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October 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 am

Video & Photos: John McCain Sarah Palin NBC Nightly News Brian Williams Interview 10-22-08

John McCain and Sarah Palin, joint interview with NBC News anchor Brian Williams, October 22, 2008

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams held a joint interview with Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain and his VP running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on October 22, 2008 in Green, Ohio. Watch the full interview, analysis by NBC News political director, Chuck Todd who observed that the candidates have “no chemistry” between them, and photos of McCain and Palin on the campaign trail in Ohio.

Brian Williams brought up the subject of former Secretary of State General Colin Powell’s endorsement of Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama, which he publicly announced on Meet the Press, and Powell’s unsparing assessment of Palin: “I don’t believe she is ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president.”

McCain retorted, “If General Powell had wanted to meet Governor Palin, we could have arranged that easily, number one. But number two is then obviously General Powell does not know Governor Palin’s record.”

He went on to list her role and record as governor of Alaska, then said that Palin shares his world view and has a son serving in Iraq.

“And that’s not qualified?” he said, his voice rising. “Tell me what is qualified. I am overjoyed to have a person who’s a real reformer. What Americans want right now, more than anything else, they want us to reform the way we do business in Washington and they want our economy put back on track. Here’s a proven record. And so all I can say is, I see all these attacks on– on Governor Palin. I don’t live in a bubble. But those people obviously were either not paying attention to or don’t care about the record of the most popular governor in the United States of America.”

Palin interjected, I’m not gonna toot my own horn, but I do have more executive experience than Barack Obama even has.”

Source: McCain defends Palin’s qualifications

John McCain and Sarah Palin, joint interview with NBC News anchor Brian Williams, October 22, 2008

Sarah Palin took the opportunity to criticize Barack Obama about meeting with dictators “with no pre-conditions” when Brian Williams asked, “First of all what in your mind is a pre-condition?” Palin gave a rambling answer rather than define “pre-condition” not unlike her response when ABC News anchor Charles Gibson asked her to define the Bush doctrine and she was unable to do so.

You have to have some diplomatic strategy going into a meeting with someone like Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong Il, or one of these dictators that would seek to destroy America or our allies. It is so naive and so dangerous for a presidential candidate to just proclaim that they would be willing to sit down with a leader like Ahmadinejad, and just talk about the problems, the issues that are facing them, that’s some ill-preparedness right there.

Source: MSNBC First Read - In NBC Inteview Palin Hits Obama

Sarah Palin, rally in Green, Ohio, October 22, 2008

John McCain, Cindy McCain, with Sarah Palin and family, rally in Green, Ohio, October 22, 2008

McCain-Palin, rally in Green, Ohio, October 22, 2008

NBC News political director Chuck Todd and Brian Williams spoke with Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC Hardball, and discussed the intervew. Todd made assessments of Palin and McCain. (Video is below)

“There was a tenseness,” Todd told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. “I couldn’t see chemistry between John McCain and Sarah Palin. I felt as if we grabbed two people and said ‘here, sit next to each other, we are going to conduct an interview.’ They are not comfortable with each other yet.”

Todd, who was remarking on the interview conducted by NBC’s Brian Williams (he was in the room), speculated that the candidates had come to the realization that “they are losing” the campaign, and guessed that McCain may have begun to hold his vice presidential choice responsible for his dwindling White House chances.

“When you see the two of them together, the chemistry is just not there. You do wonder, is John McCain starting to blame her for things? Blaming himself? Is she blaming him?” asked the highly regarded NBC newsman. “And maybe they don’t feel they can win right now, so they are missing that intensity. That was the thing that struck me more than anything. You almost wonder why they wanted the two of them sitting next to each other.”

Source: Chuck Todd On McCain-Palin: No Chemistry, No Trust, Possibly No Chance

Photo credit, NBC, Getty Images North America

Brian Williams Interview with Sarah Palin and John Mccain October 22, 2008

Chuck Todd, Brian Williams discussion on the interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC Hardball, October 22, 2008