Katie Couric’s CBS interview with Sarah Palin this week is a good appetizer for tomorrow night’s debate between Palin and Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden. It dealt with feminism, abortion, global warming, evolution and homosexuality.

Here is the interview in its entirety, along with the main points I drew from it.


Feminism–Palin says she’s a feminist, and that women today have every opportunity that a man has. This implies that she thinks equality between women and men has been achieved.

World view/News sources–Palin couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give a specific source for where she primarily gets her news.

Global warming–She acknowledged that some of it may be man-made, but wouldn’t blame it all on man’s activities. She says it doesn’t matter what caused it, “the point is that it’s real, we need to do something about it.” There wasn’t a follow-up question, though, about how one can know how to fix something if they don’t know what caused it.

Abortion–Palin repeatedly used the word “choose” in this segment of the Couric interview. She affirmed that she is anti-abortion by saying she wants people to “choose life.” She wouldn’t say she thought it should be illegal, saying instead that she would counsel women to “choose life.” She then went on to say she thought society should go further and “support” women who find themselves pregnant in difficult situations, and that she didn’t think women should go to jail for having an abortion. In response to a question about the morning after pill, she said life starts at conception, and that she’d “like to see fewer and fewer abortions in this world.” When pressed on whether she would condemn the morning after pill, she would only say she wouldn’t choose it personally.

Evolution–Palin said she sees the hand of God in the creation of earth, but that this isn’t something that should be taught in science class. Evolution is science that should be taught in science class, she said.

Homosexuality–Palin repeatedly referred to homosexuality as a choice–and that she would not judge people for their choices. As an example, she referenced her best friend who is gay, saying she would not make the choice her friend had made but didn’t judge her.