TOWLER: Little news out of the Palin interviews

September 12, 2008 at 9:16am

ABC has started airing Charles Gibson's interviews with Sarah Palin, and so far, there've been no surprises. I can't imagine that these interviews will change anybody's mind about her.

As many of the media were reporting this morning, Palin has a tough approach to foreign policy. Based on her answers to Gibson's questions, if she were president, we'd have a repeat of the Bush militaristic approach to the world. She stands by Georgia's Saakashvili, favors admission of Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, and yes, if they were admitted and Russia attacked one of them, the US would need to go to war against Russia. (She tempered that slightly by saying that she doesn't foresee another Cold War, and that the US might need to impose economic sanctions on Russia.)

If Israel decided it needed to attack Iran's nuclear facilities? "I don't think that we should second-guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves," she said.

Does she agree with George Bush that the US should wage pre-emptive strikes against countries we consider to be a threat? The president's duty is to defend the country, she said. Gibson pressed again on the issue of pre-emptive strikes and got this response: "If there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against America, we have every right to defend our country."

Does the US have the right to make attacks inside Pakistan, without the approval of Pakistani's government? "America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies."

That was about it for the substance last night.

Gibson asked about her limited travel abroad and her lack of association with leaders of other countries.Americans want change, she said. They don't want "more politics as usual and somebody's big, fat resume."

According to several media reports, before being selected as McCain's vice-presidential candidate, Palin had said that she didn't think global warming was caused by humans. In the Gibson interview, she backed off slightly, saying, "I'm attributing some of man's activities to potentially causing some of the changes in the climate right now."

What about her statement that US soldiers in Iraq are "on a task that is from God?" That "there is a plan and it is God's plan"? Her statement was "a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words," she said. "A repeat." Actually, Lincoln didn't say that at all, but I don't expect facts to get in her way, any more than they have with her stand on the bridge.

You can read more extended excerpts from the first two interviews on the ABC News website. And there'll be more video from the interviews tonight, on "20/20," airing at 10.

Now�we'll see whether anyone else in the press will have access to her during the campaign.

Comments for "TOWLER: Little news out of the Palin interviews" (1)

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Hal Bauer said on Sep. 22, 2008 at 11:46am

Palin news is schmaltz. Let's think objectively.

The Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve Chair propose we give them a trillion dollars, this time, to dictate, at will. But isn't the U.S. House and Senate required by our Constitution to control the power- of- the- purse?

Why bailout corporations? To save millionaires and billionaires a few dollars more while allowing corrupt bailouts of �too big to fail" financial firms the Administration supports.

The current U.S. debt is $10,000,000,000,000. Giving bankers the control of US finances is giving a blank- check to Wall Street and hoping for-the-best, as our U.S. House Speaker said.

The Bush Administration wants socialism for corporations. They call tax dollars supporting health care socialism, as in most developed countries. For example, S-Chip and other health programs for Americans was turned down by the Bush Administration. American may die without them. Cannot sick corporations die?

Why is Wall Street's health called a crisis when American families, who pay their bills or go bankrupt, are dying? What happened to Smith's principle of the invisible- hand- of-the- market, that these corporate executives liked so much? Inconvenient greed?

(Please register- to -vote now and by the Oct. 10th deadline. You can have no party affiliation like me.)

The patriotic direction is for Congress to reassume the Constitutional power- of- the- purse, independent of lobbies, and control our fate. They might also reassume other Constitutional rights like free speech (not ‘money is free speech’ that has corrupted Congress). Maybe doing away with war-for-oil, torture, warrant-less searches and arrests would also be healthy for Americans.

We want a US Constitution that works in the present and future, so give it back please.

Constitutionally yours,

Hal

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