Palin On Bin Laden: "Such A Leader Of This Terrorist Movement"

More excerpts have been released from Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric, this time on the topic of foreign policy. These things take on the feeling of a soldier maneuvering through a minefield, and Palin more or less avoids any major mistake when discussing why the war in Afghanistan has become such a hard slog. But her reference to Osama bin Laden as "such a leader of this terrorist movement," does have the potential to become a cultural mainstay.

"The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now," Palin said. "The... things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that-- Bin Laden is-- is hiding out right now and... and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement. There... there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that... a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq. And as I say, Katie, that we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq. That's not gonna get us any better off in Afghanistan either. And as our leaders are telling us in our military, we do need to ramp it up in Afghanistan, counting on our friends and allies to assist with us there because these terrorists who hate America, they hate what we stand for with the... the freedoms, the democracy, the... the women's rights, the tolerance, they hate what it is that we represent and our allies, too, and our friends, what they represent. If we were... were to allow a stronghold to be captured by these terrorists then the world is in even greater peril than it is today. We cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan."

This portion will air on CBS tonight. In the first part, which aired Wednesday evening, Palin had a bit more trouble discussing John McCain's history (or lack thereof) of pushing for greater regulation of the markets. Asked for specifics, she replied: "I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you."

Couric, nevertheless, offered Palin some praise, saying this morning that her guest was "confident, cool calm and collected under difficult circumstances." But, she added, the vice presidential nominee was "not always responsive when she answers questions and falls back to her talking points."

Comments

[PT6]

08:07 PM on 09/29/2008

--AFTER NEARLY 70 YEARS OF "FAIR MARKETS" (1931 TO 2000) AFTER THE DEPRESSION--

---------TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS AND FREE MARKETS DID US IN IN 8 YEARS------------


--------------------START "IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS" WEDNESDAY!-------------------

-----------------EVEN HIS OWN PARTY DOES NOT RESPECT HIM!--------------------

-----------------EVEN WALL STREET DOES NOT RESPECT HIM!-----------------------

-----------------HE HAS DRIVEN US INTO CHAOS AND OFF A CLIFF!-----------------

------------------------------INCLUDE CHENEY AND ROVE-----------------------------------

HAVE LOST OVER 40% OF MY RETIREMENT TO THESE "COOKS" AND THEIR TRICKS!

McCain has suspended his campaign once!

So did Romney prior to pulling out!

So did Hillary prior to pulling out!

So the NEXT LOGICAL STEP IS FOR McCain TO GET OUT!

[freedommm]

02:08 PM on 10/05/2008

America, 8 YEARS OF LIES LIES LIES AND SHAME are just enoughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....its so simple to just look for change no mater what ...change is needed OTHERWISE, JUST SAY GOODBYE TO anything and everything this country stands for....

[bdaved]

03:10 AM on 09/27/2008

I imagine the thoughts going through each interviewer's head:
Charles Gibson: "She doesn't sound so smart."
Sean Hannity: "She sounds so smart."
Katie Couric: "She makes me sound so smart."
Please forgive me. I couldn't take it any more.

[Rosiestar]

07:52 PM on 09/26/2008

Her degree is in communications and she doesn't know how to debate? Compare and Contrast... Isn't that a basic question?

[KennyFox]

02:05 PM on 09/26/2008

Here we go...we've returned to "they hate us for being so free."

[brantl]

01:00 PM on 09/26/2008

As one of the commenters said, she's not inexperienced (she's knifed as many people as possible in the back on her way to the top in alaska), she's just plain ignorant. No more no less. That may play into the stereotype of liberals being elitist snobs, but she's as dumb as a doorknob. I've never heard such abuse of the English language by someone who's supposed to have grown up in the US.

[sueno]

12:49 PM on 09/26/2008

I'm glad she's with them......
Dead Caribou and lipstick is too much for me-

[alt01]

12:12 PM on 09/26/2008

Too much more of this and my brain is going to explode.

Embarassing doesn't begin to cover this, it is insulting to the American public that she is being presented as having the qualifications to be anything of substance in the White House.

If one of my children were to try to answer a direct question with this sort of rambling drivel I would clearly think they were stalling while trying to come up with a cogent answer, why is it wrong to expect more of a grown woman? Why is the McCain camp insisting that mediocrity is acceptable in leadership and intelligence is too much?

[KennyFox]

02:07 PM on 09/26/2008

Okay, the Republcan Party is now official the dumbest Party in politics in all of the Americas.

[scorpioleidy]

10:57 AM on 09/26/2008

In a word: embarrassing

[simkmer]

10:08 AM on 09/26/2008

Oh my. I could cry. Painful.

[mistlesuede]

09:41 AM on 09/26/2008

What is this person's first language? It sure as heck is not English!
This woman is totally incapable of running the PTA, much less our country.
God help us all.

[roninroshi]

08:34 AM on 09/26/2008

Did Palin really graduate from high school?

[Gjam]

08:23 AM on 09/26/2008

Why was the Couric-Palin segment cut to about 5 minutes during last night CBS Evening News? Will MSM actualy air the entire interview? This is shameful cowering by CBS News. They NEED to do better.

[gigi09]

07:30 AM on 09/26/2008

To the Animals Rights McCain/Palin supporters, this one's for you!
From an Alaska Moose Hunter...Isn't Palin a Moose Hunter?
"This moose is a beautiful animal with a surprisingly long, thick coat of browns, blacks and grays. My daughter and I admire him. You can't touch a bull moose lying in a sun-dappled September forest and not feel, as we say in church, a reverence for the earth and all of God's creation. But there is no time to ponder life and death and what it all means. There is too much work to do."
http://www.adn.com/life/story/536563.html

[gigi09]

06:44 AM on 09/26/2008

Sarah and the Bishop! The witch hunter was in Wasilla this past week! I guess as long as it isn't Jeremiah Wright...the witch doctor is off limits...for there are many that are still having a problem who they want to vote for. If the McCain/Palin ticket should win either by THEFT or there more racists in America than I imagined...maybe Sarah will let the Witch Doctor swear her in! Obama-Biden 08

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/palin-and-the-witch-hunter-chapter-ii/

[sharri]

05:54 AM on 09/26/2008

I find myself getting infuriated as I hear partisans defending her. I find them so disingenuous as they talk of her vast experience from having run local and state gov't., citing the fact that Obama has not run "anything". The fact is the president does not "run" the gov't. Bureaucrats run the gov't. The president is an ideas (man). He needs to know the nuances of domestic and world affairs. The president is to be wise enough to have very bright people advising (him). Given the history of the last eight years, you would think the voters would be all over Obama because he is intelligent and has the capacity to understand what the experts are saying. Instead we have the neocons feeding a line of crap that makes intellect seem like a disqualification.