Palin hits back at Obama, media
2010-11-27 12:30
Washington - US conservative standard bearer Sarah Palin has accused critics of unfairly singling her out after a slip of the tongue reignited debate over her grasp of world affairs.
After mistakenly urging radio listeners to "stand with our North Korean allies," the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, who looks increasingly likely to run for the White House in 2012, protested that President Barack Obama had gotten away with similar gaffes.
"(The media) couldn't resist the temptation to turn a simple one word slip-of-the-tongue of mine into a major political headline," Palin wrote on her Facebook page late on Thursday.
In a satirical "Thanksgiving Message to All 57 States" Palin cobbled together several Obama gaffes and linked to YouTube clips of them.
During a campaign stop in Oregon on May 9, 2008 Obama said: "I've now been in 57 states, I think one left to go," when he meant to say 47.
Another of the gaffes occurred on May 26, 2009, when Obama said the US Constitution had been "put to paper more than 20 centuries ago" during his announcement of the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.
"If you can't remember hearing about them, that's because for the most part the media didn't consider them newsworthy," Palin said.
Always divisive and sometimes meandering in her speech, Palin has staked her popularity on conservative views and an unorthodox approach to politics.
But her disregard for the usual verbosity and pomp of Washington has led some critics to portray her as unfit for the Oval Office.
As a vice presidential candidate in 2008, Palin was particularly criticised for her alleged lack of knowledge on key world issues.
In the Facebook posting Palin tried to beef up her foreign policy credentials, claiming she was often "ahead of the curve" on issues relating to the Korean peninsula.
"The one word slip occurred yesterday during one of my seven back-to-back interviews wherein I was privileged to speak to the American public about the important, world-changing issues before us."
"I corrected myself seconds after my slip-of-the-tongue, and... made it abundantly clear that pressure should be put on China to restrict energy exports to the North Korean regime."
- SAPA
