Palin suggests Chronicle withheld Obama remarks
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Monday, November 3, 2008
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in a campaign appearance Sunday, criticized comments about coal technology that Sen. Barack Obama made to The Chronicle editorial board in January, and suggested that the newspaper withheld the information from the public - even though the interview has been posted on the newspaper's Web site since it was given.
At a rally in Ohio, Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, used the taped remarks to attack Obama's energy policy.
"Barack Obama explained his plan to The San Francisco Chronicle this year," she said. "And he said that, sure, if the industry wants to build coal-fired power plants, then they can go ahead and try, he says. But they can do it only in a way that will bankrupt the coal industry.
"You gotta listen to the tape," she continued. "Why is this audio tape just now surfacing?"
Voices in the crowd could be heard shouting, "Liberal media!"
"This interview was given many months ago," Palin told the audience. "You should have known about this."
The Republican National Committee also sent out blog reports pushing the notion of a "hidden" Obama videotape withheld by The Chronicle.
Obama sat with The Chronicle editorial board Jan. 17 for the interview, and it has been available in its entirety on the newspaper's Web site since it took place in San Francisco during the Democratic primary season. In his wide-ranging session with the paper, the Democratic senator from Illinois spoke about his energy plan and an "aggressive" cap-and-trade policy, and spoke about coal technology.
"So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them, because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted," he said. In the same interview, the senator said that "if technology allows us to use coal in a clean way, we should pursue it."
On Sunday, Obama's campaign said his comments were taken out of context by Palin, and that Obama called the notion of eliminating coal plants entirely "an illusion."
John Diaz, editor of The Chronicle's editorial pages, said the paper not only posted the entire audio and video of the Obama interview, but promoted it to readers.
"How can anyone suggest that we hid an interview that we did, immediately put up on the Web - and advertised to our readers?" said Diaz. "We promoted it like hell ... and I'm sure the Clinton campaign and the McCain campaign scrubbed it. You can still find the whole 48 minutes and 33 seconds online."
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