For First Time, Palin Takes Questions

GREENVILLE, N.C. — After weeks of limited contact with the news media, Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin ventured to the back of her campaign plane Tuesday and answered several questions from reporters.

The Alaska governor discussed why she and the McCain campaign have made an issue of Democrat Barack Obama's relationship with 1960s-era radical Bill Ayers amid a market meltdown that has many voters fearing for their investments. Palin repeatedly has claimed during the past two days that Obama had launched his political career with help from Ayers, a founder of the violent Weather Underground group responsible for bombings during the Vietnam War era.

Obama campaign aides said the Illinois senator did not know of Ayers' past when they first met in Chicago. Palin told reporters the lack of clarity about their relationship was precisely why it was relevant to raise it on the campaign trail.

"It's relevant to connect that association he has with Ayers, not so much he as a person Ayers, but the whole situation and the truthfulness and the judgment there that you must question if again he's not being forthright in all of his answers, "Palin said. "It makes you wonder about the forthrightness, the truthfulness of the plans he's telling Americans with regards to the economic recovery."

Pressed on whether she was saying Obama was dishonest, Palin said no.

"But in terms of judgment, in terms of being able to answer a question forthrightly, it has two different parts to it, that judgment and that truthfulness," she said.

Palin said also claimed her husband, Todd, is "an open book" on the controversy back home involving allegations that the couple pressured state officials to fire the governor's former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

"Nobody has anything to hide," she said.

Both Palin and her husband had refused to be interviewed in the state Legislature's probe, and Palin said the inquiry "has been kind of a goat rope, very partisan and very controversial type of investigation."

Palin reiterated her disappointment that John McCain's campaign had pulled out of Michigan, saying she had hoped to share the GOP ticket's economic message with blue-collar voters there. And she said she'd love to appear on "Saturday Night Live" with Tina Fey, who's made famous a hilarious caricature of Palin.

"I love her, she's a hoot and she's so talented. It would be fun to meet her, imitate her, and keep on giving her new material," Palin said of Fey.

Reflecting on the campaign in which she was transformed from relative obscurity into a visible national figure, Palin said she'd been "energized" by the experience and had high hopes for victory in the Nov. 4 election.

"We're at the halfway point and there is a lot that can happen and will happen in this campaign still to go," Palin said. "I've been in an underdog position quite often in my life and so has John McCain and we've both come out victoriously from that underdog position."

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On the Net:

McCain-Palin: http://www.johnmccain.com

Obama-Biden: http://www.barackobama.com

Comments

[BigSurf]

09:46 AM on 10/12/2008

Can she remember all the bad guys in the news when she was eight years old? NO!

Palin can't even name current newspapers she reads today!!!

Six weeks ago she never heard of Ayers either. If asked a few weeks ago she would probably have responded that the "Weather Underground' was a band her kids listened to.

[mysterygirl18]

08:07 AM on 10/11/2008

You know those two actually ran Alaska like they were a king and queen. Think about it people if she ever made it to Washington.

http://www.myspace.com/wakeupnowpeople

[PresWatch]

06:54 AM on 10/11/2008

Palin's syntax mirrors her bizarre thought processes. It's very possible she's an alien life form; maybe some troopers should check the governor's mansion for pods!

[morgagni]

03:18 AM on 10/11/2008

The inquiry is "a goat rope"? Is that an actual expression? I guess I'm not folksy enough to understand it.

[Spotster]

01:23 AM on 10/11/2008

And I still think there's something fishy about her pregnancy. Why can't Andrew Sullivan find any record of Trig Palin's birth? http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/births-at-mat-s.html

[koyaanisqatsi57]

03:58 AM on 10/11/2008

Assuming Sullivan is telling the truth--I have no reason to doubt him-- it does seem odd that Trig's name is not on the list of children born at the hospital. It's possible that the Palins chose not have have Trig's name placed on the list. Fair enough. There may be no name on that list, but there are most certainly medical records. To make this issue go away, Palin should ask the hospital to release the medical records. There's a good chance she'll be gone as the Republican VP candidate by the end of this weekend. Her Troopergate situation is not very defensible. Assuming she hangs on, she should let the hospital release some records related to Trig's birth.

She clearly was not vetted by McCain or his staff.

[RuffNReddy]

11:58 PM on 10/10/2008

Speaking of bringing things out into the light....
So, ya'll here about that Abuse of Power report that was just released?

"A bipartisan Alaskan panel finds Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain."

Yeah THAT.
What a creep.

Obamanos! 08!

[littledogs1]

11:54 PM on 10/10/2008

Sounds more like she made comments on her oppinion of Obama, not that she answered any questions, I sure that if a reporter asked her a real question they would open the door of the plane and throw them out mid-air.

[Moondaver]

06:23 AM on 10/09/2008

To Beca:

You call Palin "stupid" but don't mention that Obama doesn't know how many U.S. states there are. You don't mention that Biden made 14 errors during the VP debate, and three of them were related to foreign policy.

[iLogos]

07:58 AM on 10/09/2008

Come now, surely even you have to agree there is a distinct difference between a mistatement/gaff and an obvious lack of intellectual curiousity and grasp of the fundamentals of scientific fact taught to 8th graders.

Then again maybe you don't see the difference, which would be all the more telling.

[littledogs1]

11:58 PM on 10/10/2008

Give me a break, she is as dumb as a box of rocks, Obama made a verbal typo, he had been to 47 states and said 57, big deal, as for joe biden, thats joe biden, he is not stupid by any means. Sarah Palin is quite stupid, she seems to think she can actually see Russia from her house. I'm sure you own a globe, why don't you find the nearest populated city in Russia to alask and you see if you think they can see each other.

[Moondaver]

06:20 AM on 10/09/2008

This article is incorrect. Palin gave a short press conference in late September while visiting Ground Zero and meeting with world leaders in New York.

[Ofactor]

10:17 AM on 10/09/2008

Bull S.H.I.T she does not want to talk to the media because this broad is dumb. I mean good lrd lady they asked you question that my college son could answer and you were not able to do so. I am so tired of this woman and her ignorance. The fact that she clearly thinks it is fair game to say things to her audience that makes them comment in ways that are not helpful to Americans..thisis a disgrace. I would be so unhappy if this lady was the VP... this can never happen. I think furthermore if she thinks that she will be able to pull this off in 2012 I think she has another thought coming becuase the truth of the matter is that in order to win an election you have to secur more than just your base and that is not going to happen...I don't know of anyone that would vote for this lady after all the hate and negativity that she is spewing all that she is doing and to her disadvantage is making people not like her more and more and that can not be good for someont that thinks they can run again in 2012

[lillypad1]

06:10 AM on 10/09/2008

Palin said also claimed her husband, Todd, is "an open book" on the controversy back home involving allegations that the couple pressured state officials to fire the governor's former brother-in-law, a state trooper.

"Nobody has anything to hide," she said.



Then let's start the TrooperGate Hearing!!

[PresWatch]

11:45 AM on 10/09/2008

The Troopergate investigation is "partisan"? That's Palinesque truthfulness for you; she's being investigated by Republicans, for godsake! And if questionable associations should be our concern, how about her contemporary ties to secessionists?

[MasterfullyInept]

05:39 AM on 10/09/2008

This is what's known as projection.Republicans seem to do this a lot.They are not truthful, so they accuse their opponent of misleading.

"But in terms of judgment, in terms of being able to answer a question forthrightly, it has two different parts to it, that judgment and that truthfulness,"

Sarah barracuda hasn't been forthright at all about things like the bridge to nowhere for instance, so question Obama's truthfulness.Of course the problem is that folks are on to her.But the press when they at long last get to question her don't push the issue because they may not get another chance.As far as judgment goes.Well if she had any she would never accepted the nomination to a job she's clearly not qualified for.

These tactics are old hat to the GOP.Fortunately Americans aren't buying it this time around.

[Nonpartay]

04:42 AM on 10/09/2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?aq=f&emb=0&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3Dpalin+secession&v=eniG9l_7its
She has a lot of nerve talking about Obama's associations. What about hers with the Alaska Independence Party???? The last time states tried to secede from the union caused a Civil War. :(

[darlingdem]

04:02 AM on 10/09/2008

Palin has a lot of nerve questioning Obama's judgment and truthfulness...or whether he is being forthright.

She and "the first dude" are doing everything that they can to stall the Troopergate investigation. It never ceases to amaze me that she and McCain can be such complete hypocrites.

[Triceretops77]

02:45 AM on 10/09/2008

The key to revealing Palin's inner workings requires more than press meets. I propose taking her to the primary sources themselves. My interview w/ Sarah Palin, therefore, takes place over the course of a Manhattan afternoon, beginning at the American Museum of Natural History...

[Bitsko]

03:14 AM on 10/09/2008

Excellent suggestion. Followed by the Museum of the American Indian in the Battery?

[Triceretops77]

10:59 AM on 10/09/2008

Like the suggestion. Though, the New York Public Library was actually the next stop on this particular pilgrimage. Took her there for purposes of looking up the word "Theory" in the Oxford English Dictionary with little success. She might've ended up at the Battery after the Eye and Ear Infirmary visit, though. Thanks for interest and response. You can read the unabridged, illustrated version of this adventure on my new blog, if you like. Link is http://www.susannaspeier.com/blog

[littledogs1]

12:02 AM on 10/11/2008

Thats a good one, you better put some manaquins in with the dinos as to not upset her. what a nut job, she woud be a step back, way back like to the time before science.

[ScoobyDoo269]

02:45 AM on 10/09/2008

Sarah Palin and John McCain lead the 'Future to NOWhere'

[Elizabethfaye]

03:51 AM on 10/09/2008

Palin and McCain bit off more mushroom than they could handle, they are chasing the rabbit down his hole.