COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) – All of a sudden, Sarah Palin is eager to meet the press.
John McCain’s running mate took questions from her press corps for the second time in three days late Sunday after flying into Colorado Springs. But Palin was not completely on message.
Wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and standing on a breezy tarmac, Palin said that if she had her way, the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee would not be flooding battleground states with automated phone calls tying Barack Obama to former radical William Ayers, as they have done over the last week.
Several top Republicans, including Senators Susan Collins and Norm Coleman, have condemned the tactic. Asked about those criticisms, Palin at first dismissed the matter as "inside baseball stuff" and said it's "some of the campaign top brass’s call on that."
But when asked if she would approve the use of robocalls if she were running the campaign, Palin said she’d probably chart a different course.
"If I called all the shots, and if I could wave a magic wand," Palin said, "I would be sitting at a kitchen table with more and more Americans, talking to them about our plan to get the economy back on track and winning the war, and not having to rely on the old conventional ways of campaigning that includes those robocalls, and includes spending so much money on the television ads that, I think, is kind of draining out there in terms of Americans' attention span.
"They get a bit irritated with just being inundated," she continued, "and you're seeing a lot of that of course with the huge amounts of money that Barack Obama is able to spend on his ads and his robocalls also."
Ultimately, the Alaska governor said she was not calling for an end to the automated calls, and she did not say if she had spoken to campaign officials at any point about the calls.
Palin was also asked if she and McCain believe that Barack Obama’s tax plan, which would raise taxes on Americans making over $250,000 and provide tax credits to middle and lower-income workers, is socialist. At a campaign rally in New Mexico earlier Sunday, Palin said Obama wants to "experiment with socialism."
"There are socialist principles to that, yes," Palin said of Obama's plan. "Taking more from a small business or small business owners or from a hard working family and then redistributing that money according to a politician’s priorities. There are hints of socialism in there."
Asked if she thinks the government’s plan to inject billions of taxpayer dollars directly into troubled banks amounts to socialism - a belief held by many conservative legislators, talk radio hosts and bloggers - Palin said, "No, I do not."
"I believe that there are those measures that had to be taken by congress to shore up not only the housing market but the credit markets also, to make sure that that’s not frozen, so that our small businesses have opportunities to borrow, and that was the purpose, of course, and that part of the bailout and the shoring of the banks," she said.
From CNN Politics
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Does Sarah Palin see the contradiction in her argument?
This is the first time during the campaign that the lady has made sense.
She is good at contradicting herself. I don't see what the big deal is anyway in using a little bit of socialism for education and healthcare. Somepeople can not afford to get in the game without a boost and the fact is poverty creates crime.
And I am irrated by Colin Powell. What a wimp. You can't tell me he would have endorsed Clinton had she won the primary even though her policies where very similiar to Obama's. He's endorsing Obama because of his color. Just like John Lewis abandoned Clinton and went to Obama towards the end of the primary. I am just so sick and tired of race being a factor in this election. John Lewis is the one who recently called McCain and Palin encouraging racism. Why is it that most balck people in this election are screaming racism so much? No matter what a white person says it's racist. Give me a break! I hate to see what it will be like if Obama does win. I will not vote for Obama not because of his race but because of all the people yelling racist no matter what you say.
UNDER THE OBAMA PLAN , IF McCAIN AND PALIN JUST EARN WHAT THEY EARN IN THEIR OFFICIAL JOB'S, THEY TOO CAN ENJOY A TAX CUT UNDER OBAMA'S PLAN. SO THEY SHOULD VOTE FOR HIM.......................................McCAINS DAUGHTER VOTED FOR KERRY IN THE LAST ELECTION( SAID BY HER ON FOX) SO YOU KNOW SHE'S VOTING FOR OBAMA THIS TIME. SHE JUST LOOKS LIKE SHE FEELS SO OUT OF PLACE WITH HER FATHER ON STAGE. SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE WANTS TO FUN OFF AND HIDE. HE'S PROBABLE MAKING HER GO ON STAGE WITH HIM....SHE LOOKS SAD. I FEEL SORRY FOR HER.
Look who is campaigning for 2012,it's not going to work,so go back to Alaska and prepare to be a grand ma.
Go back to your igloo, crazy lady.
i cant wait for sarah palin to go back to alaska...she's like a bad reality show, and corny soap opera all rolled up into one.
At least Sarah Palin is finally realizing that the maverick is not all that he is cracked up to be. Good on you Sarah – you seem more intelligent than McCain.
UNDER THE OBAMA PLAN , IF McCAIN AND PALIN JUST EARN WHAT THEY EARN IN THEIR OFFICIAL JOB'S, THEY TOO CAN ENJOY A TAX CUT UNDER OBAMA'S PLAN. SO THEY SHOULD VOTE FOR HIM.......................................McCAINS DAUGHTER VOTED FOR KERRY IN THE LAST ELECTION( SAID BY HER ON FOX) SO YOU KNOW SHE'S VOTING FOR OBAMA THIS TIME. SHE JUST LOOKS LIKE SHE FEELS SO OUT OF PLACE WITH HER FATHER ON STAGE. SHE LOOKS LIKE SHE WANTS TO RUN OFF AND HIDE. HE'S PROBABLE MAKING HER GO ON STAGE WITH HIM....SHE LOOKS SAD. I FEEL SORRY FOR HER.
I mean this woman cannot even speak for herself. She's a puppet! She repeats what we previously heard in talking points, and uses it as her own. She has no depth. Are you SERIOUS!!
Obama/Biden 08
We need you now, more than ever!
More statements that don't agree with the core of the campaign. McCain and Co. Are really up the creek in terms of understanding how to run a presidential campaign. I'm not even a supporter of him, but I hope he understands that a campaign works better when each branch is speaking in one voice and saying the same thing.
Obama 08
America, are you serious? Is this woman really on the republican ticket? My daughter (high school Sr.) can put together better sentences than Palin! Surely, McCain picking her as his running mate is just a huge skit for SNL. When does the skit end and he picks his real running mate?
The way that Palin is contradicting the McCain Campaign, it's obvious that she's positioning herself for 2012. Palin will get the full support of the Evangelical Right, but the Reagen Republicans will run Jeb Bush. The battle for the soul of the GOP starts 11/4/08.
Sarah Palin: One word: JOKE!
More statements that don't agree with the core of the campaign. McCain and Co. Are really up the creek in terms of understanding how to run a presidential campaign. I'm not even a supporter of him, but I hope he understands that a campaign works better when each branch is speaking in one voice and saying the same thing.
Obama 08
the vp doesn't have any say in the campaign? does mccain have that little confidence in his own running mate?
It's a shame that Palin is so unaware of what voters want to hear. She needs to stop the attacking and tell us in GREAT detail how she intends to show us she understands the issues and has solutions. I'd personally like to tell her, "If you can't get real on this, go sit down and shut up."
Palin is working for her 2012 bid for President. Contradictingher running mate like that is not a good idea unless she see's the writing on the losing wall. Now it is everybody for themselves.Watch out McCain-you choose a "wild one"
Too bad.
Does this woman even understand the actual mechanisms of a socialist system?!? Socialism means that the _government_ owns the key engines of your nation's economy, like say, oh, the _BANKS_ and _FINANCIAL INSITUTIONS_ that the government just bought part interest in to shore up our failing economy. Obama's plan targets the wealthy whose _taxable income_ (not gross income) exceeds $250,000 and who typically can afford the accountants and others to get out of paying a substantial amount of taxes.
This would be a laughable comedy if this woman wasn't really running to be Vice President of the United States.
sarah palin needs to first get and education and learn how to read, write, and speak and learn how to formulate a sentence before she tries to throw stones at anyone; and by the way ;get that bum-todd a job! winkin, blinkin, and nod, joe six pack, and you betcha is not my idea of a vice presidential candidate giving a speech. sarah palin did you think ACORN was a advocacy network to rally the "squirrel vote", with your I.Q. I'm sure you did. sarah, I have some co-worker who are mccain supporters who would like to get your-X- the next time you are in n.c., because we know you can't spell something as complex as your name. cnn post
Please just go away already. There isn't a redeeming quality about you.
What a hypocrite. It is bad to make robocalls tying Obama to Ayer, buy by gawd, it's just fine to say it live.....
I can't wait until she gets sent packing back to Alaska.
16 more days. 16 more days. 16 more days. . . . . .
Good!!! I'm so glad she is making McCain and their campaign look like fools!!!
Yeah...keep talking Sarah, just keep talking.
:):)
Asked if think the government’s plan to inject billions of taxpayer dollars directly into troubled banks amounts to socialism — a belief held by many conservative legislators, talk radio hosts and bloggers — Palin said, "No, I do not."
This made me laugh.
Definition of Socialism: Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
Guess what? Taxes aren't a good or service. Therefore Obama's tax plan cannot be carried under it. Us nationalizing the banks IS.
Someone needs an education...