In an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “America’s News HQ” Sunday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin voiced her support for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s running mate choice, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.
Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, told host Shannon Bream she offered a sharp contrast to the current officeholders, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
“I’m excited that now we have a team of Romney-Ryan that will certainly offer an alternative to the vision that Barack Obama and Joe Biden have for America. Where the Obama ticket believes that growing government and taking away about personal freedoms, and the corresponding responsibility that comes with our freedoms, taking that away from Americans. And this conflict of vision that we’ll see on the other side is a sound and secure vision for America that understands the free market, that understands what it takes to get the economy roaring back to life,” Palin said.
Palin explained that the Ryan pick will heighten the enthusiasm on the right for the 2012 election and make it more difficult for the Obama campaign to distract attention away from the president’s first term.
“Well, you know, I think a lot of maybe tea party patriots have understood wisely that they had no choice,” she said. “Of course, they are going to go with anybody but Obama. And now, yes, I believe that there will be a strengthening, more enthusiasm because this now — this ticket represents the message that this campaign is about the economy and with Paul Ryan, who is known for his conscientious concern for our budget and for getting America out of debt — this makes it tougher for Obama to do his continual distracting and dividing and pivoting off the economy because this ticket represents this campaign is about the economy.”
But Palin made it clear that unlike her go-around in 2008 on the Republican ticket, this time she and others like her will have Ryan’s back if the media attempts to lie and distort his reputation and record.
“Yeah, and as I was thrust into this, you know, going from Wasilla to the national — international — stage with four days preparation, I believe that Paul Ryan will certainly be scrutinized,” Palin said. “He’ll be vetted but there is a lot of us who will have his back and we will call out the media for their lies, for their distortions as they try to thrash his reputation and his record.”
Palin continued, “I felt, Shannon, that as I was thrust into the spotlight didn’t have a lot of people in the McCain campaign who had my back and would correct the media. They had a lot of friends in the media and they wanted jobs with the media afterwards. They didn’t really defend what I really stood for and what my record was all about, and my reputation was trashed.”
“So, I think Paul Ryan will be able to benefit from those of us who perhaps have lived it and said, ‘I’ll be darned if the same thing happens to him.’ And with four years ago the campaign — I don’t want any poor reflection on John McCain, Sen. John McCain, whom I dearly love and respect when it comes to any of the mistakes that were made when it came to that — the VP pick four years ago.”