Palin: Ayers shows Obama isn't forthright
Posted: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 8:31 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Sarah Palin
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger and NBC's Mark Murray
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Palin gave her first press conference for the reporters traveling with her Tuesday, and said she believed repeated discussion of Obama’s ties to William Ayers was pertinent because it showed he may be less than forthright on other issues.
“It makes you wonder about the forthrightedness, the truthfulness of the plans that he is telling America in regards to the economic recovery because that is first and foremost on American's minds.” Palin said in an on-the-record, off-camera discussion with reporters, while flying from Pensacola, Fla.
But she would not say Obama was lying. “I'm not saying that he is dishonest, but in terms of judgment and in terms of being able to answer a question forthrightly, it has, it has two different parts to it -- that judgment and that truthfulness -- and just being able to answer very candidly a simple question about when did you know him, how did you know him,” she said.
Yet Palin's comments questioning Obama's truthfulness came as an AP story noted that Palin often stretches the truth herself. "She has exaggerated the nature of Barack Obama's personal ties to a former 1960s radical and falsely claimed the Democratic presidential candidate plans to raise most people's taxes. On Tuesday, she tried rebutting the Illinois senator's criticisms of Republican presidential candidate John McCain over health care and Social Security. She said Obama was misleading and wrong, but she herself told less than the full story."
In her conversation with reporters, Palin also defended her husband’s decision to testify in the investigation into her firing of the Alaska director of public safety, who had refused to fire her former brother-in-law as a state trooper.
“Nobody has anything to hide,” she said. “Nobody's done anything wrong.”
The governor, in an attempt to change the storyline, referred to the incident Tuesday as “Tasergate” -- regarding allegations that her former brother-in-law tasered his 11-year-old stepson -- as opposed to better-known moniker, “Troopergate.” The Palins have said their inquiries were warranted because the trooper, Mike Wooten, had been suspended for misconduct.
Palin said her husband has “always been an open book about this whole Tasergate issue, wanting to speak with investigators, wanting to speak and is with attorneys, everybody involved.” She reiterated the campaign’s position that it should be reviewed by the state’s personnel board, rather than a legislative committee.
Todd Palin agreed Monday to answer written questions from the legislative investigators.
“What the investigation turned into, led by a Senate Democrat, has been kind of a goat rope, a very partisan and very controversial type of investigation,” she said. “The personnel board Todd's corroborating with, as long as all the other employees too have an opportunity to cooperate with.”
Palin spoke for about 10 minutes, after chatting with reporters about their families. She was drawn to the back of the plane, ostensibly, by a photo of a reporter in hockey gear and his mother. Palin has frequently portrayed herself as a “hockey mom.”
But Palin was also drawn by renewed questions about Palin’s accessibility to the media. She has been criticized for giving multiple interviews to Fox News Channel while ignoring several other networks. News reports also detailed less than favorable treatment some journalists have received from Palin supporters at rallies.
Palin reflected a bit on her five weeks on the trail, and said there’s still a lot that can happen. “You know, I’ve been in an underdog position quite often in my life and so has John McCain and we both have come out victoriously, coming from that underdog position and I anticipate that that’s what’s going to be what we see at the end of the day on November 4th,” she said. “So I look forward to that. But I’m just even more, energized campaign, energized mission that we’ll be on as we get out there and into more parts of the nation, talkin’ about the economic recovery plan that we have.”
She also said she would like to appear with Tina Fey on “Saturday Night Live.”
“She's a hoot and she's so talented and it would be fun to either imitate her or keep on giving her more material and keep her in business,” she said.
