Posted on 09/13/2008 5:08:24 AM PDT by coffee260
GIBSON: Have you ever met a foreign head of state?
PALIN: There in the state of Alaska, our international trade activities bring in many leaders of other countries.
GIBSON: And all governors deal with trade delegations.
PALIN: Right.
GIBSON: Who act at the behest of their governments.
PALIN: Right, right.
GIBSON: Im talking about somebody whos a head of state, who can negotiate for that country. Ever met one?
PALIN: I have not and I think if you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you. But, Charlie, again, weve got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual and somebodys big, fat resume maybe that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, theyve had opportunities to meet heads of state these last couple of weeks it has been overwhelming to me that confirmation of the message that Americans are getting sick and tired of that self-dealing and kind of that closed door, good old boy network that has been the Washington elite.
Next we see that Palin was not nearly as hostile towards Russia as was presented in the edited interview:
GIBSON: Let me ask you about some specific national security situations.
PALIN: Sure.
GIBSON: Lets start, because we are near Russia, lets start with Russia and Georgia.
The administration has said weve got to maintain the territorial integrity of Georgia. Do you believe the United States should try to restore Georgian sovereignty over South Ossetia and Abkhazia?
PALIN: First off, were going to continue good relations with Saakashvili there. I was able to speak with him the other day and giving him my commitment, as John McCains running mate, that we will be committed to Georgia. And weve got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable and we have to keep
GIBSON: You believe unprovoked.
PALIN: I do believe unprovoked and we have got to keep our eyes on Russia, under the leadership there. I think it was unfortunate. That manifestation that we saw with that invasion of Georgia shows us some steps backwards that Russia has recently taken away from the race toward a more democratic nation with democratic ideals. Thats why we have to keep an eye on Russia.
And, Charlie, youre in Alaska. We have that very narrow maritime border between the United States, and the 49th state, Alaska, and Russia. They are our next door neighbors.We need to have a good relationship with them. Theyre very, very important to us and they are our next door neighbor.
GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?
PALIN: Theyre our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.
GIBSON: What insight does that give you into what theyre doing in Georgia?
PALIN: Well, Im giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relation with all of these countries, especially Russia. We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that its in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.
We also see from Palin's following remark, which was also edited out, that she is far from some sort of latter day Cold Warrior which the edited interview made her seem to be:
We cannot repeat the Cold War. We are thankful that, under Reagan, we won the Cold War, without a shot fired, also. Weve learned lessons from that in our relationship with Russia, previously the Soviet Union.
We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that its in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.
Palin's extended remarks about defending our NATO allies were edited out to make it seem that she was ready to go to war with Russia.
GIBSON: And under the NATO treaty, wouldnt we then have to go to war if Russia went into Georgia?
PALIN: Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, youre going to be expected to be called upon and help.
But NATO, I think, should include Ukraine, definitely, at this point and I think that we need to especially with new leadership coming in on January 20, being sworn on, on either ticket, we have got to make sure that we strengthen our allies, our ties with each one of those NATO members.
We have got to make sure that that is the group that can be counted upon to defend one another in a very dangerous world today.
GIBSON: And you think it would be worth it to the United States, Georgia is worth it to the United States to go to war if Russia were to invade.
PALIN: What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against. We have got to be cognizant of what the consequences are if a larger power is able to take over smaller democratic countries.
And we have got to be vigilant. We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to.
It doesnt have to lead to war and it doesnt have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries.
His mission, if it is to control energy supplies, also, coming from and through Russia, thats a dangerous position for our world to be in, if we were to allow that to happen.
That answer presented Palin as a bit too knowledgeable for the purposes of ABC News and was, of course, edited out. Palin's answers about a nuclear Iran were carefully edited to the point where she was even edited out in mid-sentence to make it seem that Palin favored unilateral action against that country:
GIBSON: Let me turn to Iran. Do you consider a nuclear Iran to be an existential threat to Israel?
PALIN: I believe that under the leadership of Ahmadinejad, nuclear weapons in the hands of his government are extremely dangerous to everyone on this globe, yes.
GIBSON: So what should we do about a nuclear Iran? John McCain said the only thing worse than a war with Iran would be a nuclear Iran. John Abizaid said we may have to live with a nuclear Iran. Whos right?
PALIN: No, no. I agree with John McCain that nuclear weapons in the hands of those who would seek to destroy our allies, in this case, were talking about Israel, were talking about Ahmadinejads comment about Israel being the stinking corpse, should be wiped off the face of the earth, thats atrocious. Thats unacceptable.
GIBSON: So what do you do about a nuclear Iran?
PALIN: We have got to make sure that these weapons of mass destruction, that nuclear weapons are not given to those hands of Ahmadinejad, not that he would use them, but that he would allow terrorists to be able to use them. So we have got to put the pressure on Iran and we have got to count on our allies to help us, diplomatic pressure.
GIBSON: But, Governor, weve threatened greater sanctions against Iran for a long time. It hasnt done any good. It hasnt stemmed their nuclear program.
PALIN: We need to pursue those and we need to implement those. We cannot back off. We cannot just concede that, oh, gee, maybe theyre going to have nuclear weapons, what can we do about it. No way, not Americans. We do not have to stand for that.
Laughably, a remark by Gibson that indicated he agreed with Palin was edited out:
PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincolns words when he said first, he suggested never presume to know what Gods will is, and I would never presume to know Gods will or to speak Gods words.
But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and thats a repeat in my comments, 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 Gods side.
Thats what that comment was all about, Charlie. And I do believe, though, that this war against extreme Islamic terrorists is the right thing. Its an unfortunate thing, because war is hell and I hate war, and, Charlie, today is the day that I send my first born, my son, my teenage son overseas with his Stryker brigade, 4,000 other wonderful American men and women, to fight for our country, for democracy, for our freedoms.
Charlie, those are freedoms that too many of us just take for granted. I hate war and I want to see war ended. We end war when we see victory, and we do see victory in sight in Iraq.
GIBSON: I take your point about Lincolns words, but you went on and said, There is a plan and it is Gods plan.
Gibson took her point about Lincoln's words but we wouldn't know that by watching the interview since it was left on the cutting room floor. I urge everybody to see just how the unedited version of the first interview compared to what we saw on television by checking out the full transcript. It is a fascinating look into media manipulation via skillful editing.
No wonder everyone was saying that Palin didn’t seem herself- that she seemed stilted, as if she was giving canned answers. They were reacting to the cut and paste jobs, that would have not only altered her words, but would have made her body language and tenor appear awkward.
Is this not journalistic malpractice? Could Palin not sue for slander? I beleive public figures can only sue for slander under very limited conditions, like intentional maliciousness, but I think this meets that test.
Yes. Sarah knows where she stands. She does stand for truth.
to me, She represents all that is right with this country.
Unbelievable. Shameful. Purposefully deceptive. THIS MAKES ME ANGRY. ABC this is beyond bias. This is subterfuge. This is sabotage.
I will be writing all my congress critters and forawrding this to everyone I know.
I also think this should be posted prominently on every dang blog and on Drudge. ABC MUST BE CALLED ON THIS, AND THE PUBLIC MUST KNOW THE TRUTH.
Thank you for posting the Hyperlink to write my Complaint!!!!
I laid into ABC and hit the 500 character limit.
I am looking forward to her interview with Sean Hannity.
Well, either Mark Levin got the full transcript from ABC News or he got got it from the McCain campaign.
Let's ask Mark. *ping*
Thanks for the link.
That bothers me, too. It was sooo obvious. Like ABC was hanging a huge "Kick Me" sign on their backside. Now the question is, why? Aside from slanting the view, was there another reason to be less than professional with the editing? This is just plain weird. Or are they so far gone they think the sheeple wouldn't notice how choppy it was? (now if you'll excuse me, my tinfoil hat needs some adjusting....)
No. The questions were fine. This turned very bad when Gibson and ABC (All Barack Channel) decided that the American public did not deserve to hear the complete answers given by Governor Palin. ABC is no better than MSNBC. They have opened the closet door, but being the cowards that they are, they are scared to come on out.
Let's hope that McCain/Palin learned their lesson. Good to see you too!
a done deal.
I tell you what else this sort of editing does. It’s not just that you don’t hear all she knows or has to say. It’s that her answers appear rather short, as if she didn’t have anything else to say. In fact that struck me as I watched portions of the interview. I thought, OK, she doing OK but she isn’t saying much.
Bastards, all of them.
bump
Charlie Gibson just clinched the Dan Rather Truth in Journalism award.
Obama had “rules” when he was interviewed by O’Reilly. One was that there would be no editing.
ABC and Charlie Gibson should be ashamed of themselves, they butchered the Palin interview in order to serve their own purposes = make Palin look like a crazy incompetent and to push their “Vote for Obama” agenda.
I left a comment. I’m fed up. Tough questions are one thing, but 0bama got no tough questions PLUS Palin got a biased guy trying to “trick” her.
Gibson is an ass.
bumpity uppity
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