If Palin were presidentBy: CNN's Rebecca Stewart
(CNN)-Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin slammed the Obama administration for "dithering" on Libya and accused fellow Republicans of "having the fighting instinct of sheep" while speaking overseas in India on Saturday.
While Palin's prepared remarks outlined her vision for America, her sharpest comments came during a Q-and-A session where she entertained 'if you were president'-style hypotheticals.
Palin was invited to deliver the keynote address at the India Today Conclave, an annual gathering of India's elite including business leaders, politicians and academics. It is sponsored by an Indian Communications company and named for the India Today magazine.
The potential presidential candidate addressed the importance of energy and the influence of India's relationship with the United States in prepared remarks titled "My Vision of America." But when she sat down for the question-and-answer session with the editor-in-chief of India Today, Aroon Purie, her attention turned to topics of a presidential nature.
She was asked how she would respond to certain events if she were president, including financial assistance to banks and Libya. On Libya she said "It would have been different." Remarking that the U.S. has a tradition of not criticizing the president's foreign policy on "foreign soil," she continued, "Certainly, there would have been more decisiveness, more commitment to those that are freedom fighters, that they know that America is on their side.
"There would have been more decisiveness, less dithering," Palin stated.
And of financial assistance given to banks she said that she'd rather "free markets decide who the winners and who the losers would be" instead of politicians.
"I don't think it was such a tough situation that it had to lead to the bailouts that our U.S. government engaged in," she stated. "What it led to is more debt."
Calling the Tea Party "a grassroots movement from the ground up" that is a "beautiful movement" that will grow and be more influential, Palin asserted that the Tea Party movement will "hold our politicians accountable."
She also shared lessons from the 2008 campaign trail, where she learned "You can't necessarily trust the mainstream media to accurately report on your record…your values...Not when those in the media already have their chosen one...You have to have the boldness and courage to set the record yourself."
Palin remarked that her approach is different than that of her GOP peers. "Too often Republicans have the fighting instinct of sheep and you know they're just going to sit back and take it…I don't have that within me…I will put my foot down and I will state the truth so that people have correct information and they can make decisions for themselves," she declared.
Palin also described herself as "independent" saying that "some Republican players within the Republican hierarchy don't really like that." And she revealed that "Todd Palin is not even registered with the Republican Party [in Alaska] because he's such an independent."
When asked why she lost the election, Palin joked that it was "because the media," but continued on to provide her insight on the views of the electorate saying "Candidate Obama had a strong campaign, he was the agent of change and though he was inexperienced and relatively unknown people so desired that change."
Purie noted that Palin "could have been a change too," and she responded, "I wasn't the top of the ticket. Remember? I'm not saying I should've been."
And when the conversation turned to the 2012 ticket, she quickly stated the she hasn't made a decision on whether to run. Observing that "there's plenty of time to deliberate," Palin affirmed that she is still thinking about a presidential candidacy.
She's also thought about Todd Palin's title if she became president. When asked if he would be called the "first man," Palin responded "Probably the first gentleman."
"Man, that's getting way ahead of ourselves, isn't it? Yes, it is," she said.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/19/if-palin-were-president/#more-150854
