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Palin Speaks At Son's Iraq Deployment Ceremony
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ShareSeptember 11, 2008 6:48 PM
ABC News' Kate Snow and Imtiyaz Delawala report: Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said a very public goodbye to her 19-year-old son, Track, this afternoon on a tarmac at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The Alaska Governor was at the deployment ceremony as featured speaker and mother of Track Palin, who is one of the 4000 soldiers of the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division deploying to Iraq.
"Don't mind us if we allow for a few tears," Palin said. "Because we're gonna miss you. We can’t help it. We’re gonna miss you."
She called the fight in Iraq a "righteous cause" and talked of the need to defend America from terrorists.
"You'll be there to defend the innocent," she said. "America can never go back to that false sense of security that came before September 11, 2001."
"Soldiers, we honor you. Each one of these soldiers is here by choice," she said.
Palin never referenced her own son. As his mother spoke, Track Palin stood at attention wearing desert fatigues and a black beret, in a formation of some 4,000 soldiers facing the crowd of friends and family. He was nearly anonymous among the soldiers of his unit—nicknamed the "Grey Wolves."
Once in Iraq, Palin's son will provide security for his brigade commander and deputy commander, said Major Chris Hyde, Public Information Officer for the 1st Stryker Brigade.
Hyde said Track Palin has not sought out special treatment, calling him a "low-key guy" who rarely mentions being the son of the governor.
Like others in the brigade, Palin's son will ride in a Stryker vehicle.
In her remarks to the crowd of soldiers and their family and a swarm of news cameras, Sarah Palin talked about the "choice" each soldier made to join the Army.
“For every soldier who leaves us here today it is a choice that defines you,” she said.
“We are so proud of you. You could’ve chosen an easier, more comfortable path… instead you chose service,” Palin said.
The Republican vice presidential nominee predicted the soldiers would "one day see victory" but said before then, they would have much to endure.
Palin spoke from written notes and seemed to struggle a bit with names of Iraqi cities like Mosul, Tel Afar and others.
"Never doubt that we are thinking of you, praying for you," Palin concluded, "We’ll pray for you as we do now that the Lord will protect you and safely bring you home. Serve with honor soldiers. Make America proud!"
She then gave a less than forceful "hoo-ah" -- the traditional Army cheer.
Thursday's ceremony marks the second time the brigade has been deployed to Iraq.
In an interview Thursday with ABC News' Charlie Gibson, Palin spoke about her son's decision to join the Army.
"What I know is that my son has made a decision," she told Gibson, "I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer."
Three of the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates have sons headed to Iraq or who have been there . Sen. Joe Biden's son, Capt. Beau Biden, will also be deployed to Iraq in the next few weeks.
John McCain's son, 19-year-old Marine Lance Corp. Jimmy McCain, just returned from a tour in the Anbar province of Iraq after a six-month deployment, but unlike his running mate, John McCain never mentions it on the stump.
That's in stark contrast to Palin's public highlighting of her son's service, which has led some to question whether she has politicized Track's deployment.
John Nagl, a senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, told ABC News' John Berman that these kinds of public announcements can be a double-edged sword.
"It is the mark of an enthusiastic and proud mother, but it does pose conceivably some risk on the soldier and the unit," Nagl said.
ABC News' John Berman contributed to this report.
September 11, 2008 in Palin, Sarah, Veepstakes, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (78)
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wtf
AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!
run
did you see the charlie gibson interview
the scariest thing I think I have sincerely seen in my freakin life.
shut down all nukes if mcCain is elected.
what Tootie from the Facts of Life and Gomer Pile weren't available.
are you freakin kidding me.
ddi you all see this interview
"the bush doctrine? whaddya mean charlie?"
W - T - F!!!!!!
This is the person everyone has been screaming about are you frikkin kidding me!!!!!
scariest thing sincerely I have ever seen that this woman in this interview could be the aging heartbeat away from being the leader of the free frickin world!!!!!!
shut down all nukes.
Posted by: dl | Sep 11, 2008 6:57:49 PM
I really liked her in the beginning, but she's really starting to get annoying.
I'm still for you John, but I'm not so sure about your choice of V.P. I'm doubting you.
Posted by: Kim | Sep 11, 2008 7:02:53 PM
ANOTHER DISGRACFULL PHOTO-OP ,YOU DONT SEE JOE BIDEN DOING ALL THIS, AND HIS SON IF OFF TO IRAQ.
YOU CANT TELL ME SHE COULD HAVE DONE THIS IN PRIVATE AND EVEN IF SHE WENT, NOT HAVE A STUMP AND A MIC.
Posted by: sicken | Sep 11, 2008 7:05:45 PM
Like Obama Bin Laden is going to know crap about foreign policy! He doesn't even know how many states there are!
Posted by: E | Sep 11, 2008 7:06:43 PM
She would in a heart beat got to war,,,,She is a sickooooooo SCARY person.NO wonder she sdon't want to talk to the country
Posted by: indp voter | Sep 11, 2008 7:07:57 PM
As a McCain supporter... you're an idiot E. Quit fear mongering, get back to the issues. You're a perfect example why I question McCain and his supporters, such fear mongering.
Posted by: Kim | Sep 11, 2008 7:09:15 PM
I have never ever seen anyone ask Obama such hard questions. I though Gov. Palin did well.
Posted by: Fred | Sep 11, 2008 7:10:08 PM
On this day, of all days, we must remember that Obama has a lot of terrorist friends!
Posted by: rodney | Sep 11, 2008 7:13:58 PM
when in doubt, War. Have we not had enough of this? War is not the only tool we have to get thigns done.
Posted by: Jason | Sep 11, 2008 7:15:32 PM
she didn't answer questions...she did not know what he was talking about part of the time with the most basic low balls on issues.
and there is NO one who watched that interview and did not get a sick feeling in the pit of their stomach.
THIS IS THE PERSON JOHN MCCAIN PICKED AS HIS REPLACEMENT.
Posted by: d | Sep 11, 2008 7:20:10 PM
Like Obama Bin Laden is going to know crap about foreign policy! He doesn't even know how many states there are!
Posted by: E | Sep 11, 2008 7:06:43
_____________________________________
you have alot of nerve calling out Obama; who was in a 15 + month marathon primary ..not much sleep' out on the stump day in and day out.who mispoke of all things a figure which is common.
On the other hand John Mccain not ONCE but a couple of times had no CLUE who the FIGHTING FRACTIONS was in IRAQ. he had to have Joe LIE-berman bail him out .
Please! outside of being a POW which does not entitle anyone or is the prerequisite to be president , John MacCain does not have the EDUCATION to be Commander in Chief .
Think about it' if Mccain went to wall street seeking to run a 500 company they would laugh him out the office.
On the other hand Barack can waltz in anywhere and get a job. after all unlike Mccain he didn't finish at the bottom of his class; and might i add it was HARVARD.
Posted by: mike | Sep 11, 2008 7:23:55 PM
What heads of state has Obama met with as a community organizer?
Posted by: c | Sep 11, 2008 7:26:25 PM
Just watched the interview - NO WONDER THEY'VE BEEN HIDING HER.
SHE IS CLUELESS.
Canned answers that had nothing to do with the questions. Did you watch her ears turn red as Charlie Gibson explained what the Bush Doctrine is?
NOT READY.
OUT OF HER LEAGUE.
IN OVER HER HEAD.
SHE MAKES BUSH LOOK COMPETENT!!!
McCain's campaign has officially jumped the shark.
Posted by: Ed from MA | Sep 11, 2008 7:27:38 PM
is there video of her speaking at her son's deployment?
-g4p
Posted by: gays4palin, west hollywood, ca | Sep 11, 2008 7:31:19 PM
Is the Iraq war a mission from God?
"Well what I meant was ... um ... Abraham Lincoln said something about God ... yeah, that's what I meant! Like Abraham Lincoln said! Yeah ... that's it ... yeah ..."
Posted by: Ed from MA | Sep 11, 2008 7:31:30 PM
What a shame that she uses her son's decision to go to war, as opposed to an education, as a political event.
Posted by: Debbie | Sep 11, 2008 7:32:54 PM
Palin, just doesn't hit home runs; she hits the ball flat out of the park. Although, it may be hard for some of you to agree that have the Matt Damon philosophy...
Posted by: John | Sep 11, 2008 7:35:32 PM
They need to keep this woman tucked away until Nov. 4th.
McCain has just proven to us that he has no judgment to run this country... look at what he picked to be VP !!!!
Palin says she is a pitbull with lipstick, she is a camel with a sunburnt rump !!!
Obviously she has kept her head in the sand for way too long, she has no clue on what this country is going thru.
Palin is a huge political joke and no way do I want someone like her next to a button that can start a war.
Keep her in Alaska and hole her up in an igloo until after the election.
PALINE " THE CANDIDATE TO NOWEHRE"
Posted by: l | Sep 11, 2008 8:18:49 PM
I trust the American people will see through Palin, and save the Republic in November.
Posted by: roger ebert | Sep 11, 2008 8:25:50 PM
Dear Miss Wasilla,
The Bush Doctrine is a phrase used to describe various related foreign policy principles of United States president George W. Bush, created in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The phrase initially described the policy that the United States had the right to treat countries that harbor or give aid to terrorist groups as terrorists themselves, which was used to justify the invasion of Afghanistan. Later it came to include additional elements, including the controversial policy of preventive war, which held that the United States should depose foreign regimes that represented a threat to the security of the United States, even if that threat was not immediate (used to justify the invasion of Iraq), a policy of supporting democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East, as a strategy for combating the spread of terrorism, and a willingness to pursue U.S. military interests in a unilateral way. Some of these policies were codified in a National Security Council text entitled the National Security Strategy of the United States published on September 20, 2002.
"You mean his world view, Charlie?"
Posted by: hilda | Sep 11, 2008 8:29:56 PM
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