Presumptive Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin was on "Glenn Beck" in June to discuss things like oil, ANWR, and polar bears.
As media have been bludgeoning voters for the past 48 hours with the Governor not being qualified to be vice president -- this despite Barack Obama's limited accomplishments -- I encourage readers to watch the following video and read the full transcript:
GLENN BECK:Governor Sarah Palin, she`s the governor of Alaska. She`s close enough to the people to actually hear the people and then respond to them. She is suing the federal government over the threatened species status of polar bears because it inhibits the state`s ability to search for oil.
The governor joins me now. First of all, I have to ask you, how is Trig, your newborn?
GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) AK: Oh, Trig is doing wonderfully. Thank you so much for asking. He`s an awesome bundle of joy. Thank you, Glenn.
BECK: I have to tell you, governor, I was so impressed with the way - - your child was born with Down`s syndrome and I was just so impressed with the way you and your husband handled that. As a father with special needs.
Tell me about the polar bear lawsuit?
PALIN: Well, we are suing the federal government, recognizing that the Endangered Species Act is not a place to kind of mess around with in terms of listing as threatened a species that right now is very, very healthy. In fact, the number of polar bear has risen dramatically in the last 30 years. Our fear being that extreme environmentalists will use this tool, the ESA, to eventually just curtail or halt North Slope production of very rich resources that America needs. You know, we need that oil. We need that gas. I`m glad your fired up about it, Glenn, and I appreciated your monologue there.
BECK: I`m so sick of it, governor. And is it true, ANWR, where they want to drill, it`s 700 miles away from the closest tree, is that true?
PALIN: Well, what`s true about ANWR is that it`s about a 2,000 acre plot, also. A lot of land that is -- shoot, the footprint is smaller than LAX, for instance, that plot that needs to be explored. And ANWR is ripe for exploration. There are so many other parts of Alaska`s plain, again, very, very rich in reserves. And if we want to become more energy independent, it makes sense, obviously, to be looking domestically. Safe, clean domestic supplies of energy that Alaska has and that we`re able and ready and willing to contribute to the rest of the U.S.
It infuriates us also the lockup of ANWR but other areas also is leading to that lack of independence and lack of energy security that we need in America.
BECK: You know, they`re suing now in the State of Massachusetts because what they want to do is build windmills off the coast of Nantucket and the federal government won`t let them do it. And they`re suing because they say the state has a right to build these windmills if they want to do it. If they win, can you use that legislation to say, you know what? I don`t care you say, Washington, we`re drilling, it`s our oil?
PALIN: It is our oil, it is federal land, though, so we need Congress to see the light and quit relying on unstable and these foreign regimes that aren`t real friendly to America, asking them to increase production for America`s security needs and for our energy needs to be met. That`s ridiculous, it`s nonsensical. Again, when your sister state, the 49th state in our union, Alaska, up here we have those resources and they`re ready to be tapped.
BECK: What does the average Alaskan say about this?
PALIN: The average Alaskan says, again, we recognize these reserves being ready to be tapped, and we are ready to contribute more to the U.S. There`s really hungry markets here in Alaska, too, though. We`re paying outrageous prices for our oil and our heating fuel.
BECK: Aren`t you paying the most in the country? I mean, you`re paying over $4 a gallon in Alaska.
PALIN: Yeah. Isn`t that ridiculous? We are. And Alaskans, collectively, we own these resources underground, we want them to be tapped, and we`re ready to contribute more to the U.S. in terms of resources that can lead to a safer nation. And I say this while our nation is at war, while we`re fighting in some sense over energy supplies. It`s ridiculous. We do have the resources here.
BECK: Have you -- have you considered or have you been talked to or anybody said anything about you running with John McCain?
PALIN: There`s a lot of rumor and speculation about -- not just me, though, a lot of governors who may be tapped, at least for consideration. There are rumors out there.
BECK: Well, would you -- would you go to -- I hate to ask you this -- would you go to that den of vipers in Washington if you were asked?
PALIN: You know, if I had to make such a decision today, it would be, no, there are a lot that Alaska could be, should be doing to contribute more to the U.S. and I think that I can help do that as governor of the state staying here.
BECK: You know, I have to -- I don`t mean to be rude, because -- look, I grew up in Washington State. Alaska is spectacular in its beauty. My father worked up in Alaska for a while while they were building the pipeline and everything else. But I have to tell you something, we brought Alaska into the union, if I`m not mistaken, with an eye to the future of its reserves. Why would we not tap the Alaskan reserves right now?
PALIN: That is exactly why we became a state. Fifty years ago, we struck deals with the federal government, saying that we wanted to be let into the union and we`d be a self-sufficient as possible. We`d do that by developing our God-given resources up there and we`d contribute to the federal government and now, though, we`re not allowed to do that. So the federal government and -- again, the extreme environmentalists, are not allowing up to uphold our end of the bargain when we became a state. We are so rich, with millions and millions and millions of barrels oil still sitting under ground, and trillions and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, clean, stable supply that`s not allowed to be tapped.
BECK: Governor, thanks a lot.
