CQ Transcriptswire

Sept. 13, 2008

SPEAKERS:

GOV. SARAH PALIN, R-ALASKA

CHARLES GIBSON, ABC ANCHOR

KATE SNOW, ABC ANCHOR

GIBSON: Good evening. We are standing on the shores tonight of Lake Lucille, about 150 yards from the home of Governor Sarah Palin . This is the town that Sarah Palin put on the map -- Wasilla, Alaska, population 7,028, where she grew up, where her political career took root and took off.

You know 14 days ago very few people had even heard of Sarah Palin , even in her own Republican Party. So we came to Alaska to try to shed light on the woman who says she’s ready to run this country.

Is she? Where does she stand on the major issues facing America?

We were allotted time over two days by Governor Palin’s team. Yesterday we focused on her readiness for the job and where she stands on international affairs.

Today in our second interview we turn to the economy, abortion, homosexuality and Hillary Clinton.

But first, it’s a long way from Wasilla to Washington. What brought Sarah Palin so far so fast on this journey? Kate Snow looks at the woman who would be vice president.

MCCAIN: Governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska.

SNOW: From the moment John McCain surprised America with his choice of running mate, she’s been presented at every campaign stop as a great American story.

PALIN: My mom and dad both worked at the local elementary school, and my husband and I -- we both grew up working with our hands.

SNOW: The one time beauty queen, now a working mother of five, whose interest in public service took her from the local schoolhouse to the state house...

PALIN: As governor of the state of Alaska...

SNOW: ... to a chance at being a heartbeat away from the White House.

But as you get to know Alaska Governor Sarah Palin , you discover that like so many American stories, hers is part fact and part fable, and a lot of that gray area in between that’s hard to pin down in modern American politics.

In hindsight her story reads like a straight shot to the top, but we now know there have been a few detours along the way. Before graduating from the University of Idaho, Palin also spent time at Hawaii Pacific University, North Idaho College, and Matanuska-Sisitna College in Alaska.

PALIN: See, I did a lot of courses -- no biggie, but it’s not the only mushing going on.

SNOW: After college she worked as a TV sports reporter at a local station in Anchorage.

PALIN: The first one was John Shammelmeyer (ph) and Dennis Coggle (ph) grabbed the sixth, seventh and eighth spots.

SNOW: There have also been challenges at home.

PALIN: You know from the inside no family ever seems typical.

SNOW: The Palins’ youngest son, Trig, was born last spring with Down syndrome, and their teenage daughter Bristol is pregnant.

PALIN: Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys.

(UNKNOWN): We wish you well. We’re all behind you.

PALIN: Thank you.

SNOW: But throughout her time in public office, Palin has remained remarkably popular on the job, her approval rating hovering over 80 percent, the highest of any governor in the nation.

At the Republican convention she introduced herself to the rest of the country.

PALIN: And I stood up to the special interests and the lobbyists and the big oil companies and the good old boys.

SNOW: And if you enjoyed that speech two weeks ago in Minnesota, you’ve gotten the chance to relive it in Colorado...

PALIN: I had to stand up to the special interests and the lobbyists and the oil companies and the good old boys network.

SNOW: Pennsylvania...

PALIN: I shook up the old system and took on the good old boys.

SNOW: Missouri...

PALIN: I shook up the old system and took on the good old boys.

SNOW: And many other places.

Until now, that’s about all we’d heard from Sarah Palin .

(UNKNOWN): Why is she scared to answer questions?

(UNKNOWN): She’s not scared to answer questions, but you know what? We run our campaign, not the news media, and we’ll do things on our timetable.

SNOW: It hasn’t stopped voters, reporters and the Obama campaign from asking questions about the accuracy of many statements in that now often repeated campaign speech.

PALIN: I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. SNOW: In fact, as mayor of Wasilla, Palin was responsible for spearheading the effort to acquire federal earmarks for the town, and she was good at it, securing $27 million for what was then a town of roughly 6,000 people.

When she ran for governor, Sarah Palin supported what became the poster child project for abuse of congressional spending -- a $398 million so-called Bridge to Nowhere.

PALIN: I would not get in the way of progress of this project or other projects that they’re working so hard on.

SNOW: She says she later changed her position, which is what she emphasizes these days.

PALIN: I told the Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks” on that Bridge to Nowhere.

SNOW: But by the time Palin told Congress, “No, thanks,” Congress had stopped asking. The earmark for the bridge had been removed, but not the money. That still went to Alaska for general transportation construction. Governor Palin spent some of it to build this, the road to nowhere, a $48 million road that you can only see from the air.

PALIN: I came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing.

SNOW: But this week there were questions about whether Palin herself was setting the right standard. Alaska reimburses government workers $60 a day when they’re out of town on business. Governor Palin pilled the state $17,000 for nights spent at her family’s home in Wasilla, rather than the governor’s mansion in Juneau.

Technically, it’s allowed, but many say frowned upon.

PALIN: I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top.

SNOW: With no jet, Palin has billed the state of Alaska $43,490 for flying her family around the state, another practice her opponents are questioning.

The biggest local controversy surrounding Governor Palin involves what’s being billed as Troopergate.

PALIN: When that then has sparked such an investigation...

SNOW: An ethics investigation is under way to determine if Governor Palin, and perhaps her husband, pressured the state’s Department of Public Safety commissioner to dismiss Palin’s brother- in-law, an Alaska state trooper, who went through a messy divorce from the governor’s sister.

The commissioner was fired in July, and just today Alaska lawmakers moved forward to subpoena 13 people, including Todd Palin.

Beyond her own life story, people are also waiting for the chance to ask Sarah Palin about issues that are important to them -- abortion, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the environment. Where she stands on these issues are so important that some of her best friends, who are quick to praise Sarah Palin the woman...

(UNKNOWN): She’s honest as the day is long.

SNOW: ... are reluctant to endorse Sarah Palin the candidate until they hear more about where she stands on what’s important to them.

(UNKNOWN): I’m real excited to see the debates and make up my mind, but I have -- I’m not committed.

SNOW: Perhaps the most memorable line from Palin’s acceptance speech was this one.

PALIN: When the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, what exactly is our opponent’s plan?

(UNKNOWN): The next vice president of the United States of America is in the house.

SNOW: And with Obama size crowds now roaring for her, many Obama supporters are asking the Republicans the same thing.

GIBSON: When we come back, our new interview begins with Sarah Palin at her home in Wasilla. Stay with us.

(UNKNOWN): From Wasilla, Alaska, once again Charles Gibson.

GIBSON: Welcome back to Wasilla. We are 40 miles northeast of Alaska’s biggest city of Anchorage, and this is where Sarah Palin grew up and where she’s raising her own five children.

It is this town and this lifestyle that have helped shape Sarah Palin ’s views on the world.

We caught up with Sarah Palin at her home on the western end of Wasilla. The two-story home she and her husband built five years ago is ringed by evergreens and saw-tooth mountain peaks and even has a parking spot for their seaplane out back.

I can’t imagine you going from governor of a small populated state -- sparsely populated -- to all of a sudden you’re being talked about for vice president. And you’ve got this...

PALIN: We’ve got this. You know Alaska seems to be such a microcosm of the rest of the U.S. And to me it’s -- it’s the same people, the same issues here -- much grander scale in some of the big cities that we’re visiting, but everybody’s got issues. Everybody’s got burdens.

GIBSON: But haven’t you said to yourself at some point in the past two weeks, “Holy cow!”

PALIN: Haven’t had time to think that yet or to say that. I have certainly said, “Wow, what an opportunity.” And it’s a humbling, humbling experience already. It’s very humbling.

GIBSON: A little frightening?

PALIN: Not so much frightening.

GIBSON: Overwhelming?

PALIN: And not so much overwhelming, but just a great responsibility that I’m recognizing, a great responsibility. And certainly the -- the drive to not let people down, not let women down in this.

GIBSON: You spoke about...

PALIN: That adds to it.

GIBSON: I -- I saw you quoted somewhere as speaking rather admiringly of -- of Mrs. Clinton, Senator Clinton, during the primary campaign. Do you think Obama should have picked her?

PALIN: I think he’s regretting not picking her now. I do. What determination and grit and even grace through some tough shots that were fired her way. She -- she handled those well.

GIBSON: We continued our interview in the comfort of the Palins’ living room.

Governor John McCain and you are now talking about the GOP as a party of change. We’ve got a very sick economy. Tell me the three principle things you would do to change the Bush economic policies.

PALIN: And you’re right. Our economy is weak right now, and we have got to strengthen it. And government can play an appropriate role in helping to strengthen the economy.

We need to put government back on the side of the people and make sure that it is not government solely looked at for all the solutions, for one.

Let me tell you what I did here in the city of Wasilla and then as governor of Alaska. What I did as a city council member then, and then as mayor, was come in, and we cut personal property taxes in Wasilla. We cut small business inventory taxes.

GIBSON: You raised the sales tax.

PALIN: No, well, we had a two percent sales tax. And when people came to local government and said, “We want a sports arena here,” I said, “That’s fine, and I want a sports arena also, but we’re going to have to pay for it.”

GIBSON: I didn’t want to get off into Wasilla, but you came into the city with a debt-free city and left it with considerable millions of dollars of debt, didn’t you?

PALIN: A $13 million sports arena that we bonded for, but, see, we put government on the side of the people by asking them if that’s what they wanted. It was a question on the ballot, and they got to vote yes or no. So that’s what we did.

We eliminated small business inventory taxes. I eliminated things like business license renewal fees on our small businesses. Those economic indicators of success on a local level should provide to America that worldview that I have of what we can do on a local level, and then a state level, where we just suspended our fuel tax in our state also.

Get taxes under control, but at the same time we’re cutting taxes, you got to reduce the growth of government.

GIBSON: Well, I want to come back to the question. I want to know, because you’ve advertised yourselves now as the party of change. I want to know what you would change in the Bush economic principles.

What you said to me at the beginning I don’t think anybody in the Bush administration would disagree with. What do you change in the Bush economic plans?

PALIN: We have got to make sure that we reform the oversight also of the agencies, including the quasi-government agencies like Freddie and Fannie, those things that have created an atmosphere here in America where people are fearful of losing their homes.

People are looking at job loss. People are looking at unaffordable health care for their families. We have got to reform the oversight of these agencies that have such control over Americans’ pocketbooks.

GIBSON: So let me summarize the three things that you’d change in the Bush economic plans -- one, two, three.

PALIN: Reduce taxes. Control spending. Reform the oversight in the overseeing agencies and committees to make sure that America’s dollars and investments are protected.

GIBSON: So let me -- let me break down some of those down. You talk about spending. How much smaller would a McCain budget be? Where would you cut?

PALIN: We’re going to find deficiencies in every department. We have got to. There are some things that I think should be off the table -- veterans’ programs off the table. You know we owe it to our veterans, and that’s the greatest manifestation that we can show in terms of support for our military -- those who are in public service fighting for America.

GIBSON: Take entitlements off the table?

PALIN: We need to...

GIBSON: Or can you reform Social Security?

PALIN: We need to get into every department, every division. And that’s what’s going to be the task of cabinet members and in the next level of bureaucracy and the next level of bureaucracy.

GIBSON: Well, I’m trying to get specific here. You’re -- you’re saying you’d take military off the table. Do you talk about entitlement reform? Is there money you can save in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid?

PALIN: I am sure that there are efficiencies that are going to be found in all of these agencies. I am -- I’m confident in that.

GIBSON: But -- but agencies are not involved in entitlements. The basically discretionary spending is 18 percent of the budget.

PALIN: We have certainly seen excess in agencies, though. And in -- when -- when bureaucrats, when bureaucracy just gets kind of comfortable, going with the status quo and not being challenged to find deficiencies and spend other people’s money wisely.

And maybe I’m wrong, but I believe that the American people -- their will at this time is to see efficiencies, reined in government so that the private sectors and our families can grow and prosper.

(UNKNOWN): From Wasilla, Alaska -- the interview. Sarah Palin with Charles Gibson continues.

GIBSON: Didn’t George Bush come to Washington eight years ago talking about reforming Washington in the same kind of language? Ran as something of a maverick, actually. Came to Washington. Eight years hasn’t changed the -- the ethos in Washington particularly. Why are you any different?

PALIN: We’re -- we’re promising the reform. And we are mavericks. There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind now across America, who’s paying attention to the presidential race here, that I am a Washington outsider. I mean look at where you are.

I -- I am a Washington outsider. I do not have those allegiances to the power brokers, to the lobbyists. We need someone like that in Washington, someone committed to the American people and implementing their will, not the power brokers’ will.

GIBSON: You mentioned in the three principles that you’d change spending. You also talked about taxes. Why do you both keep saying that Obama is going to raise people’s taxes?

It’s been pretty clear what he intends. He’s talked about middle class tax cuts, extending Bush tax cuts on everything but people who own or burn more than $250,000 a year -- cuts taxes on over 91 percent of the country. Why do you keep saying he’s going to raise people’s taxes?

PALIN: Well, I would argue with the whole premise of that, that his mission is to not increase taxes. He’s had 94 opportunities to either vote for a tax cut or not to support taxes increases. And 94 times he’s been on the other side of what I believe the majority of Americans want.

GIBSON: One of John McCain ’s central campaign arguments -- tenets of his campaign -- is eliminating earmarks.

MCCAIN: And the first big spending pork barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk -- I will veto it. I will make them famous, and you will know their names.

GIBSON: Are you with John McCain on that?

PALIN: I certainly am. And, of course, the poster child for the earmarks was Alaska’s -- what people in the lower 48 refer to -- the Bridge to Nowhere. Of course, it was a bridge to a community with an airport in southeast Alaska.

But that was excessive, and an earmark like that -- not even supported necessarily by the majority of Alaskans -- we killed that earmark. We killed that project.

And, as I’ve said over and over, if Alaska wants that bridge -- $300-$400 million -- over to that island with an airport, we’ll find a way to build it ourselves. The rest of the country doesn’t have to build that for us.

GIBSON: You have said continually that “I said to Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ If we’re going to build that bridge, we’ll build it ourselves.”

PALIN: Right.

GIBSON: But it’s now pretty clearly documented you supported that bridge before you opposed it. You were wearing a T-shirt in the 2006 campaign, showed your support for the -- for the Bridge to Nowhere.

PALIN: I was wearing a T-shirt with the zip code of the community that was asking for that bridge...

GIBSON: Right.

PALIN: ... and not all the people in that community even were asking for a $400 or $300 million bridge.

GIBSON: But you turned against it after Congress had basically pulled the public on it and after it became a national embarrassment to the state of Alaska. Do you want to revise and extend your remarks on that?

PALIN: It has always been an embarrassment that abuse of the earmark process has been accepted in Congress. And that’s what John McCain has fought. And that’s what I joined him in fighting.

GIBSON: But you were for it before you were against it. You were solidly for it for quite some period of time... PALIN: I was...

GIBSON: ... until Congress pulled the plug.

PALIN: I was for infrastructure being built in the state. And it’s not inappropriate for a mayor or for a governor to request and to work with their Congress to plug into the federal budget, along with every other state, a share of the federal budget for infrastructure.

GIBSON: Right. You didn’t say “no” to Congress, “We’ll build it ourselves” until after they’d pulled the plug, correct?

PALIN: No, because Congress still allowed those dollars to come into Alaska. They did. Transportation fund dollars still came into Alaska. It was our choice, Charlie, whether we were going to spend it on a bridge or not. And I said, “Thanks, but not thanks. We’re not going to spend it on the bridge.”

GIBSON: They appropriated $223 million, I think, for the bridge. Then they -- when the project died, that money was still there. And -- and you kept -- the state of Alaska kept that money. Is that consistent with the image of a reformer?

PALIN: It certainly is. Those are infrastructure dollars that a state government and a local government need to figure out how to best prioritize those federal funds.

GIBSON: When you were a mayor of Wasilla, you hired a very prominent lobbyist to get Wasilla the money.

PALIN: We did. We paid $30,000 for a lobbyist who was in D.C., because we’re thousands and thousands of miles away from D.C. It would have cost a lot more to be traveling back and forth from this small community.

GIBSON: The state of Alaska in 2008 got $155 million in earmarks for a population of 670,000 people. That’s $231 per person in Alaska. The state of Illinois -- Obama’s state -- got $22 per person. You had 10 times per person as much. How does that square with being a reformer?

PALIN: We drastically, drastically reduced our earmark request.

GIBSON: Governor, this year requested $3.2 million for researching the genetics of harbor seals, money to study the mating habits of crabs. Isn’t that exactly the kind of thing that John McCain is objecting to?

PALIN: Those requests through our research division and our wildlife departments and our universities did come through that system, but wanting it to be in the light of day, not behind closed doors, with lobbyists making deals with Congress. And it’s not going to be accepted in a McCain-Palin administration. Earmark abuse will stop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (UNKNOWN): From Wasilla, Alaska, the Sarah Palin interview continues.

GIBSON: If Sarah Palin ’s opponents were looking for ammunition to use against her, they think they found it in her positions on hot button issues like abortion, book banning and stem cell research. So where exactly does she stand on these points?

In the time I have left, I want to talk about some social issues.

PALIN: Yes. OK.

GIBSON: Roe v. Wade. Do you think it should be reversed?

PALIN: I think it should. And I think that states should be able to decide that issue.

GIBSON: It’s a critical issue for so many women.

PALIN: It is.

GIBSON: You believe women should not have that choice.

PALIN: It is a very critical, very sensitive, and a personal issue also for so many women and men across this nation. I am pro- life. I do respect other people’s opinion on this also.

And I think that a culture of life is best for America, because I know that we can all agree on the need for, and the desire for, fewer abortions in America and greater support for adoption, for other alternatives that women can and should be empowered to embrace to allow that culture of life. That’s my personal opinion on this, Charlie.

GIBSON: John McCain would allow abortion on cases of rape and incest. You believe in it only in the case where the life of the mother is -- is endangered.

PALIN: That is my personal opinion.

GIBSON: Would you change and accept it in rape and incest?

PALIN: My personal opinion is that abortion allowed if the life of the mother is endangered.

GIBSON: Embryonic stem cell research. John McCain has been supportive of it.

PALIN: We’re seeing good progress, and we’ve got great encouragement with researchers finding adult stem cell -- research that is proving productive towards curing these diseases.

GIBSON: But doctors tell me that still most promising -- we don’t know yet about adult -- adult stem cells -- most promising, embryonic stem cells. That’s what they need to work with. Yes or no. PALIN: You know when you’re running for office, your life’s an open book, and you do owe it to Americans to talk about your personal opinion, which may end up being different than what the policy in an administration would be.

My personal opinion is we should not create human create -- create an embryo, and then destroy it for research if there are other options out there.

GIBSON: I’m still not clear. You said people owe it. You said, “My life’s an open book. They need to know what I think.”

PALIN: And I gave you my personal opinion. Creating an embryo and then destroying it is -- it’s -- that is not something that personally I support.

GIBSON: I’m sorry.

PALIN: OK.

GIBSON: Homosexuality -- genetic or learned?

PALIN: Oh, I don’t -- I don’t know. But I’m not one to -- to judge. And you know I’m -- I’m from a family and from a community with many, many members of many diverse backgrounds. And you know I’m not going to judge someone on whether that homosexuality is a choice or genetic. And I’m not going to judge them.

GIBSON: Guns. Seventy percent of this country supports a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons. Do you?

PALIN: I do not. And you know here again, life being an open book here as a candidate, I’m a lifetime member of the NRA. I believe strongly in our second amendment rights. That’s kind of inherent in -- in the people of my state, who rely on -- on guns for not just self-protection, but also for -- for our hunting and for sport also.

It -- it’s a part of the culture here in Alaska. I’ve just grown up with that.

GIBSON: Isn’t gun violence in America a health issue? We spend billions of dollars a year every year treating people who are victims of gun violence. Nothing we can do about that?

PALIN: Do you think that all of that gun violence, though, is caused by people pulling a trigger, who would have followed any law anyway?

No, you -- you start banning guns, and you start taking away guns from people who will use them responsibly and use them ethically.

You put more and more laws on -- on guns, and you start taking away a second amendment right, it’s going to be, Charlie, the bad guys who have the guns, not those who are law-abiding citizens.

GIBSON: And one last thing I want to talk to you about, because there is a great debate going on in this country. And I want to ask you is it sexist for people to ask how can somebody manage a family of seven and the vice presidency? Is that a sexist question to ask?

PALIN: I don’t know. I’m lucky to have been brought up in a family where gender has never been an issue. We had equality in schools. It was just being ushered in with sports and with equal opportunity for education all of my life.

I’m part of that generation where that question is -- is kind of irrelevant, because it’s accepted. Of course, you can be the vice president and you can raise a family.

When people have asked me when I was governor and I was pregnant, “Gosh, how are you going to be the governor and have a baby in office, too?” And I replied back then, as I would today, “I’ll do it the same the other governors have done it when they’ve either had baby in office or raised a family.” Granted they’re men, but do it the same way that they do it.

GIBSON: There have been challenges -- some say sexist challenges -- to Governor Palin’s national security credentials as well. So we addressed that subject yesterday with the governor.

Can you look the country in the eye and say, “I have the experience, and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but perhaps president of the United States of America?”

PALIN: I do, Charlie. And on January 20th, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to this serve this country, we’ll be ready. I’m ready.

GIBSON: When McCain asked you to take the number two spot on the ticket, for a moment did you think “no?”

PALIN: I did not. I answered him yes, because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink. You have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission -- the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war -- you can’t blink.

So I didn’t blink then, even, when asked to run as his running mate.

GIBSON: When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have command of the Alaska National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?

PALIN: But it is about reform of government. And it’s about putting government back on the side of the people. And that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues.

Let me speak specifically about a credential that I do bring to this table, Charlie. And that’s with the energy independence that I’ve been working on for these years as the governor of this state. What I bring in terms of that credential is the know-how, how we can get to energy independence and a greater security for our nation by producing more domestically, by becoming less and less reliant on foreign sources of energy, those being controlled by regimes that do not necessarily like America.

GIBSON: This afternoon in the familiar setting of her alma mater, Wasilla High School, we had a chance to raise some more local issues.

There’s -- there’s two items of serious note that I want to talk to you about...

PALIN: Yes.

GIBSON: ... just that involve governorship and mayorality. There’s a lot on the Internet about a conversation you did or did not have with the librarian about banning books.

PALIN: I’ve never banned a book, never desired to ban a book. When I became mayor, in our town was the issue of what if a parent came into a -- our local public library and asked for a book to be taken off the shelf. What’s the policy?

Kind of cracked me up seeing the list of books that I supposedly banned...

GIBSON: So it’s (inaudible). It’s a couple of hundred of books they have on it.

PALIN: ... because, well, one of them was Harry Potter.

GIBSON: Yes. Yes.

PALIN: Wasn’t even written or published then.

GIBSON: The other issue is Troopergate, which is very much in the news today. The Associated Press is saying now there’s going to be 13 subpoenas that come out, one of them to your husband, Todd. Do you welcome the investigation?

PALIN: Absolutely. There’s nothing to hide. And the trooper in question here did conduct dangerous and illegal activities. And our personal security detail, when I was first elected, had asked us very appropriately, “Are there any threats against you and your family?”

And I said, “Well, you know ironically, yes. It’s a state trooper who’s threatened you know to kill my dad.”

GIBSON: And he was your brother-in-law at one point.

PALIN: Yes. Back in ‘05.

GIBSON: Right.

PALIN: Yes. GIBSON: The -- the -- you mentioned the Personnel Board. It’s a -- it’s a bipartisan legislative group that’s working at it now, which you said was fine...

PALIN: Yes.

GIBSON: ... until you got named as the vice presidential nominee. And then you said the Personnel Board ought to handle it.

PALIN: Our -- our state statute says if there is a question about actions of the governor, lieutenant governor or attorney general, you go to the Personnel Board. So we’ve said along that that’s appropriate.

But the issue that people are asking about was -- first, they got it wrong when they say did I fire a trooper because there was an issue back in ‘05 about him as he was divorcing my sister. And no, nobody fired the trooper. He’s still a trooper. To this day he’s out there.

But the issue is the commissioner who was his boss -- was he pressured to fire that trooper?

GIBSON: Right.

PALIN: That’s the underlying issue here. Right.

GIBSON: Monegan.

PALIN: Commissioner Monegan. Commissioner Monegan has said the governor never asked me to fire him. The governor’s husband never asked me to fire him. And we never did. I never pressured him to hire or fire anybody.

GIBSON: Didn’t improperly intercede? Not worried about the subpoenas, even to Todd?

PALIN: No, because I know that Todd, too, never pressured Commissioner Monegan. He did very appropriately, though, bring up those concerns about a trooper who was making threats against the first family. And that -- that is appropriate.

GIBSON: Sarah Palin has been in this building as a student and a parent, and seems just as comfortable here as a candidate.

And this is your trophy, I understand, over here?

PALIN: One of the must be. We were state champs in ‘82. Yes, we were.

GIBSON: Right here. Right here. Fifty to 48 over East. And that was the closest game.

PALIN: It was a close game. It was close, and yes.

GIBSON: Remember how many points you scored?

PALIN: I don’t remember how many points I scored, but...

GIBSON: Assists?

PALIN: I was point guard, so you know I was feeding the big guys. That was my job in a supportive role.

GIBSON: George Stephanopoulos last Sunday asked Barack Obama if he was willing at some point to go a little horse or one-on-one with you. You’re going to do it?

PALIN: That would be a blast.

END

Source: CQ Transcriptions, Sept. 13, 2008

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