full well the UK and US will retaliate. So, if we get into a mess over there, all you democrats can thank your buddy Bill for that.