Sarah Palin actually said...
That was another one of those WTF moments, when he so often repeated the 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 -- it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.
Context
Palin argues that the Soviet Union's debt from the space race contributed to its collapse, responding to Obama's reference to Sputnik.
01/26/2011