Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on Friday expressed incredulity that Sarah Palin shot a caribou on her TLC reality show. Interviewing the former governor, she chided, "Some in the lower 48, would say, why did you shoot Rudolph? Though, it's not a reindeer."
Roberts highlighted lefty Hollywood producer Aaron Sorkin, informing that he "calls it a snuff film." She added, "There are some that see this and see the high-powered rifle, and going, really?" (In a humorous moment, Palin dismissed the filmmaker, "Is his name Allen?...I've been calling him Allen.")
Trying to show how hunting is controversial, Roberts added, "I think it also because it was such a high-powered rifle." A perplexed Palin explained, "Well, you can't bring down an animal with a BB gun."
[Video below. MP3 audio here.]
In fairness, Roberts did offer several softball questions usually reserved for liberal politicians. She wondered, "Five children. Who's most like you?" At one point, the anchor asked how Palin and her husband Todd "make it work" over 20-plus years.
However, when Palin complimented the President for flip-flopping on taxes and the compromise, Roberts scolded, "You said flip-flop. He- It's compromise. And that's part of the thing that the American public has been saying. Can't you guys get together? Bipartisanship. And then, he will be accused, as you have done, as saying flip-flop."
A transcript of the second interview, which aired at 7:44am EST, follows:
ROBIN ROBERTS: Back here in Wasilla, Alaska. And I got to tell you, the first thing I noticed when I walked into the Palin home, it is all about family. And that is one thing that has not changed since a journey began, bringing Sarah Palin into the national spotlight.
JOHN MCCAIN: My friends and fellow Americans, the next vice president of the United States, governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska.
PALIN: First, I thought you were going to say that you would never forget the day, August 29th, 2009, because that was my 20th wedding anniversary. So, yeah. My own, little world. It's been quite the roller coaster ride. But, Robin, if you look at where I was then and where I am today, the people who surround me, they're the same people. My close friends. My siblings, my parents, my family. They are still here. That core network of supportive people who are there to help lift you up when you fall down and help bring you back down to earth when, you know, some people would want to put you on a pedestal. That's very, very important to me is knowing that two years later, in that respect, nothing has changed.
ROBERTS: But, what has changed, or has anything changed, not really changed with you, Governor, but come on. You've gone from virtually nowhere to being a power player! How in the world does that happen?
PALIN: Let me tell you one thing that has changed. It's been tempting, once in a while, to start guarding my conversation and start hesitating a little bit, in calling it like I see it. And I've done that my entire life. But because every word that I speak is scrutinized and ultimately, in some corners of the world, it gets mocked and ridiculed and spun into something that it is not, there has been the temptation to kind of pull back a little bit and maybe not be as candid.
ROBERTS: But Sarah Palin has not shied away from her celebrity status. Her reality show on TLC is watched by about three million people. I know you've heard the outrage, the caribou.
[Clip of Sarah Palin's Alaska]
ROBERTS: Some in the lower 48, would say why did you shoot Rudolph? Though, it's not a reindeer. It's a caribou. Aaron Sorkin, I know, Hollywood producer, who calls it a snuff film. There are some that see this and see the high-powered rifle, and going, really?
PALIN: Yeah. I think he has some of the high-powered rifles in his movies and TV shows though. I think those are aimed at human being. Mine is aimed at dinner. So, there's- Is his name Allen?
ROBERTS: Aaron.
PALIN: I've been calling him Allen. His comment on it, I thought his comment was appalling. Basically, he said, I can see her doing that if it were for fashion or it were for something. And I'm like, for fashion? To kill an animal just for the fur? I couldn't believe that came out of him. I thought, certainly, he wouldn't be that hypocritical. We eat, therefore we hunt and I am thankful I get to feed my kids organic food.
ROBERTS: I think it also because it was such a high-powered rifle.
PALIN: Well, you can't bring down an animal with a BB gun.
ROBERTS: You bring up about your 20th anniversary. You and Todd have known each other since high school. Got married at 24. First child at 25. The statistics say you're not supposed to be together. How have both of you been able to make it work?
PALIN: We have different personalities, that's for sure. We have the same core beliefs. And that has allowed us to stay together happily for 22 years now of marriage.
ROBERTS: After talking with his wife, Todd fired up the snow machines, as they call them here. And the Palins took me out behind their house, on the ice of Lake Lucille. With nine-year-old, piper, taking the lead, we checked out the scenery. She doesn't take it all so seriously. There was still time for a little humor about one of her, well, let's say, infamous moments. Here it comes. Here it comes. Where is Russia?
PALIN: I'll tell you, it's not that far away!
ROBERTS: That was another first for me, getting out on a snowmobile like that. I felt better when they told me there were trucks out here earlier. It's frozen solid for some time to come.
