Insider: Sarah Palin uninformed on Latino issues

November 24, 2009 by THE POLITICUS

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Insider: Sarah Palin uninformed on Latino issues
By JONATHAN MARTIN | 11/24/09 1:03 AM EST

A top adviser on Hispanic issues to John McCain’s presidential campaign said Sunday that a joint interview with McCain and Sarah Palin planned for Univision last fall had to be canceled because Palin was unprepared to discuss Latin America policy.

“She did not feel comfortable speaking about issues regarding Hispanics and Latin America,” GOP consultant Ana Navarro told Univision anchor Jorge Ramos in an interview. “Those are not topics that come up frequently in Alaska. So she asked to cancel the interview and, unfortunately, you were already there.”

With both McCain and Barack Obama aggressively courting the Hispanic vote, each sat for multiple interviews with Ramos, whose evening news broadcast on the Spanish-language channel draws millions of viewers.

Both presidential candidates also agreed to a joint sit-down with their running mate. But on Oct. 9, the day that McCain and Palin were to face Ramos together outside of Milwaukee, only the Republican presidential candidate sat for the interview.

A campaign source familiar with the events leading up to the interview described it as a near-crisis situation, with McCain officials worried that Ramos would say on the air that Palin wasn’t appearing because she was not capable of discussing Hispanic issues — a charge disputed by one current Palin aide.

“Initially, campaign staff was suggesting we tell Univision there had been a scheduling conflict and have only McCain do the interview,” said the source. “I could not see how this would not be worse, though, because McCain and Palin were doing a joint rally in the outskirts of Milwaukee and the interview was to be conducted immediately after in the same arena.”

So, this source said, “we told Jorge Ramos the truth: She was not briefed, not familiar with the issues and just was not comfortable giving the interview.”

Part of their fear stemmed from the fact that it was the second time campaign officials had to cancel the joint interview session, according to two McCain sources.

Originally, McCain and Palin were to do a joint interview with Ramos in the days immediately after the September convention. But Palin, feeling unprepared, pulled out and McCain wound up talking to Ramos by himself in Colorado Springs.

Read more @ http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29847_Page2.html

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