McCain: "Joe, Tom, Mitt, Mike, they’re wonderful people, but look..."

Amerigo Vespucci

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Mon Sep-01-08 01:24 AM
Original message

McCain: "Joe, Tom, Mitt, Mike, they’re wonderful people, but look..."

McCain talks Palin on Fox News Sunday

CHRIS WALLACE: Let’s start with your choice of a running mate. Of all the people you could have chosen, of all the Republican leaders you’ve known for years, great thought, can you honestly say that Sarah Palin is the best person to put a heartbeat away from the presidency?

MCCAIN: Oh, yes. She’s a — she’s a partner and a soul-mate. She — she’s a reformer. I don’t particularly enjoy the label “maverick,” but when somebody takes on the old bulls in her own party, runs against an incumbent governor of her own party, stands up against the oil and gas interests — I mean, they really are so vital to the economy of her — of the state of Alaska. I mean, it’s remarkable. It’s a remarkable person.

And I’ve watched her record, and I’ve watched her for many, many years as she — as she implemented ethics and lobbying reforms. And I mean, she led. She didn’t just vote for it. She led it. I’ve seen her take on her own party.

Look, one thing I know is that when you take on your own party in Washington, you pay a price for it. You do. You pay a price for it. And she’s taken on the party in her own state. She takes on — she took on a sitting governor and defeat him — defeated him.

And so I’ve — I’m so pleased and proud, because this — this is a person who will help me reform Washington and change the way they do business. And that’s what Americans want.

WALLACE: But let me ask you…

MCCAIN: Sure.

WALLACE: … about the concerns that a lot of voters, who haven’t heard of Sarah Palin before yesterday, are asking. Compared to, say, Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman, why is Governor Palin superior in dealing with national security and foreign policy?

MCCAIN: Look, those people you talk about, Joe, Tom Ridge and Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, they’re wonderful people. And I’m grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had to know them and work with them.

But look, what this brings is — is a spirit of reform and change that is vital now in our nation’s capital. Eighty-four percent of the American people think the country’s on the wrong track. In our party, we have corruption. We have former members of Congress residing in federal prison. So it’s not surprising to me that — that we’ve seen an incredible invigoration around our party and around the nation. Not just Republicans, but Democrats.

And by the way, in the last day and a half, or whatever it’s been, we have raised $4 million on the Internet. I wish I’d have taken her a month ago.

WALLACE: But you have said that the existential threat we face…

MCCAIN: Sure.

WALLACE: … the threat to our existence is from Islamic terrorism. Foreign policy is Job 1 for the commander in chief.

MCCAIN: Sure.

WALLACE: You have criticized Obama as being, quote, “dangerously unprepared to be president.” In the sense of national security and foreign policy specifically, isn’t Sarah Palin even more dangerously unprepared?

MCCAIN: Oh, no. Look, she’s got — she’s got the right judgment. She’s got the right judgment. She doesn’t think, like Senator Obama does, that Iran is a minor irritant. She knows that the surge worked and succeeded, and she supported that. Senator Obama still — still to this day refuses to acknowledge that the surge has succeeded. She’s been commander in chief of the Alaska Guard, that has served back and back (ph). In fact, as you know, she’s got a son who’s — who’s getting ready to go.

But she’s had the judgment on these issues. And if Senator Obama has not had — he’s had all the wrong judgments. And Governor Palin understands these issues, and she understands the challenges that we face.

So she’s had 12 years of elective office experience, including traveling to Kuwait, including being involved in these issues. And look, I’m so proud that she has displayed the kind of judgment and she has the experience and judgment as an executive. She’s run a huge economy up there in the state of Alaska. Twenty percent of our energy comes from the state of Alaska, and energy is obviously one of the key issues for our nation — national security.

WALLACE: But Senator, you talked about her years of experience. Ten of those years were as a city councilwoman and mayor of a town of 9,800 people. And in terms of foreign policy, in March of 2007, after — two months after the surge had started, she was asked about it, and she said, “I’ve been focused on state government. I haven’t focused on the war in Iraq.” Understandable for a governor; not understandable for a vice president.

MCCAIN: Well, by the way, also she was a member of the PTA. I think it’s wonderful. But the point is she’s been to Kuwait. She’s been over there. She’s been with her troops. The National Guard that she commands, who had been over there and had the experience. I’m proud of her knowledge of these challenges and issues.

And of course, as governor she has had enormous responsibilities, none of which Senator Obama had. He — when she was in government, he was a community organizer. When she was taking tough positions against her own party, Senator Obama was voting “president” 130 times in the state legislature, on every tough issue that ever was, while she was taking them on. That’s the kind of judgment that I’m confident that we need in Washington.

WALLACE: For people who aren’t persuaded, at least initially in the first 24 hours, about her experiences, especially on foreign policy, doesn’t this raise even more concerns about your age?

MCCAIN: I don’t know. Look, it was an issue in the primary, as you know. I’ve got to show them the vigor. I’ve got to show them the energy. I’ve got to show them the judgment. I’ve got to show them that my experience and knowledge qualifies me to lead. And what we are finding out in recent days in a couple of weeks is an increasingly dangerous world. But most importantly, I know how to get the jobs back and get our economy going again. But I’ve got to show them that. I understand that.

But I also think that you’ve got the next generation of leadership of America who is committed to good government, to ethics. A wonderful family. A belief in the future of America. Look, I’m so excited about this — this person, Governor Palin, I can’t tell you. And her family is marvelous, also.

WALLACE: The choice of a running mate is the first presidential-level decision that you’ve made. Why shouldn’t we think that this is really about politics, about reaching out to women, especially to Hillary Clinton supporters?

MCCAIN: Well, I think that I had to do what I think is best for the future of the country. That’s the point here. And I think, by any parameter of judgment, given the economic difficulties that we’re facing today, especially on jobs and health care and insurance, these are issues: health insurance and education, these are the issues that, really, Americans are most concerned about.

Americans are concerned about our nation’s security. And I think she has exercised and shown the judgment to address those issues. But she also understands the fact that people in America are sitting down at the kitchen table this morning, as we speak, and saying, “How are we going to stay in our homes? How are we going to keep our health insurance? How are we going to educate our kids?” And some of them have just lost their jobs.

So I think Governor Palin is uniquely — as a governor, she’s had executive experience. She didn’t sit in the state legislature. She didn’t vote just with her party and go along to get along. Senator Obama has never taken on the leaders of his party on any issue. You tell me a time when he has. She’s — she’s been an independent spirit that’s taken them on at every opportunity.

WALLACE: Whether this was the reason or not, do you think she will help you with women and especially with disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters?

MCCAIN: I think she’s going to help me with all Americans. I think that the response that we’re getting from men, women, young, old, because they want us to change America. They want us to change it. They — they’re sick and tired of business as usual and inside the beltway kind of thing.

You know, one commentator said, “She’s never been on ‘Meet the Press’.”

WALLACE: I didn’t say that.

MCCAIN: Well, I hope she’s — I hope she’s on your — I hope that she’s on your program first.

No, she doesn’t live inside the beltway. She doesn’t — she and her husband don’t go to the Georgetown cocktail parties. But they do live a life of a wonderful family. He’s — they’ve had a small business that — they are just really good, down-to-earth people who understand the challenges that we face.

So in all due respect to my friends that say that she’s never been on some of the inside-the-beltway activities, I say thank God.

WALLACE: Let me see if I’ve got the chronology straight…

MCCAIN: Sure.

WALLACE: … that people are submitting (ph). As I understand it, you met her for the first time at the governor’s conference in…

MCCAIN: We had breakfast.

WALLACE: … in February.

MCCAIN: Yes.

WALLACE: You talked to her on the phone last Sunday. And you met with her face to face — face to face for the first time to discuss the vice-presidential ticket Thursday morning, and then you offered her the job. Must have been a heck of a meeting.

MCCAIN: Well, the fact is, I’ve been watching her. I mean, look, what she’s been doing in Alaska — let’s have some straight talk — has affected the representation in Washington, D.C.

We’ve fought against, frankly, the same adversaries, the same challenges.

We couldn’t get the bridge to nowhere out, although we tried — people like Tom Colburn…

WALLACE: Which was the big pork barrel project.

MCCAIN: Yes, the pork barrel project — a $233 million bridge in Alaska to an island with 50 people on it.

She, as governor, stood up and said, “We don’t need it. And if we need it, we’ll pay for it ourselves.”

Now, that’s — that’s guts.

I saw that, and I said, this — this is what we need in Washington.

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/08/31/mccain-talks-palin-on-fox-news-sunday/