By Kathleen Gilbert
FORT WAINWRIGHT, AK, September 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin sat down with ABC’s Charles Gibson Thursday to discuss her views on foreign policy, global warming and the Alaskan governor’s credentials as a vice-presidential hopeful. The interview marked Palin’s first televised interview since McCain’s announcement of his pick for running mate.
“ABC World News Tonight” ratings soared as viewers across America tuned in to see how Gov. Palin would weather Gibson’s notoriously tough “no-holds-barred” style of questioning in part one of the three-part interview. One writer in the International Herald Tribune described Gibson’s demeanor throughout the interview: “Gibson, who sat back in his chair and wriggled his foot impatiently, had the skeptical, annoyed tone of a university president who agrees to interview the daughter of a trustee, but doesn’t believe she merits admission.”
When pressed about how she reacted to McCain’s invitation to join him on the Republican ticket, Palin said she immediately knew her answer: “The first thing I said to [McCain] was … if you really think I can help this country, absolutely, I want to do this with you.”
“Doesn’t that take some hubris?” asked Gibson.
Palin responded, “You have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission … reform of this country, and victory in the war. You can’t blink. So, I didn’t blink then, when asked to run as his running mate.”
When asked about global warming, Palin said she believed, “Man’s activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming.” She added, “Regardless, though, of the reason for climate change, whether it’s entirely, wholly caused by man’s activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet – the warming and the cooling trends – regardless of that, John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it.”
Palin has in the past expressed her skepticism regarding the theory that humans can seriously alter the natural course of global warming, and disagreed with what she called “Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalists.”
Gibson later asked Palin about her once referring to the mission in Iraq as a “task that is from God.” He asked Palin, “Are we fighting a holy war?”
Palin said her comment was “a repeat of Abraham Lincoln’s words, when he said … never presume to know what God’s will is, and I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words.
“But what Abraham Lincoln had said … was let us not pray that God is on our side, in a war, or any other time. But let us pray that we are on God’s side. That’s what that comment was all about, Charlie.”
A wave of media feedback followed the interview, and while most felt that Palin had not dazzled viewers, the reviews ran the gamut, from blasting the interview as an embarrassing series of stock answers, to praising a job well done for a first foray into hostile territory.
Most of the attention focused upon one instance in which Palin seemed to hesitate, when asked if she agreed with “the Bush Doctrine.” The “Bush Doctrine” is a name given to various aspects of President Bush’s foreign policy, most notably his belief that under certain circumstances so-called “preemptive strikes” can be justifiable.
Palin, apparently uncertain of the meaning of Gibson’s question, asked, “In what respect, Charlie?” Gibson responded, “The Bush – well, what do you interpret it to be?”
Still puzzled, Palin queried, “His worldview?”
“No, the Bush Doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq War.”
Palin then expanded upon President Bush’s decision to fight Islamic extremism in the Middle East. But Gibson disagreed with her interpretation, calling the Bush doctrine the idea “that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense.”
Liberal pundits claimed that with this answer “she then showed that she doesn’t even know what the Bush Doctrine is,” concluding that “she has absolutely no business being a vice-presidential nominee.” The Associated Press report claimed she “appeared unsure of the Bush Doctrine.”
But more than one conservative commentator questioned whether the definition of “the Bush Doctrine” was really so specific as Gibson seemed to insist. Derek Donovan of The Star said that the meaning of the Bush Doctrine “is not nearly as codified as Gibson indicated – and I think his attitude in defining what he was referring to in using it seemed condescending to my ears, frankly.” Donovan’s words reflect the criticism of others who believed Gibson’s severe tone came off as too haughty.
Weighing the effect that the interview will have on Palin’s popularity, Michael Van der Galien, editor-in-chief of PoliGazette.com, said, “Her performance will, it seems likely, bring an end to Palinmania,” adding that after two weeks of skyrocketing approval ratings “the interview put her solidly back on earth.” But Derek Donovan is not convinced that the interview’s outcome was so decisive, saying that he suspects most people’s opinion of her performance will probably “fall in line with their political affiliations.”
The rest of the three-part interview will be broadcast on ABC over the next two days.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
McCain Campaign Says “Wolves Are Out” against Sarah Palin
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/sep/08091107.html