On Today’s Meet The Press, obviously one of the subjects was McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his V.P. choice. Maria Bartiromo of CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell,’ was on because she had recently interviewed Gov. Palin about all things energy, politics, and economy. Here’s a partial transcript from Bartiromo’s appearance on Meet The Press today:
MR. BROKAW: There’s another issue in all of this, and Maria Bartiromo got to it when she interviewed Governor Sarah Palin just last week.
Maria, we have you in New York, but I want to share with our audience, first of all, that interview in which you talked about energy and the oil pipeline that she negotiated on far better terms than her Republican predecessor for the people of Alaska. Let’s listen to some of that and then get your reaction to it.
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK): When you consider the naysayers, the–kind of the fearmongers, 30 years ago before the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline was built–and remember, that pipeline has supplied 15 billion barrels of oil into our domestic supplies here in America–and by the way, Biden, Joe Biden, was one who voted against that Trans-Alaska oil pipeline 30 years ago. He was fearful of allowing ramped up domestic supplies of energy even then, so of course, I fear that if he’s of the same mind today, we’re in a world of hurt there.
MR. BROKAW: That’s Sarah Palin talking about getting the oil pipeline reactivated again, the one that began, as she pointed out, 30 years ago. But at the same time, Maria, she talks about wanting to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Reserve. Is she going to hold to that position?
MS. MARIA BARTIROMO: Yeah, I think so, Tom, and I think that this is a very, very important point, because while yes, we spoke about anti-corruption and about Hillary and her charisma, I think the biggest value she brings to the ticket is her expertise in energy. This is her comfort zone. She made a very compelling case to me that the area that we’re talking about that is being debated about whether or not to drill, ANWR as you mentioned, is 2,000 acres in a 20 million acre plain. This is her comfort zone, this is really what she’s overseeing.
Alaska is one of the few oil-rich areas we have in this country alone. She is going to really campaign on that–on that platform, not only as energy and oil relates to the economy. We know that oil is one of the biggest issues we face when it comes to the economy. It’s certainly crippled the economy over the last year, watching oil prices reach record highs. But also, as energy relates to national security. So this is a very, very important piece of the picture, and I think she brings great value there, making that point that it is a small swath of land, and it really will not impact the wildlife, as of course is the concern, because we’ve got caribou and bears and moose there, and the upset or the worry is that it’s going to impact the breeding of the wildlife. She feels very strongly that that is not the case, and I think that that knowledge of energy is going to be very important for the McCain ticket.
MR. BROKAW: Beyond energy, how conversant is she with the other big economic issues of the day, especially the liquidity crisis that this country is facing, home foreclosures?
MS. BARTIROMO: Well, she felt, actually, that the Republican Party has a–has a advantage when it comes to the credit card issue, when it comes to credit. She felt that Joe Biden dropped the ball on that. She talked to me a little about that in the interview. She also talked about healthcare. She had real opinions in terms of what should be done with regard to economic growth overall. And the truth is, Tom, is that energy is a big party of that. I mean, that really is one of the, one of the biggest issues we face.
On the, on the banking sector upset, he’s going to need more credibility, obviously, McCain, on that issue. I don’t think that she’s necessarily well-versed in, in, in the liquidity crunch, but, but I think that, that she came across so strong with regard to economic matters as they relate to energy and as they relate to overall economic growth that I think it was a very savvy pick, actually. She’s very accessible, very personable, as, as you’ve said. You know, when I was walking around, we went to the highest point in Anchorage and we walked around a field so she could show me really where the main areas were for, for drilling and you had to see her with some of the people on the ground. She, she went over to people. I mean, clearly a reporter is, is there with her, so she has an agenda there, but she was very comfortable going and, and, and welcomed by the people and, and even the people on the ground, when I was traveling there throughout Alaska. You know, one person said to me, I said, “So how’s the governor doing?” to the driver of the, of the car and people on the plane and in the airport. And they said, “You know, we, we really, we love her. The first thing that she did when she got in office is she gave up the plane, the private plane, and she gave up the chefs.” And she said, “Look, I don’t need any of this. I want to focus on economics. I want to focus on what Alaska can do for the rest of the country.”
And remember, if we were to see drilling, not only in that ANWR area, but on the coast in the North Slope, that’s also a lot of job creation because there are ripple effects to drilling and she talked a lot about that as well, how we could see tremendous job creation as a result of activity in that part of the country. So clearly that is her sweet spot and that’s what she is going to be focused on. I think you make a good point about the liquidity crunch, but I also have to be impressed with her knowledge on this issue of energy, one of the biggest that we face.
I am so jazzed by this pick by McCain, whether or not it was for political expediency, it is good for the country. The entire crew on MTP today found it difficult to find much negative to say about her.
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