Palin's interview with Oprah

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: November 16, 2009 - 12:16 pm

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. –

Oprah Winfrey’s show is on right now in Washington D.C., and here are some highlights from Oprah’s interview with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. I'll be updating as the show continues:

On whether Oprah, who backed Barack Obama in the 2008 election, "snubbed" Palin by not having her on her show: "It didn’t register -- no offense to you, but it wasn’t the center of my universe."

On how her daughter, Bristol, reacted when the news broke she was pregnant: "She had seen it on the news, and she was quite devastated, and perfectly honestly, she was quite embarrassed. She called me in tears and was saying, "Oh, Mom, now not just Wasilla do they know what's going on in my life, but now the whole world knows, Mom. And should this be news? Should it be a top news story?" And I said, "No, it should not." And I would hope that my children would be kind of excluded from the controversy and any of the tabloidization of what's going to go on at campaign, but I knew right off the bat then with that episode that the kids were going to be a part of it, good, bad, or ugly. It was going to be quite taxing on them."

On what it felt like, the day she was announced as McCAin's running mate: "I felt like, "Wow, John McCain is a maverick. He is a bold man, the choice that he's just made." He's all about empowering women, though. He is all about equality. He is about the everyday working-class individual who can succeed in this country, and he chose someone who reflects that. I did think it was funny, though, that he did have a lot of explaining to do. Who is this person who he just chose?"

On the pricey wardrobe the RNC bought her: "It was, practically speaking, a very nice, convenient thing to have clothes laid out for me that I got. I’d think, "Oh, how easy it is for a man, then," especially a male candidate. They're wearing the same thing over and over again, and it gave me a lot of appreciation for what Hilary Clinton probably had gone through, too, with her candidacy. She had worked so hard and always has. We have a little bit of that extra challenge in front of us in terms of the aesthetics."

Whether, if Palin had been allowed to be more "rogue," the outcome of the election would have been any different: "Not necessarily. I think the reason that we lost, the economy tanked under a Republican administration. People were sincerely looking for change. They were quite concerned about the road that America was on with our economy. They did not want more of the same. They did not want status quo, and I think, unfortunately, our ticket represented what was perceived as status quo, and so I don't think that I was to blame for losing the race any more then I could be credited with winning the race, had I done a better job as the VP candidate."

On the Katie Couric interview, when the CBS anchor asked her about what she read/what informed her world view: "It was more like, "Are you kidding me? Are you really asking me?" To me, it was in the context of, "Do you read? How do you stay informed? You're way up there." It seemed like she was discovering this nomadic tribe, a member of a tribe from some Neanderthal cave in Alaska, asking me, "How do you stay in touch with the real world?" That's how I took the question, so I kind of--well, didn't kind of. I did. I rolled my eyes and was annoyed with the question and thought, "You know, I think that this is a problem with the state of journalism today, is no matter what I say to her, it will probably be twisted, perceived as a bit negative."

On what it was like to learn her baby would be born with Down Syndrome, and how she told her husband, Todd: "It was hard because I didn't want to tell him over the phone, so it took about three weeks of me knowing before Todd and I finally connected, when he was off the slope and I was through traveling and we were in the same room at the same time. And I told him that the baby was a boy and he was over the top, ecstatic about that. WINFREY: Because you wanted a boy.
PALIN: Yep, wanted a boy, so very happy. And then I said, "And the baby has an extra chromosome. The baby will be born with Down Syndrome." And Todd's reaction was, he was--he probably had a better reaction than I did when I first heard the news. I was much more frightened, I think, than he. He said, "It's going to be okay." And I said, "But are you asking the same thing that I'm asking? Are you asking, ‘Why, God’?" And he says, "Why not, God? Why not us?""

On whether Levi Johnston, the father of her grandson, Tripp, would be invited to Thanksgiving dinner: "Open invitation for Levi to come to Aunt Katie's house for Thanksgiving dinner in Washington. There. It's there."

On how her son, Track, reacted to the news she was stepping down a Alaska governor, telling her "Mom, no dishonorable discharge.": "Track was reluctant because he didn't want anybody to think that I'm a quitter or that I left because I just couldn’t handle the political shots.
WINFREY: But you knew people were going to say you're a quitter because...
PALIN: They would, so it didn't make any sense for anybody to believe that I would quit for any selfish reasons. I resigned as the governor of Alaska, because I wasn't going to run for a second term."

Her dad's take on it:
"Okay, but my dad's quote, I think it sums it up better, perhaps, that I'm summing up. He says, 'She's not retreating, she's reloading.'"

On whether she'll run for president in 2012:
"Oprah, what I am finding--clearer and clearer every day what I'm seeing is you don't need a title to make a difference. Any ordinary American can seize opportunities to let their voice be heard, to speak up on an issue, or for a candidate that they believe in, and they can make a difference."

And finally, on whether she wants Oprah's job: "Oprah, you are the queen of talk shows. There's nothing to ever worry about."

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