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From : RNCvideo
Added: Sep 3, 2008
Barbara Starr, Cindy McCain, John McCain and Expert on Sarah Palin "Situation Room" 5:44pm Package TRANSCRIPT WOLF BLITZER: It's the question that must be asked of every vice presidential candidate. In this case, it's Sarah Palin and the question is this: is she prepared to serve as commander-in-chief? [...] BARBARA STARR: Wolf, what we have learned is once a year, as head of the Alaskan National Guard, Sarah Palin gets a briefing about the Guard activities in her state, but is it enough to make her a military leader? Governor Sarah Palin handled plenty of firepower visiting the troops in Kuwait and John McCain told Fox News Sunday Palin has enough experience to handle the job of president if need be, because she knows what it means to lead the troops. JOHN MCCAIN: She's been commander in chief of the Alaska guard. STARR: But what exactly does a governor do as head of a state National Guard? Here are the facts. Governors decide when and how to deploy the guard, to help in natural disasters, as they are right now in the aftermath of hurricane Gustav. Governors also can use the Guard to control civil unrest. We saw it in the 1960s and after 9/11, governors deployed the guard to airports and subways at the request of Washington, but for fighting wars? That's the president and the Pentagon. Governors, no matter what state they run, play no role in deciding when their guard forces will be sent to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. EXPERT: A governor merely acknowledges that the president is federalizing the troops, the National Guardsmen of that state. STARR: The Alaska National Guard has a unique military role; manning a missile defense site at Fort Greeley and flying patrols off the coast, tracking Russian bombers that may try to enter U.S. air space. That special role was highlighted by Cindy McCain on ABC's This Week. CINDY MCCAIN: Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So it's not as if she doesn't understand what's at stake here. STARR: But, under the law, it's President Bush, not Governor Palin, who runs both those operations. Now, the Alaska national guard has about 4,000 troops. President Bush commands a force of 1.4 million. It, of course, will be up to the voters to decide if that difference makes a difference to them. BS2 SP 09-03-08 17.44 (JR#456) UV
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