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Campbell Brown

Gov. Sarah Palin Speaks to the Republican Nation Convention

Aired September 03, 2008 - 23:59   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: She ran to her baby and held her baby on the stage. It made her extremely relatable.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think the Obama...

BROWN: It allows her to attack.

COOPER: Do you think the Obama campaign is ready? Do they know how to address Governor Palin? I mean, do they know how to deal with this?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Do they know how to attack her?

COOPER: Yes.

BORGER: Do they know how to deal with her?

COOPER: I mean, yes.

BORGER: I think after tonight they may have to, you know, re-jigger. But I'm hearing from Democrats -- a Democratic pollster says, you know, I wonder if her introduction to the country was too harsh or strident because that's not where the country is right now.

Now maybe the maternal part that Campbell was talking about softens it and balances it.

BROWN: Talking about enough. I don't know.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let me -- also say...

BORGER: Because she's able to do both.

BLITZER: ... in response to Anderson, the Obama campaign had no trouble dealing with a woman named Hillary Clinton...

BROWN: Clinton, right?

BLITZER: ... with these past months, so they know how to deal with a woman who is an opponent of theirs. I suspect they'll deal with her and John McCain in a very similar way.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm already seeing some evidence here. Jeff Toobin made a valid and accurate point that, as Democrats are putting in an e-mail stressed that, she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it. And so we're going to hear things like that. We're going to hear that she hired a lobbyist to get a lot of those federal earmarks that John McCain says he is so vehemently against. They are going to go through her record and they will criticize her and attack her where they think they can.

But they also -- the Democrats also think that that's almost taking the bait, that they want to go back to what they were saying in Denver, that John McCain is four more years of George W. Bush.

COOPER: So not even addressing her.

KING: That's how -- not even addressing her. Address her but don't make it all about her, because to make it all about her is to make it not about the guy at the top of the ticket.

BLITZER: But the point is, the more they can make it about anyone other than Barack Obama, the better off...

BROWN: Right.

BLITZER: ... the Obama campaign is.

BROWN: But, you know, she didn't...

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I'm sorry, I was very -- one of the, I think, successful parts of the evening, not only was the product introduction of Sarah -- Governor Palin successful tonight, we met her, and we met her on the Republicans' terms. They got a chance to tell their story.

The other part of this that worked tonight was Rudy Giuliani laid out a tough case against Barack Obama.

BROWN: Yes.

CASTELLANOS: Dragged the spotlight off of the Republicans and put it on them. Is this guy ready? Does he have the experience? In a way, Rudy said, you guys want to talk about experience? Bring it on. We'll have an experience debate.

To John's point, it's about the top of the ticket, and I thought the Republicans were very happy tonight that that job was done tonight.

COOPER: Although factually, Rudy Giuliani made a big point of saying, factually, Barack Obama has never led anything. He has no executive experience. I mean you could argue he's done something -- I mean, he's led a campaign with several thousand employees that did something that Rudy Giuliani was not able to do, which is win the nomination of his party.

CASTELLANOS: Yes, and I think Republicans would be thrilled to have Sarah...

COOPER: Is that the argument?

CASTELLANOS: They'd be very happy.

BORGER: The other question...

BLITZER: Well -- they have to be careful because John McCain -- he led a squadron when he was in the Navy. But for the past 26 years, he's been a lawmaker in Washington with no real executive authority for 26 years.

He's been part of that Washington establishment. And no one -- I don't think there's any Washington politician who's been on the Sunday talk shows as much as John McCain.

CASTELLANOS: Which I think is why Republicans, I think, tonight tried to put that in a larger context. They tried to say, look, look at his life. Look when he's been tested. Look how he's performed. You know what he will do.

BLITZER: All right. Hold on.

CASTELLANOS: Barack Obama, never test. You don't know.

BLITZER: This is historic right now. Arizona is about to put John McCain over the top. And it will be official. He will be the nominee.

JAN BREWER, ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: Madam Secretary, I'm Jan Brewer, secretary of state of Arizona. Tonight, the Grand Canyon state is proud to share with the nation one of our native sons, Senator John McCain.

Arizona is known for its trail blazers, its consensus builders and its patriots. Great statesmen who put their country first like Senator Barry Goldwater and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

So tonight, my fellow Americans, it is time for western leadership, western values, and a good old American common sense.

It's time for John McCain.

Madam Secretary, it is my distinct honor to cast Arizona's 53 votes for our fellow Arizonian and great patriot, the next president of the United States, Senator John Sidney McCain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Arizona, 53 votes, John McCain.

Nebraska, 33 votes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Madam Secretary, I have to admit, that's a tough act to follow. But from Nebraska, the home of the Nebraska cornhuskers, home -- home of our very popular Republican governor...

BLITZER: All right. So there it is. It's official. John McCain is the Republican presidential nominee.

Arizona, his home state, brings him over the top. No more ifs, ands or buts. Tomorrow night he will formally accept the nomination.

They'll have an abbreviated roll call tomorrow for the vice presidential nomination. Sarah Palin has already announced that she will accept that nomination. They will go forward with this campaign.

Remember, coming up at the bottom of the hour, Larry King has a special -- he's got a lot of Democrats who are anxious. They're itching to react to what we heard tonight not only from Sarah Palin but Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.

All the Republicans had their say. A lot of Democrats will have their say on a special "LARRY KING LIVE." Last week Larry did the same thing at the Democratic convention, accepted Republicans reacting.

You will want to stick around for that. That's going to be quite a lively show for all of you.

We'll take a quick break. More of our coverage here from St. Paul right after this.

ANNOUNCER: Coverage of the Republican National Convention is sponsored by...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. We're here at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. What a night it's been. History has been made. The Republicans going forward for the first time in their history with a woman who will be on the ticket.

And we heard from the governor of Alaska. She delivered a very, very passionate and rousing speech. And it's generating on the Internet a lot of buzz right now.

Let's go to Abby Tatton. She's monitoring some of these blogs.

What are you picking up, Abby.

ABBY TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Well, if the conservative blogs were energized last Friday when this pick was announced, they are really ready now after this speech. The conservative group blog, red state sending out an e-mail to all its supporters around the country.

They're there but sending out this e-mail to supporters, saying don't listen to the media, what they've been saying, questioning Sarah Palin on experience. She's tough, and she's ready, and we've seen that tonight.

But also these posts coming in from elsewhere outside of the Xcel Center. This is a discussion going on here at Twitter, a woman's blog. She's in Michigan. Lots of people weighing in.

Her point of view was she's so glad that Sarah Palin didn't back away from her family, didn't back away from the fact that she's a mother, and that's the discussion going on there. And I want to point out one more that was happening from inside the convention today. This from a conservative blogger who noted the roar when Senator McCain walked out was deafening. He's writing, conservatives wild for McCain, Palin really can do anything -- Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Abby, stand by. We're going to be continuing to monitor what's going on.

Quickly, I want to go down on the floor, Ed Henry is in the Alaska delegation with a special guest.

Alaska, we're learning a lot about this state, have already, Ed. What are you learning?

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And I can tell you, they're, obviously, very proud of Sarah Palin. We were all talking about the pressure that she was facing going into that.

And what I'm hearing from Alaska delegates is homerun. Basically, if it were a fight, it should have been stopped early. Various delegates saying that. And I now have the delegation chair here from Alaska, Chris Nelson.

Tell me what you thought.

CHRIS NELSON, ALASKA DELEGATION CHAIR: Well, I think hockey moms would call that a hat trick. She's scored in every period and did an outstanding job. I think she established her credentials. I think she introduced her family and then she went after the opponents, and she told them basically that they're in for a fight.

HENRY: But talk about that fine line because some people watching from home, not here where the hardcore Republicans are, but independent voters might have thought she came across a little strong.

How does she walk that line?

NELSON: Well, I think she has to just be herself. She's tough. She has tackled big projects in her career. As governor, she is building the biggest energy development project in North America.

She really took on a political establishment and cleaned it up. She talks tough because she is tough, and that's what we need.

HENRY: OK.

NELSON: Yes.

HENRY: And you have -- I see this sticker among your many buttons.

NELSON: Yes.

HENRY: Drill Alaska, Drill Now. You also have a hard hat that says that.

Talk about the energy issue and how important you think it will be in November.

NELSON: Well, I -- as long as people are pumping their own gas and watching more and more of their paychecks go to energy costs, they're going to understand that we're going to have to do something to tap our own energy resources.

And drilling isn't the only answer, but it's one of the first answers that we can do. And she talked about a balanced energy program. But we want to drill now and start pumping Alaska oil and gas down to you.

HENRY: Thank you, Chris Nelson, very much.

NELSON: Thank you.

HENRY: And I think one button I saw in the Alaska delegation sums it up. It says, basically, the hottest VP from the coolest state -- Campbell?

BROWN: All right, Ed Henry for us.

And I just wanted to mention something that Dana Bash has been reporting. Harry Reid's office -- Democratic majority leader Harry Reid -- sent out a statement describing her speech tonight. And listen to the wording of this because it's really important.

He says, "Shrill and sarcastic political attacks may fire up the Republican base. They don't change the fact that a McCain/Palin administration would mean four more years of failed Bush/Cheney policies."

The catch word there is shrill.

Gloria, are you with me on this?

BORGER: Well, yes, I'm with you.

BLITZER: The question, was he referring to Sarah Palin or Rudy Giuliani or Romney? I think we have to be precise on who Harry Reid was referring -- or all of the above?

BROWN: OK, a fair statement, but I rarely, if ever, hear the word "shrill" used to apply to a man and with regard to an attack or style of attack. It's usually applied to women. And if they -- Democrats are seen as treating her in a condescending way, then it...

BORGER: Backfires.

BROWN: ... mutes. And it will totally backfire any attack she makes and allow her to be even tougher.

BLITZER: Let's see if Dana -- if Dana is available on the floor. We'll ask her who Harry Reid was referring to.

Dana, I don't know if you're wired up, if you can speak to us, but if you can, you -- got that news from Harry Reid's office. Who was the Senate majority leader referring to? DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He was referring to...

BLITZER: I don't think she can hear -- OK.

BASH: Can you hear me -- can you hear me, Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, we hear -- we hear you. Go ahead, Dana.

BASH: OK. What I did was I asked Senator Reid's press secretary Jim Manley for a response to the attacks that we heard here loud and clear which got huge applause that she made against Harry Reid for being the head of a do-nothing Congress, and mentioning some of the things that Harry Reid has said about John McCain.

For example, the fact that he has said that he doesn't like John McCain. That wasn't the exact quote, but that was pretty close to it.

And this is the response that their -- press secretary Jim Manley put out to us. This is the response. You know, this is, I think, in a lot of ways, this is kind of vintage Harry Reid. He has not been happy -- he was not happy last night with what we saw from Joe Lieberman, and he clearly was not happy that he was directly attacked by John McCain's running mate tonight.

I'll give you a little bit of history. Sarah Palin mentioned what Harry Reid has been saying about John McCain. There is no love lost between Harry Reid and John McCain. I've been covering them in the Senate for quite a long time.

And the way that Sarah Palin described Harry Reid's feelings for John McCain, that's pretty accurate. These are two men who do not like each other at all...

BLITZER: All right. Well, it's clear then...

BASH: And clearly Sarah Palin was playing into that.

BLITZER: It's clear, Dana, that that statement was referring to what Sarah Palin said.

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: Not the men...

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: ... who were speaking earlier, is that right?

BASH: And I -- correct.

BROWN: Yes, it does, in her reporting, and I do think the language matters. It absolutely matters.

Let's bring in Tara Wall and see if she agrees with me on this.

TARA WALL, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: As someone who has worked -- for a political party, the Republican Party, in about -- all about messaging and wording, absolutely words matter. And I'm certainly sure the communications person there in Harry Reid's office knew exactly what he was writing and what he was saying when he was using the word "shrill," and I have to agree with Campbell.

I haven't quite ever heard that word used to refer to a man. So I think they might want to be careful on temper -- how they deal with Sarah Palin. Certainly, I mean, she is tough, she is tenacious, as we all pointed out.

It's fair game, obviously, when you're, you know, playing with the big boys and you're in a political campaign, but at the same time, this is a woman who is -- knows how to balance being soft-spoken with being tough, unlike Hillary Clinton, as was mentioned earlier.

Hillary Clinton, one of her -- many would say some of her faults that alienated her with viewers because she came across at times angry, so it might have been, you know, easier to go against her because she came across so strong and hard and angry.

Sarah Palin was a little bit more soft-spoken, but while she is tough. So -- there is some tempering that has to be done there.

But, I think, overall, listen, the American public will hear a lot more from her and see a lot more from her. John McCain, you know, talks about judgment. I think early on when she was first announced, the party had to, you know, trust his judgment to see if she was going to be what he said she was going to be.

And it's now up to them to show the American public that he had the right judgment in putting her on the ticket. And I think, so far, even before going into her, her favorability was about 52 percent in the latest polling. That's in comparison to 59 percent with Barack Obama and 56 percent with John McCain.

So if there's any indication, there's no real reason whether you agree with her policies, whether you end up liking this ticket or not, there's real -- no real reason to dislike this woman.

BLITZER: All right, Tara, stand by because we're going to take a quick break. And here's a question that we're going to be reviewing, the entire panel.

John McCain -- he's going to be speaking tomorrow night, accepting this Republican presidential nomination. What a tough act to follow after the governor of Alaska tonight. We'll discuss that and much more.

Remember, coming up at the bottom of the hour, a special "LARRY KING LIVE." Larry's got a wealth of Democratic guests who are itching to respond to what they heard tonight.

"LARRY KING LIVE," a special edition coming up in only a few moments. Much more of our coverage coming up here from St. Paul right after this.

ANNOUNCER: Coverage of the Republican National Convention is sponsored by...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right, welcome back. We're watching the aftermath of the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, and her very dramatic, impassioned speech tonight that she delivered. She roused the 20,000 people who are here in St. Paul at this Republican convention.

We'll wait and see how Americans across the country reacted, what we saw here and whether the reaction we got here may -- repeat -- may be different than what Americans across the country saw and felt. We'll wait to get some reaction.

Trust me, there are going to be a lot of polls coming out, Campbell, over the next few days.

BROWN: There certainly will.

BLITZER: And we'll get a sense -- you know, you were talking -- and you know, we've gotten some initial reaction from some Democrats including the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, whose spokesman said that her speech tonight was, quote, "shrill."

BROWN: Which is one of those words that you have to be very careful about. It's most often applied only to women and sets off a lot of alarm bells for a lot of women. It's the kind of thing that if a Democrat uses that language has real potential to backfire.

BLITZER: I want Paul Begala to weigh in -- the Democratic strategist.

Paul, what do you think?

PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I think we have to be careful of the right-wing, politically correct, police editing our language. There are some words that are off limits like the "B" word which was used against Hillary Clinton frequently on this and other networks, and I think that was outrageous and sexist.

But it was a tough speech. I mean earlier, Alex Castellanos, I think, a fan of Governor Pail, said she gave the most macho speech of the convention. Now I don't think he really means that she's not a fully feminine woman. My goodness, she's a mother of five.

But I think we got to be very careful, though. The McCain campaign, after 15 or 20 years of being the darling of the media, has decided now they're going to go to war with the media, and I think they've won the first battle tonight if we're going to start toning back our analysis of Governor Palin's very tough speech because they're attacking her.

BROOKS: OK, Paul, that's -- I disagree with you. I don't think anybody's toning back their analysis, but I think Gloria and I both had the same reaction, as did Tara Wall, as most of the women who heard that word and reacted pretty strongly to it.

BLITZER: Paul, go ahead. BEGALA: Yes, I just -- would just disagree. I love Campbell, I think she's a great reporter, but I think there is a campaign -- I don't think I know. There's a campaign going on here. And you saw it on the podium tonight.

This is not anything behind the scenes. The Republican Party has decided, as they often do, all the way back to the days of Spiro Agnew, that they can attack the media and it will work. Well, guess what? It usually does.

The press is usually so cowed by the right you can hear them all moo. But what I'm saying is people ought to stand up, if you think the speech was shrill, and Harry Reid, the Democratic leader in the Senate -- no shock -- didn't like the Republicans' standard bearer for vice president speech very much, it doesn't make Harry Reid a sexist.

BROOKS: Let's go to Donna Brazile and get her take on this. Donna?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I'm going to agree with my friend, Paul. Look, there are certain words that sort of sound off the alarm bell when it comes to, you know, sexism and racism in the media.

But I thought she gave a very tough speech, and the Obama campaign clearly will have to rebut some of the charges she made about his economic plan, and even rebut some of the charges that she made about his experience.

But that's fair game. But in terms of what Senator Reid said or what he's supposedly said through an aide using the word "shrill," I don't believe that there was an insult to Governor Palin at all.

What he was trying to say that her speech was dripping in sarcasm, but it was effective because I think for the people here in this audience who wanted some red meat, who came here hungry to forget the last eight years, that she gave them reasons to hope that the Republicans have a fighting chance this fall.

BLITZER: Let me bring David Gergen in.

And David, John McCain -- and Jeff Toobin made this point earlier. John McCain, for so many years, was the darling of the liberal elite mainstream news media. Yet, if you're listening yesterday and today at this convention, the liberal elite mainstream news media has emerged as the enemy.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's absolutely right. And I think what's fascinating and the big question is about John McCain tomorrow night, Wolf.

And to be sure he's going to give a good speech, he'll be -- we saw it at Saddleback and elsewhere, he can be a formidable speaker, and he has been a formidable speaker at past Republican conventions.

The question to me is which way is he going to go? Is he going to continue this combative, often mocking tone we've seen over the last two nights which has played extremely well with the Republican base? I think has fired up their enthusiasm for the campaign, will play well in lots of rural America.

Or is he going to give a speech that reaches out to independents and Democrats and invite them in and be a speech of hope? I don't know the answer to that, but I think it's going to have a lot to do with which way this election goes.

And will he tell us more about what their economic plans are for the future? This -- Bill Schneider has been harkening on this for the last few days. This convention really has not explained what the economic plans would be under a Republican administration.

But I think the big question is going to be one of tone. We're going to watch for that.

BLITZER: And David -- and Jeff Toobin, don't all vice presidential candidates -- whether Democratic vice presidential candidates or Republican vice presidential candidates -- isn't one of their jobs to really become a pit bull, if you will, an attack dog and do what the presidential candidate may not necessarily want to do?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Traditionally, that's almost always been the case. Joe Lieberman decided not to do much of that in 2000, but, in fact, most vice presidential campaigns do that.

But I think that underlines, again, what the challenges for McCain tomorrow, because the two most effective parts, I thought, of Governor Palin's speech today were her biography, just introducing her family, who is this person? I thought that was very charmingly and effectively done.

And why Barack Obama is a snob, is a cosmopolitan, is an elitist, and neither of those, I think, are really available to governor -- to Senator McCain because, you know, he's not going to spend a lot of time introducing himself. I think he -- people know him. It would be, I think, sort of embarrassing for him to talk too much about himself.

Also -- but is he going to really just attack Barack Obama? He's got to talk about where he's going to lead the country. And that's going to be a challenge.

BLITZER: I want to check back with Candy Crowley. She's up on the podium. They're getting ready to wrap up this roll call. They're finishing up the procedure, Candy, but go ahead and weigh in on this discussion.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, one of the things actually that just occurs to me is that the bar is pretty high for McCain. I mean, you know, I've heard McCain speak. And he's no governor of Alaska.

I mean, this is going to be a very, very tough row for him to hoe tomorrow night because she's delivered the speech of the convention, and I don't see him overcoming that. So McCain has to be McCain. I think that there will be some uplift to it. I think you will see some policy go in there where he would lead the nation. She's done all the slashing, so he doesn't need to do that.

So I just think actually, tonally and performance wise, it's a tough night for him tomorrow because he did pick a woman that can deliver a speech.

BLITZER: All right. Unfortunately, guys, we've got to leave it right there.

Larry King is coming up with a special program. He's got lots of reaction including lots of Democratic reaction. I want to thank all of you.

John King, excellent work, as usual, thanks very much.

Campbell Brown, a pleasure.

Anderson left earlier. He did an excellent work.

All of you, Gloria, Alex, our team at the CNN Election Center.

BROWN: Back tomorrow night.

BLITZER: Our reporters -- we will be back tomorrow night. And the Republican presidential nominee will be speaking, and it is official now that John McCain will be the Republican nominee.

Remember, tomorrow morning, 6:00 a.m., "AMERICAN MORNING" John Roberts and Kiran Chetry will have everything involving this election, this convention here at the Xcel Energy Center.

You're going to want to stick around for that.

Soledad O'Brien will have special reports from the CNN Election Center throughout the day.

I'll be back at 4:00 p.m. Eastern tomorrow in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

We'll be right here with all the latest and then we'll go through the night until midnight, maybe beyond, and another "LARRY KING LIVE."

Stay with CNN. Thanks for joining us.

Let's go to Larry right now.