NEW YORK — Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin defended her remark that the proximity of Russia to her home state of Alaska gives her foreign-policy experience, explaining in a CBS interview that “we have trade missions back and forth.”
Palin has never visited Russia, and until last year the 44-year-old Alaska governor had never traveled outside North America. She also had never met a foreign leader until her trip this week to New York. In the CBS interview, she did not offer examples of having been involved in negotiations with the Russians.
Palin’s foreign-policy experience came up when she gave her first major interview, on Sept. 11 to ABC News. Asked what insight she had gained from living so close to Russia, she said: “They’re our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.”
When CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked how Alaska’s closeness to Russia enhanced her foreign-policy experience, Palin said, “Well, it certainly does because our . . . next-door neighbors are foreign countries.”
Earlier Thursday, Palin held a rare exchange with reporters outside a ground zero firehouse in New York and declined to endorse the candidacy of indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. Palin was asked whether she thought the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan was helping to mitigate terrorism.
“I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security for our nation. We can never again let them onto our soil,” she said.
