Tuchman on Palin: CNN 09/31/08

Gary Tuckman on Sarah Palin"Anderson Cooper 360" 11:45pmCommentaryTOPICS: Palin, Alaska, Russia, Foreign Policy ExperienceTRANSCRIPT: GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the island, a piece of Alaska that Governor Sarah Palin cites as evidence of her foreign policy experience. No streets, no cars, no airstrip. A helicopter is the only practical way to get here.Nome is the nearest city on the mainland, Anchorage, 550 miles away.This is the city of Diomede, Alaska, on an island known as Little Diomede, about 25 miles off the western Alaska coast. This is basically a rock dropped in the Bering Sea.Only about 150 people live on the entire island. There are no hospitals, no hotels, no restaurants. And what's most unique about it is this. This is the Bering Sea, the Bering Straits. A half mile in front of me is the international dateline. And this rock in front of me, that is the nation of Russia.Right now, it's Tuesday afternoon in the United States. There in Russia, it's Wednesday afternoon.The smaller island in front is Little Diomede, and then the division between eastern and western hemispheres, with Russia's Big Diomede Island only two and a half miles behind it.Since World War II, it's been a Soviet and now Russian military installation. Twenty miles in the background, you can see the Russian Siberian mainland.[]TUCHMAN: Governor Palin may be talking about this island, but she has never been here. Patrick Oniac (ph) is the tribal chief of the native Alaskan community on Little Diomede.Since Alaska has been a state, which is almost 50 years next year, have you had a governor come visit here?PATRICK ONIAC, TRIBAL CHIEF, LITTLE DIOMEDE: No.TUCHMAN: The only statewide politician ever to come here is current U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. So regarding Sarah Palin...UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's making a comment that she shouldn't have made in the first place about seeing Russia. She should have come out here beforehand and then made the comment.TUCHMAN: While some here feel Sarah Palin is doing a good job as Alaska governor, others are nowhere near getting swept up in her new national fame.What's the governor's name?THELMA AKHVALUK, LITTLE DIOMEDE RESIDENT: Sarah Palin.[]TUCHMAN: Diomede mayor, Andrew Milligrock, does know of her but does not believe that Russia's proximity to Alaska provides foreign policy experience.Has this governor, Palin, or any other Alaskan governor ever said to the mayor of this city, "We need to work hand-in-hand dealing with the Russians if A happens or B happens?"MAYOR ANDREW MILLIGROCK, LITTLE DIOMEDE, ALASKA: No.TUCHMAN: Never have? No discussions with the state capitol about that?MILLIGROCK: No.TUCHMAN: In fact, nobody we talked with here feels threatened with Russia being about the same distance from them as the White House is from the U.S. Capitol.The Palin campaign defends the way the governor deals with this foreign policy issue.

Channel: News & Politics
Uploaded: December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Author: mediafactcheck

Length: 05:18
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Tags: Alaska  Experience  Foreign  Palin  Policy  Russia  Sarah  TRACKING  

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