Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Palin Switches Roles to Send a Son to Iraq
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin switched roles Thursday, shifting from Republican candidate for vice president to an anxious mom sending her son off to war in Iraq.
Her eldest son, Pfc. Track Palin, is being deployed with 4,000 soldiers of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division. The 19-year-old will provide security for his brigade's top officers, an assignment that is expected to take the unit to Diyala, the fourth most violent of Iraq's provinces.
At a deployment ceremony on the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks, she spoke in her capacity as governor and not as a political candidate. She had been invited to speak long before GOP presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate.
"We're going to miss you," she said at Fort Wainwright, a large Army installation near Fairbanks. "We can't help it. We're going to miss you."
"With our prayers and with great pride, we are sending off these brave men and women," she said.
Track Palin operates armored vehicles called Strykers, eight-wheeled trucks that weigh 19 tons.
Sarah Palin's talk to the troops was a trick question for Pentagon officials, who prohibit politicians from campaigning on military bases. They decided she could speak as Alaska's governor but that her remarks could not be political or related to the campaign.
However, her message to the troops included echoes of the McCain-Palin campaign.
She praised the troops for their desire to serve "something greater than self."
"You could have chosen an easier, more comfortable path," she said. "Instead, you chose service."
Earlier in the day, Palin gave her first extended television interview since being named to the Republican ticket.
A figure of intense national interest, the 44-year-old mother of five has been limited to stages and stump speeches, with little spontaneous interaction with voters -- a star on camera who has been sheltered from questioning.
In the interview with Charles Gibson of ABC News, Palin said she "didn't hesitate" when McCain asked her to be his running mate, a surprise selection that shook up the presidential race.
Palin speaks often on the campaign trail about her son's deployment -- his unit is scheduled to be in Iraq for a year -- and she uses it as an opportunity to promote McCain as a strong commander in chief.
Her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, also has a son going to Iraq, which he rarely mentions. McCain's son, Jimmy, a Marine, returned this year from the war.
Last September, then-Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson wrote Palin to congratulate her on her son's enlistment. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the correspondence under a Freedom of Information Act request.
"His enlisting on Patriots Day must make you proud of his devotion to our great country. Track truly is a role model for his generation," Nicholson wrote.
Sarah Palin returned home Wednesday, her first visit since McCain announced her selection on Aug. 29, and received a warm welcome from a crowd of more than 2,000. It was her first stop without McCain.
She's expected to rejoin him next week and spend much of the fall campaign at his side, even as Biden campaigns independently of Obama. Palin has proved a powerful draw at McCain's rallies, and keeping them together limits media access to her.
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin switched roles Thursday, shifting from Republican candidate for vice president to an anxious mom sending her son off to war in Iraq.
Her eldest son, Pfc. Track Palin, is being deployed with 4,000 soldiers of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division. The 19-year-old will provide security for his brigade's top officers, an assignment that is expected to take the unit to Diyala, the fourth most violent of Iraq's provinces.
At a deployment ceremony on the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks, she spoke in her capacity as governor and not as a political candidate. She had been invited to speak long before GOP presidential candidate John McCain chose her as his running mate.
"We're going to miss you," she said at Fort Wainwright, a large Army installation near Fairbanks. "We can't help it. We're going to miss you."
"With our prayers and with great pride, we are sending off these brave men and women," she said.
Track Palin operates armored vehicles called Strykers, eight-wheeled trucks that weigh 19 tons.
Sarah Palin's talk to the troops was a trick question for Pentagon officials, who prohibit politicians from campaigning on military bases. They decided she could speak as Alaska's governor but that her remarks could not be political or related to the campaign.
However, her message to the troops included echoes of the McCain-Palin campaign.
She praised the troops for their desire to serve "something greater than self."
"You could have chosen an easier, more comfortable path," she said. "Instead, you chose service."
Earlier in the day, Palin gave her first extended television interview since being named to the Republican ticket.
A figure of intense national interest, the 44-year-old mother of five has been limited to stages and stump speeches, with little spontaneous interaction with voters -- a star on camera who has been sheltered from questioning.
In the interview with Charles Gibson of ABC News, Palin said she "didn't hesitate" when McCain asked her to be his running mate, a surprise selection that shook up the presidential race.
Palin speaks often on the campaign trail about her son's deployment -- his unit is scheduled to be in Iraq for a year -- and she uses it as an opportunity to promote McCain as a strong commander in chief.
Her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, also has a son going to Iraq, which he rarely mentions. McCain's son, Jimmy, a Marine, returned this year from the war.
Last September, then-Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson wrote Palin to congratulate her on her son's enlistment. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the correspondence under a Freedom of Information Act request.
"His enlisting on Patriots Day must make you proud of his devotion to our great country. Track truly is a role model for his generation," Nicholson wrote.
Sarah Palin returned home Wednesday, her first visit since McCain announced her selection on Aug. 29, and received a warm welcome from a crowd of more than 2,000. It was her first stop without McCain.
She's expected to rejoin him next week and spend much of the fall campaign at his side, even as Biden campaigns independently of Obama. Palin has proved a powerful draw at McCain's rallies, and keeping them together limits media access to her.
