Palin put on the spot
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA | In first major interview as VP candidate, gov sometimes is caught off guard, but still fields foreign policy questions
(ABC News)
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin skated on thin ice during her debut interview on the national stage Thursday, but she didn't fall through -- committing no major gaffes.
Faced with a lack of foreign policy experience and her concession that she has never met a foreign leader in her life, the 44-year-old GOP vice presidential nominee talked up her familiarity with energy issues and her desire to "reform" government. And she mentioned that the Russians are "our next-door neighbors. You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska." Palin admitted she has never visited her Russian neighbors and only got a passport this year to see troops in Kuwait and Germany, though she has been to Canada and Mexico, she said.
On a day when Palin sent her eldest son off to serve in Iraq, she chose to submit to questions from ABC's Charlie Gibson in Fairbanks, Alaska.
In her first major interview as John McCain's running mate, Palin appeared well-prepped enough to satisfy her supporters even if her answers were not deep enough to satisfy critics who say 20 months as Alaska governor and a stint as mayor of 9,000 people is too little experience to be in line to become commander in chief.
Gibson asked Palin whether she supports the ''Bush Doctrine."
Palin just stared, then asked, "In what respect, Charlie?"
Gibson told her, "The Bush Doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?"
She said, "If there is legitimate and enough intelligence that a strike is imminent against the American people, we have every right to defend our country."
Palin said other vice presidents over the years shared her lack of foreign affairs experience. Without naming him, Palin took a shot at her Democratic vice presidential rival, longtime Sen. Joe Biden, mocking, "somebody's big, fat resume that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment where, ya, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state."
Palin casually dropped in conversation that she had spoken with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili "the other day," and she agreed the country should be admitted to NATO. When Gibson asked if that meant the U.S. would have to go to war with Russia if Russia invades Georgia again, she seemed not to have considered the possibility.
"Perhaps so," she said, raising her eyes. "I mean, that is the agreement, when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help."
Gibson pressed her on whether American troops could unilaterally chase Taliban forces into Pakistan and what America should do if Israel attacks Iran.
"In order to stop Islamic extremists . . . we must do whatever it takes and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions of where we go and even who we target," she said.