Sarah Palin returned to “Fox News Sunday” the morning following her roof-raising address to CPAC 2012 and her first appearance on the program since June 5 of last year.
Host Chris Wallace tried to make the case that the economy is improving, citing the recent tick down in the unemployment rate and a slight improvement in the president’s approval numbers. Gov. Palin took issue: “You ask those 13 million Americans who can’t find a job… they’ll tell you that no, this president and his failed policies should not be favored to win reelection.”
When Wallace asked the first woman to be the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate to define the Washington “establishment,” she replied that it includes those in positions of power inside the beltway who allow government to grow and are satisfied with a stauts quo which benefits them personally.
Wallace inquired about what he detected as a subtle dig at Mitt Romney in her CPAC speech, and the former Alaska governor responded that she thought the former Massachusetts governor was a “fine candidate.” Though she obviously did not want to overtly criticize Romney on a network which doesn’t even try to hide its partiality toward him, she did admit that she was troubled by his support for a health care mandate at the state level, pointing out that RomneyCare was the precursor to ObamaCare and referred to the two collectively as “ObamneyCare.” When pressed by Wallace, Palin stated that she was still not convinced of Romney’s dedication to conservative principles: “I trust that his idea of conservatism is evolving, and I base this on a pretty moderate past he has had, even in some cases a liberal past.”
When Wallace asked her to compare Newt Gingrich to Rick Santorum, Gov. Palin stepped around the trap, saying she did not want to comment on their negatives, since the candidates were already doing that. Instead, she provided the host with brief examples of their positives, pointing out Santorum’s social conservatism and Gingrich’s historical perspective on the presidency, which reaches all the way back to the founders. Wallace did not ask her about Ron Paul, and she did not volunteer her opinion on the Texas Congressman’s candidacy.
Wallace insisted on grilling a reluctant Sarah Palin about HBO’s coming movie, “Game Change.” She said that there are much more important issues that should be discussed: “I am ambivalent about it. I honestly will not waste my time watching it and I encourage others to find something else more productive to do.” But Wallace pressed on, and Gov. Palin said that the movie was an unrealistic portrayal of her, pointing out that she did not go through a period of depression or even a “funk,” as depicted in both the movie and the book it is based upon: “I was never in a funk. Thank God I have the right perspective on what really matters in life, Chris. There is no need to ever be in a funk when you know what right priorities are and what really matters in life.”
The interview concluded with Wallace praising Sarah Palin on her recent Newsweek op-ed on life with Trig, her youngest child who has Down Syndrome.
Video retrieved from SarahNET.
- JP
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