CQ Transcriptswire

SPEAKERS: GOV. SARAH PALIN, R-ALASKA

TODD PALIN, HUSBAND OF GOVERNOR PALIN

PIPER PALIN, DAUGHTER OF GOVERNOR PALIN

MATT LAUER, NBC ANCHOR

MEREDITH VIEIRA, NBC ANCHOR [*] LAUER: It was one week ago today that Americans went to the polls to elect a new president and vice president, and in fairly overwhelming fashion, they chose Barack Obama and Joe Biden over John McCain and Sarah Palin .

I began my interview with Governor Sarah Palin by asking her if she was surprised by the margin of the Obama victory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. PALIN: You know, it did. I thought that it would be closer. But then, taking a step back and being able to consider why it was that the margin was as great as it was, it -- it makes sense. We didn’t get the Hispanic vote and that was very significant. And when you consider that we were outspent so tremendously, it makes sense there, also, that, perhaps, the margin was going to be larger than we anticipated. And then just that anti-incumbency sentiment, really, that spread across the land and our ticket representing the incumbency -- it’s really no -- it’s not so much a surprise, after all, that the margin was as great as it was.

LAUER: One thing you didn’t mention in that laundry list, was you didn’t talk about the strength of Senator Obama. I mean, it -- it turned out that he was a remarkable candidate in these times.

S. PALIN: He -- he did a great job in articulating his -- his ability to usher in change -- the change that American voters certainly have been seeking. And perhaps, again, our ticket represented too much of the status quo because, you know, we’ve got the “R” by our name, by our ticket.

LAUER: When you did know it wouldn’t go well for you?

S. PALIN: I -- you know, I didn’t know until the -- the...

LAUER: Right up through election night?

S. PALIN: Absolutely. I had great faith that, you know, perhaps when that voter entered that voting booth and closed that curtain that what would kick in for them was, perhaps, a bold step that would have to be taken in casting a vote for us, but having to put a lot of faith in that commitment we tried to articulate, that we were the true change that would progress this nation. So again, the margin was pretty surprising to me.

LAUER: There is this feeling -- and some of this comes from leaks and other just perception, people getting a gut -- that there was increasing tension between you and Senator McCain in the final stretch of this campaign. Tell me what the relationship was like.

S. PALIN: We have a great relationship. Had from day one. Had the first time that I met him last year, he and his wife. I just have been great admirers of them, of their family, of all that Senator McCain has accomplished. Never once was there any inkling of tension between the two of us. Perhaps within the campaign there were campaign staffers who...

LAUER: Well, describe that for me. Who was butting heads?

S. PALIN: You know, I don’t even know. That inside baseball stuff regarding the way a campaign works on that level -- I certainly didn’t get bogged down in any of the potential skirmishes or perceived problems.

LAUER: Have you listened to some of the leaks that have come out since the election where -- where they’re saying that the McCain people leaked anonymously -- are saying, “We couldn’t control her, she was a rogue, she didn’t want our consultants around her and it became tense.”

Where did stories like that come from?

S. PALIN: I honestly do not know, because it’s not true, Matt. And Senator McCain and I, we have a great relationship. I have nothing but honor and admiration and love for him and for his family, and I think that is mutual. In fact, I talked to him just today, again, and we -- touching base nearly every day.

LAUER: So, it’s a warm and friendly relationship even to to this day?

S. PALIN: Very warm and friendly and professional. And I -- I -- again, I have nothing but honor and admiration and love that I will show for this great American hero.

LAUER: According to a recent article in Newsweek and some other reports, on election night, you showed up at the Biltmore in Phoenix...

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: ... and things weren’t going well. And you had some copy in your hands. You had some remarks that you would have liked to have given to that audience, and, in effect, to the nation, prior to Senator McCain giving his concession speech. And you were told, “No”.

S. PALIN: Well, I had a speech that, you know, I was going to give that we’d worked on about a week. And the speech was...

LAUER: Had you cleared with anyone? Had anyone -- anyone said it might be an opportunity for you to speak?

S. PALIN: Oh, certainly, the -- the speech was written in -- in cooperation and conjunction with a couple of the speech writers in the campaign -- and had written that as an introduction to this great American hero. And of course, we had two speeches in our back pocket.

LAUER: Right.

S. PALIN: One was a concession speech that would introduce him, and it would do what John McCain just can’t seem to do for himself -- bless his heart, because he’s not that kind of man -- where I was going to brag him up and say, “You know, truly he’s an American hero, has faced great adversity, knows how challenges are overcome. And let us -- let us be thankful for this man, who with a servant’s heart had offered himself up to...

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: So that sounds like a good idea. Why weren’t you allowed to do it?

S. PALIN: I don’t know. It was a great speech because it also then, also said, “OK, but American voters have spoken, so now, let’s all come together. I know Senator McCain wants to lead in an effort of unity here in our nation, and let’s work with President-elect Obama and let’s go forward.”

LAUER: So you walked up and you said to somebody in the campaign, “Look, I’ve got these comments I’d like to make. I want to,” as you say, “brag on him a little bit?”

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: Who said no?

S. PALIN: Somebody said no, they said that it would be unprecedented, that a V.P. candidates wouldn’t introduce someone in a concession speech. And you know, all I could say was...

LAUER: Were you disappointed?

S. PALIN: A little bit because again -- not -- not for me personally to get to be up there on the stage and give one last speech, but to be able to say, “This is an American hero. Let us be thankful for what he just offered our nation. Now, let’s all work together to support the new president.

LAUER: Did you ever consider going to Senator McCain that night and saying, “Look, you know, I’d like to say this about you, would it be OK?

S. PALIN: By that time it was, you know, literally walking -- walking down...

LAUER: So this happened in the last minute.

S. PALIN: ... the aisle, almost going up to the stairs, yes.

S. PALIN: And all I could think of was, well, even if it were unprecedented -- and I haven’t done research to see if other V.P. candidates had done such an introduction of their presidential candidate.

LAUER: Right.

S. PALIN: But, you know, I thought even if it was unprecedented, so what, you know. Geez, let’s do something a little bit out of the box there.

But those were the type of shots that were called that I didn’t have control over. And in the end, though, that’s -- that’s somebody else’s problem or business.

LAUER: But you bring up a good point, because there have been some people who said that you never were used to having these political consultants around you, these other people calling the shots, that that’s just not in your DNA. Did you have a hard time with that?

S. PALIN: Well, I, like Senator McCain, we’re both quite independent. And that, too, is, I think, why we got along so well, also. In fact, my husband said, we’re so much alike it scared him. That we, we’re both independent. We both call it like we see it. We speak from the heart. And once in a while to have somebody tell you what you should or should not say, it...

LAUER: Were they trying to make you something that you’re not?

S. PALIN: You know, I don’t -- I don’t know.

LAUER: Can I bring up the wardrobe, Governor? Do you mind? Again, some of these reports that have come out post-election.

S. PALIN: All anonymous, though, so far, right?

LAUER: Exactly.

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: Said that -- anonymous leak that some top McCain advisers were, quote -- and this is from Newsweek -- “flabbergasted by the amount of money you spent on clothing and accessories for yourself and your family.” S. PALIN: Well, I’m flabbergasted that anybody would say that I spent any money on clothes for me or my family. When I arrived at the Republican National Convention, there were stylists there, there was a wardrobe there. Receipts show that the wardrobe was being purchased before I even arrived at the convention for me and for eight members of my family. So I’m flabbergasted that anybody would still say that I purchased clothing from these...

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: So the leaks that say you were told buy a certain number -- you had a clothing allowance almost -- but you were told buy a certain number of suits and then you exceeded that and that other people go out on their credit cards and buy things, patently false?

S. PALIN: What is patently false is that I ever asked anybody at this convention to go out and buy me anything. Certainly, I arrived with an overnight bag. I mean, that wasn’t much. But if I would have had two minutes out of the day, I could have gone to a store myself and purchased these things.

Also, though, it’s been reported that, you know, I insisted on going to Neiman Marcus and to Sachs.

LAUER: Right, designer duds.

S. PALIN: I’ve never been in these stores, you know...

LAUER: But did you have other people go to those stores for you?

S. PALIN: No, I did not order up these clothes. The New York stylists who were already there and already orchestrating what the wardrobe should look like. Just like they have people to figure out what the staging and the lighting and everything else, the wardrobe, I guess, was a part of that.

But, no -- and here they say that it was $150,000 worth of clothes. I haven’t seen $150,000 worth of clothes. What I understood now is that about a third of those clothes got sent back right away because they weren’t going fit or weren’t -- you know, that didn’t fit what they wanted the family to look like. Another third did follow me along the trail, and those have all been sent back. And then another third stayed in the belly of the airplane the whole time.

LAUER: I understand -- and I think your father made this comment today -- that you actually spent some time this last weekend at home...

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: ... going through things.

S. PALIN: Yes. Yes.

LAUER: ... preparing because the story is that there is a lawyer either on his way -- or I don’t know if that person’s been here, he or she -- coming to Alaska to kind of do a wardrobe audit on you.

S. PALIN: That’s absolutely false, unless they’re doing that without telling me that. But, no, we don’t have any of the campaign’s clothes in our possession. And it was never anybody’s intention to keep these borrowed clothes from the RNC.

When staffers traveled with us from the lower 48 up to Alaska and we had boxes of campaign stuff -- which include, like, stickers and campaign buttons and hats and T-shirts -- loading all that stuff back up after emptying the belly of the plane of all this stuff. And that took place in our living room...

LAUER: Right.

S. PALIN: ... over the past couple days. We put it all in boxes, put it in the FedEx plane and sent it back to the headquarters.

LAUER: This got so much attention, and I think because it flew in the face of the image that was portrayed of you when were you first introduced to the American people. At least people in Alaska knew who were you were.

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: ... but when you were introduced to Americans it was the hockey mom.

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: It was the woman who was going to appeal to the blue- collar folks in this country. And all of a sudden we’re hearing about this expensive wardrobe and Neiman Marcus and designers, and words like “diva” are coming out.

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: How did that make you feel?

S. PALIN: Well, it made me feel like people -- unless they’re going to put their -- their name and face to a false allegation like that, any allegation, then they’re cowards.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAUER: Meredith, in our next half hour we’re going to have much more of our conversation with Governor Sarah Palin , including a trip to her home in Wasilla, Alaska. She’ll take us there.

She prepares dinner for us and her family. We’ll get to talk to Todd and four of her five children. And she’ll also talk about some of the rumors that circulated during the campaign that were particularly painful for her, including one that her infant son Trig was not in fact her own child, that it was someone else’s baby.

The governor will address that in our next half hour, Meredith.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUER: Todd, are you more or less likely to scream the next time your wife says, “Hey, there’s another campaign in our future? Are you -- you know, you have more in you for that? I mean, if...

(CROSSTALK)

T. PALIN: Those are...

LAUER: ... been talk about the Senate and even 2012, the presidency. How do you feel about that?

T. PALIN: Those are questions that maybe I should have asked when she told me she was going to join the PTA...

(LAUGHTER)

... so it’s a little late for that.

LAUER: You’re along for the ride, right?

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAUER: That is Governor Sarah Palin and her family; her husband, Todd, of 20 years at home in Wasilla, Alaska.

As we spoke yesterday, the governor was gracious enough to invite me and some of my producers to her home for dinner. On the menu, halibut and salmon casserole. And you know what? It was really good.

While we were there, we had a chance to talk to Governor Palin about the highs and lows of the campaign and what the future holds for her.

Meanwhile, it is now 7:30 on a Tuesday morning, the 11th day of November 2008. I’m Matt Lauer reporting live from Anchorage, Alaska. Meredith is back in Studio 1A in New York City.

And, Meredith, do you think the producers would let me get away with calling this my ends of the earth trip?

(LAUGHTER)

VIEIRA: I don’t think so. Nice try, Matt. But, uh-uh. I don’t think so. You’re coming back and then going out again.

But I’m actually looking forward to dinner with the Palins.

What was your biggest surprise when you met the family?

LAUER: You know what, this is a very down-to-earth family. You know, over the last couple of months we got used to watching Sarah Palin on the road with the Secret Service around here and state troopers everywhere. None of the trappings of the campaign remain. She is someone who drives the 45 miles between Wasilla and Anchorage every day herself -- no driver. And when she’s home, she is a working mom, cooking dinner, as I mentioned, for her family and for visitors. And so I think that it’s just that how down to earth she appears to be is what really surprised me most.

VIEIRA: And her kids -- those kids are so cute. Looking forward to it, Matt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VIEIRA: Now let’s go back to Matt in Anchorage.

LAUER: All right, Meredith. Thanks very much.

Campaigns can be grueling for the candidates and their families. They’re filled with highs and lows.

And in this section of our interview with Sarah Palin , I start by talking to her about what was probably the highest moment of her run for the vice presidency: her speech before the Republican National Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNKNOWN): Sarah Palin .

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. PALIN: It was a wonderful night because I had my family there with me -- my parents, my siblings, Todd and the kids. And, you know, I knew that it was an opportunity to be there representing the middle class, hard-working American families facing challenges that certainly my family faces.

LAUER: Nerve-racking?

S. PALIN: Not nerve-racking, not at all. Because, again, you know, I knew that the message was right and I knew that people were there because they actually wanted to hear what John McCain and I had to say in that convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. PALIN: ... hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAUER: And when you sensed the excitement in that room as you concluded that speech, did you go into the wings of the stage and say, “Yes, this is going to go great”? And did you have any idea that about a month later, people would have the knives out for you?

S. PALIN: I did not know that it would be as brutal a ride as it turned out to be, in terms of some of the shots taken against my kids and the false allegations.

LAUER: What was the biggest misconception that you would have loved to have corrected at the time?

S. PALIN: It started off with the rumors, the speculation, even in mainstream media, that Trig wasn’t actually my child, that Trig was somebody else’s child and I faked a pregnancy. That was absolutely ridiculous. And it took days for that false allegation (inaudible) be corrected.

And then rumors right off the bat, too, that, you know, I was some -- some wacko. That as city manager I tried to ban the books in our local library, and they listed the books that supposedly I tried to ban, books like “Harry Potter” that hadn’t even been written when I was the mayor and the manager. And things like that, that so easily could have been corrected if -- if reporters would have done their job.

LAUER: Governor, there were whispers when it was revealed that Bristol was pregnant that she and Levi were going to get married because of political reasons.

S. PALIN: See, that...

LAUER: That this was the politically correct thing to have happen.

S. PALIN: Well, you know, there -- there, again, lots of rumor, lots of speculation. But, at the same time, you know, when those -- when those darts and those arrows started flying, I knew still, though, that we were on the right path in terms of offering ourselves up -- me, my family -- in the name of service to our country.

LAUER: Did you read some of the comments? I mean, in the late days of the campaign, Governor, it was -- it seemed as if people had taken one of two sides: Either that they maintained were you the best thing that ever happened to John McCain ’s campaign, or, in the last week, some people have said you cost him the election.

S. PALIN: Well, I think the economic collapse had a heck of a lot more to do with a collapsed campaign effort than me, personally.

LAUER (voice-over): Our conversation continued in Wasilla, Alaska, the governor’s home, where we were joined by her husband of 20 years, Todd.

(on camera): You know, I was thinking that you really kind of got the incredible overnight schooling of what it’s like to be in the center of the storm like this. I mean, how would you -- how would you kind of sum of the experience?

T. PALIN: Our family’s very adaptable. With the slope schedule -- week on, week off...

LAUER: Right.

T. PALIN: ... and then our commercial fishing activities in the summertime.

So we’re always juggling schedules.

LAUER: This is a lay-up there. I should probably go get my hockey helmet for this one.

(LAUGHTER)

But how did you feel, Todd, that the -- Sarah likes to say the mainstream media covered her campaign?

T. PALIN: Well, to be honest, we were so busy with the campaign that there wasn’t much TV time. So -- but the untruth about her record and -- you know, once there’s a headline and then two or three days later when you try to correct it, the story’s already out, so.

LAUER: Yes.

Were there things you wanted to say but simply weren’t in the position to say?

T. PALIN: We’ve been in this long enough to understand that it’s just part of the business.

S. PALIN: There were plenty of times I wanted to shout out, “Hey, wait a minute, that’s not true.”

But, yes, like Todd says, too, and as I explained, you know what you’re getting into, though, as a candidate. And if your skin isn’t thick enough to take it as a candidate, really you’ve got no business running for public office. Because it is pretty brutal, you know. And you take the good with the bad. And day by day in a campaign you take the victories with the defeats. And it is, like Todd says, all a part of this -- this beast called politics in America.

(LAUGHTER)

LAUER: Governor, you said to me earlier, I said if you had a do- over, and you said, well (inaudible) I just wanted to spend more time with people and perhaps do more interviews. Much was made over the number of interviews you did versus Senator Biden.

S. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: I’m curious, was there someone saying to you, “No, no let’s not do a lot of interviews”?

S. PALIN: You know, I’m not going to get into that inside baseball strategy that was used with those who were calling the shots in the campaign. I’m going to let them answer that.

But suffice it to say, I’m comfortable doing interviews. I love being able to express what my positions are, where it is that I would like to see, in this case here in Alaska, where I would like to see me state go and where I feel that I’m capable of leading it.

And there in the campaign, I would have loved more opportunities to speak to the American people about what I’d like to see of...

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: I think you answered my question without answering it, though. So it is something you would have liked to have more opportunity to do?

S. PALIN: You have to be able to do that. I mean, you can’t just assume that the voters are going to be able to just guess what is going on, and, you know, just be able to guess and assume what a candidate’s positions are or what their plans are. You have to be able to -- you have to be able to speak with them. And you do that through the media. That’s the way this system works.

LAUER: Right.

S. PALIN: So you can’t be afraid of being able to seize opportunities, every opportunity you can to talk to Americans.

S. PALIN: Let’s ask Piper.

What did you think of the trail, Pipe?

LAUER: What’d you think?

Was it fun, or was it hard?

P. PALIN: It was hard and fun.

LAUER: What was the hard part?

P. PALIN: All the rallies.

LAUER: Yes? Going there every time and...

P. PALIN: Yes

LAUER: ... listening to the speeches and things like that?

P. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: Did you -- when you were traveling, did you miss your friends back home?

P. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: That’s a hard part, isn’t it?

P. PALIN: Yes.

LAUER: Did you miss much school?

P. PALIN: A lot of school.

LAUER: Yes, and how’s that now, is it hard to catch up?

P. PALIN: Yes. It’s really hard.

LAUER: So you’re seven now. So if your mom comes in four years, you’ll be 11, and she says, “Piper, kids, here we go again, another campaign, how would you feel about it?

P. PALIN: I don’t know.

LAUER: You don’t know? S. PALIN: Would you want to do it again, sister?

P. PIPER: Yes.

S. PALIN: (inaudible) that was fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAUER: So that is what Piper has to say about her mom’s political future. But what does the governor herself have to say? There have been rumors she may end up in the U.S. Senate or run for president in 2012.

Tomorrow, we’ll have more of our conversation with the governor and we’ll talk about that. Also, she will talk about how she feels as Barack Obama as commander in chief, considering the fact she has a son serving in the U.S. military in Iraq.

So there’s more with Governor Sarah Palin tomorrow morning on “Today,” and tonight on “NBC Nightly News.”

END

.ETX

Nov 11, 2008 9:20 ET .EOF

Source: CQ Transcriptions

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