Sarah Palin bus tour: Todd Palin's perspective on 2012 election
Newsweek/DailyBeast
The "First Dude" says he鈥檚 not pushing her to run. Todd Palin chatted with reporters at a coffee shop in Pennsylvania after touring the Gettysburg battlefields. It is , which is stopping at historical sites up the East Coast. 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to her what she decides to do. I am not pushing her either way. It鈥檚 her decision,鈥� Palin told a small group of reporters after his wife met with customers at the coffee shop. 鈥淭here are pros and cons of course. But this country, we have to get back on the right track.鈥�
At Express Coffee in Dillsburg, he also denied that the bus tour is a 鈥渢est run鈥� for his family saying his children have grown up with their mother in the spotlight.
鈥淭his family has been tested. When people talk about how she was just plucked up out of Wasilla, you have to look at her career. Every step in her career is another step for the family, and we were prepared. These kids grew up around the mayor of a small town. Local politics is in your face every day, it鈥檚 not like you get on a plane and fly to D.C. or Juneau.鈥�
When asked if the aboard their 鈥淥ne Nation鈥� tour bus much like John McCain did in 2008 he said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a different scenario鈥� because his wife 鈥渋s employed by Fox.鈥�
Earlier Tuesday, she slipped out鈥攗nbeknownst to the press covering her鈥攍eaving her tour bus behind at her Gettysburg hotel. Reporters who believed she was still inside waited by the bus until they realized Palin was already touring the Gettysburg battlefields. The press scrambled to catch up with her at the Gettysburg National Cemetery before she took off again to Dillsburg. It seemed as though she was trying to fool the mass of press trying to follow her tour that鈥檚 taken her through historical sites in Washington D.C. and up the East Coast without a schedule or press notifications, but Todd Palin said the 鈥渋ntention鈥� of the tour is to bring the group (reporters included) to see historic sites around the country, not to allude to the press.
鈥淪he talks to you guys, you are getting a lot, right? Being here you are getting a lot. There is nothing staged, there is nothing advertised. How many in this group have been to Gettysburg before? How many have been to the national archives? So that鈥檚 the whole intention of this tour,鈥� he said.
Sarah Palin talked to the customers about job creation as tourists and reporters crammed into the small coffee shop to try to ask Palin questions or take a picture with her. One supporter pleaded with Palin to run saying, 鈥淵ou must run, seriously.鈥� She told the customers she was chatting with that she was still deciding herself whether to get into the race.
Palin said she disagreed with a troop withdrawal deadline from Afghanistan: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not good war strategy.鈥�
鈥淚t sounds like they are going to be starting to come home and I鈥檝e said along with Sen. McCain and so many others the conditions on the ground need to dictate when our troops start coming home instead of having some kind of political decision being made with a drop dead deadline to send our troops home. We show the enemy our playbook, that doesn鈥檛 make any sense,鈥� Palin told The Daily Beast.
She was also asked whether she is in favor of a federal subsidy of ethanol鈥攁n important issue in every presidential race because of the Iowa caucuses鈥攁nd called for the elimination of all energy subsidies, which may not go over well in the first caucus state.
鈥淚 think that all of our energy subsides need to be re-looked at today and eliminated, and we need to make sure that we鈥檙e investing and allowing our businesses to invest in reliable energy products right now that aren鈥檛 going to necessitate subsidies because bottom line, we can鈥檛 afford it.鈥�
If she runs, energy policy and her oil and gas record in Alaska will be the issues she鈥檒l want to focus on during a presidential campaign. Tuesday she said we need to 鈥渄evelop our God-given resources, our coal, our oil, our natural gas鈥攖o invest鈥攖o allow our businesses to invest in alternative energies, but not necessarily government subsidizing鈥攑icking winners and losers in the energy market. We鈥檝e got to allow the free market to dictate what鈥檚 most efficient and economical for our nation鈥檚 economy. But no, at this time, our country can鈥檛 afford subsidies. Before though we even start arguing about some of these domestic subsidies that need to be eliminated鈥攕hould be鈥攚e need to look at ending subsidies and loans to foreign countries and their energy production that we鈥檙e relying on like Brazil.鈥�
Palin is now at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, but it鈥檚 unclear where her next stop may be. As reporters chase her tour bus across the Northeast it鈥檚 Palin that鈥檚 in the driver鈥檚 seat.
Shushannah Walshe covers politics for The Daily Beast. She is the co-author of . She was a reporter and producer at the Fox News Channel from August 2001 until the end of the 2008 presidential campaign.
