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Palin Praises Sen. Clinton, Defends Seeking Funds

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The Associated Press

Published: September 13, 2008

NEW YORK - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Friday she thinks Barack Obama regrets not making Hillary Rodham Clinton his running mate.

Palin praised Clinton's "determination and grit, and even grace" during the Democratic primaries, sounding an altogether different note than when she suggested earlier this year that the New York senator was whining about negative media coverage and campaigning in a way that was not advancing the cause of women in politics.

"I think he's regretting not picking her now," Palin told ABC News.

Her comment brought a sharp rejoinder from Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, on behalf of the Obama campaign: "Sarah Palin should spare us the phony sentiment and respect. Governor Palin accused Senator Clinton of whining."

Palin, in the second part of her first major interview since she joined the GOP ticket, also defended the nearly $200 million in federal pet projects she sought as Alaska governor this year even as John McCain told a television audience she had never requested them.

Palin was confronted in the interview with two claims that have been a staple of her reputation since joining McCain: that she was opposed to federal earmarks, even though her request for such special spending projects for 2009 was the highest per capita figure in the nation; and that she opposed the $398 million Bridge to Nowhere linking Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport.

Palin actually turned against the bridge project only after it became a national symbol of wasteful spending and Congress had pulled money for it.

Palin told ABC's Charles Gibson that since she took office, the state had "drastically" reduced its efforts to secure earmarks and would continue to do so while she was governor.

"What I've been telling Alaskans for these years that I've been in office, is, no more," Palin said.

When Gibson noted she had requested money to study the mating habits of crabs and harbor-seal genetic research - the kind of small-bore projects that draw McCain's ire - Palin said the specific requests had come through universities and other public entities.

On the Bridge to Nowhere, Palin said she had supported a link from the mainland to the airport but not necessarily the costly bridge project.

"We killed the Bridge to Nowhere," Palin said, despite evidence she had supported the project in its early stages.

On social issues, Palin reiterated her opposition to abortion rights - parting with McCain, who supports legal abortion in cases of rape or incest. Palin would not allow those exceptions. She also said she opposes embryonic stem cell research, which McCain supports.

Palin's comments came after McCain sat for a feisty grilling on ABC's "The View," where he claimed erroneously that his running mate hadn't sought money for federal pet projects.

"Not as governor she didn't," McCain said, ignoring the record.

SUBPOENA OK'D FOR PALIN'S HUSBAND

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A panel of Alaska legislators voted Friday to authorize subpoenas to the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin and a group of her aides to determine whether Palin improperly pressured a top state official to fire her former brother-in-law, an Alaska state trooper. The decision by the Alaska Senate's Judiciary Committee gives an independent investigator, Stephen Branchflower, the Legislature's legal backing to seek testimony from Todd Palin and 11 aides to Sarah Palin.

The Associated Press

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