Palin says she is ready to assume presidency

ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin yesterday in Fairbanks, Alaska. ''I thought, 'Yes,' right off the bat'' when asked to join the ticket, she said, (Donna Svennik/abc)

WASHINGTON - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said yesterday that she had no hesitation about becoming John McCain's running mate, confident that she has the experience in world affairs to take over the presidency despite acknowledging that she has never met a foreign head of state.

Palin, in her first interview since being plucked out of relative obscurity by McCain two weeks ago, presented a confident face in what was considered an important early test of her knowledge of foreign affairs. She answered most questions by repeating McCain's view of the world, but also made some missteps, at one point seeming unfamiliar with the "Bush doctrine" of preemptive war while under repeated questioning from ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson.

Palin echoed McCain's tough line on Russia. She said the United States must be prepared to act if Russia invades a country that is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. Like McCain, she supports NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine. She also said that Russia's invasion of Georgia was "unprovoked," though Moscow maintains the war was triggered by Georgia's shelling of a disputed territory.

"We've got to keep an eye on Russia," Palin said. "For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable."

Georgia would be defended by the United States if it were admitted to NATO, she said. "I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you're going to be expected to be called upon and help," she said.

When Gibson pressed her about whether that would drag the United States into war with Russia, Palin said "perhaps so," but later cited sanctions as a possible response to Russian aggression.

Despite a stump speech that portrays herself and McCain as agents for change in Washington, Palin echoed familiar themes of the Bush administration, championing democracy as the antidote to terrorism and referring to Islamic extremism as "evil."

But she appeared to be caught off guard when Gibson asked her if she agreed with the Bush doctrine. She responded by saying "In what respect, Charlie?" and went on to speak in broad, general terms about Bush's efforts to fight terrorism.

Gibson later explained that the doctrine laid down by Bush after Sept. 11, 2001, asserted that the United States has the right to launch preemptive wars on nations that present a threat.

After Gibson's explanation, Palin did not reject the policy that laid the framework for the war in Iraq. "If there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent on the American people, we have every right to defend this country," Palin said.

Gibson also pressed Palin three times to give a yes or no answer to the question of whether she believed that the United States has the right to launch crossborder attacks on Taliban and Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan, a close ally of the United States, without the Pakistani government's permission. Earlier in the campaign McCain had ridiculed rival Barack Obama for saying that he would authorize such unilateral crossborder actions, emphasizing that cooperation with Pakistan is essential.

Bush resolved this thorny and explosive issue, after months of heated internal debate, by secretly authorizing such crossborder actions this summer, according to a front page report in yesterday's New York Times. Palin, when pressed by Gibson, said no option should be taken off the table.

Earlier, Palin presented herself as completely confident to become McCain's running mate and, if the ticket is elected, potentially become president.

"I thought, 'Yes,' right off the bat" when McCain asked her to join the ticket, she said, adding, "I answered him 'yes' because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink. So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate."

Palin, who earlier in the day attended the deployment ceremony of her son, Track, as he headed to duty in Iraq, was pressed on her earlier statement that "Our national leaders are sending US soldiers on a task that is from God." She explained that she had been referencing a comment by Abraham Lincoln.

"I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words," Palin said. "But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's 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 God's side.' "

Harold Holzer, a prominent Lincoln scholar and author of multiple Lincoln biographies, said last night that Palin's original comment that US troops are on a task from God does not follow Lincoln's quote.

"I think there is no computing the precise Lincoln quote with her own quote," Holzer said. "Lincoln sought guidance from God, he didn't tell people that God was guiding him. It is just different."

Asked to provide an example of national security credentials, Palin cited her work in the effort to drill for oil and gas in Alaska.

Palin said that she has strong credentials on "energy independence," noting her work as chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

In a second interview aired on "Nightline," Palin softened her stance on the environment. In the past, she has expressed doubt that global warming is caused by people, but last night said that "man's activities certainly can be contributing."

Palin said she had traveled little to other countries. Aside from visiting Canada and Mexico, she said she took the "trip of a lifetime" last year when she visited troops in Kuwait, Iraq, and Germany.

The Washington Post reported that Palin told Iraq-bound soldiers yesterday that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."

The remark appeared at odds with President Bush's stance that there was no connection between Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks.

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