As Republican candidates for president debated foreign policy in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) laid down lines of attack in the conservative National Review. Many of his attacks were echoed on Saturday by the candidates, who used the piece as a sort of playbook to fill in for a lack of experience and ideas in the field. Missing, in the debate and the article, was strategic thinking - China, for example, is mentioned only once in the piece, in relation to sanctions on Iran - as well as an understanding of the connection between the foundations of our strength at home and our power abroad. Also missing was awareness of how extreme conservative views clash with the advice of military leaders and nonpartisan national security experts. When Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN), for example, was asked about her support for torture techniques that our military opposes, she said: "I'm on the same side as Vice President Cheney on this issue" and against Colin Powell and John McCain. Below, NSN explores how the topics covered in Graham's article stack up against expert advice. Graham's words are in italics.

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This Saturday, conservative candidates for president will debate national security and foreign policy in Spartanburg, South Carolina. So far those vying for the nomination have given few specifics about how they view the world beyond America's shores. As conservative columnist George Will wrote last week, "the candidates have some explaining to do." With two wars still winding down and the European economic crisis threatening the U.S., Americans need to know how the men and women who want to be America's commander-in-chief would deal with the rest of the world. Citizens need to know what they see as the chief external challenges to America and how they would shape our civilian, economic and military institutions to respond. The National Security Network has put together this list of questions for the eight contenders who will be taking the stage:

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THE TUMULT OF THE LAST YEAR reminds us that the president is not only legislator-in-chief and chief executive. He or she is also commander-in-chief, head of state and lead diplomat. Those roles require a facility with the complexity of world affairs, a vision for America's role in the world that squares with global realities and a capacity to exert leadership that advances our national interest.

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Tonight in Las Vegas, the Republican presidential hopefuls are holding another debate. As the New York Times writes today: "For a while, we were concerned that the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination were not saying much about national security and foreign affairs. Now that a few have started, maybe they were better off before. Certainly, the Republican hopefuls have put to rest any lingering notion that their party is the one to trust with the nation's security... the candidates offer largely bad analysis and worse solutions, nothing that suggests real understanding or new ideas."

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