Mediaite points out that Palin’s issue with the president using Sputnik’s challenge to America seems to focus on the debt in the space race that broke the Soviets, rather than the president’s focus on the government meeting a challenge to the Russian threat and spurring business and innovation along the way. An excerpt from last night’s interview with Sarah Palin on Fox News.

VAN SUSTEREN: Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is still with us. And Governor, last night there was a lot of discussion about the Sputnik moment that the president talked about. Do you agree with him? Do you — and is this our moment?

PALIN: That was another one of those WTF moments, when he so often repeated this Sputnik moment that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. And he needs to remember that what happened back then with the former communist USSR and their victory in that race to space, yes, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mediaite’s column, wonder’s aloud if Palin is ignoring the other side of the Sputnik challenge on purpose. Read more of his take here.