CBS has been running Katie Couric’s interviews with vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin throughout the week. We just learned the network has one final interview it has declined to air. Fortunately, we have the transcript.
In Arizona preparing for her debate Thursday, Palin needed to do some last-minute grocery shopping at the local Safeway. Couric accompanied the governor to ask some more questions. Outside the store, they paused.
Katie Couric: As we stand before this august building and institution, what do you see as the role of the United States in the world?
Sarah Palin: I see this store as being a force for good in the world. And as Ronald Reagan used to talk about, Safeway being the beacon of light and hope for those who are seeking democratic values and tolerance and freedom. I see our country being able to represent those things that can be looked to … as that leadership, that light needed across the world.
Just inside the store entrance, Couric and Palin passed the circulars with store coupons, and Couric asked how John McCain was going to regulate the collapsing coupon industry.
Couric: Can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you’ve said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?
Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.
Couric: I’m just going to ask you one more time—not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.
Palin: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you. Now let’s see if red delicious apples are still $1.49 a pound.
As Palin consulted her shopping list, Couric asked how she decided what to buy, and whether she was influenced by knowing what the most popular brands were. Palin replied:
Palin: I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at nutrition information and see who’s more apt to be talking about health and wishing for and hoping for the right thing to buy, and who’s actually done it?
Couric wondered why Palin had just gotten her first Safeway Club Card only a year before.
Couric: In preparing for this conversation, a lot of our viewers … and Internet users wanted to know why you did not get a Club Card until last year. And they wondered if that indicated a lack of interest and curiosity in the world, and a preference for paying higher prices on sale items.
Palin: I’m not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a Club Card and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world and shop for yourself.
Couric and Palin walked past the breakfast foods on their way to the checkout lines, and Couric asked what Palin typically eats.
Couric: I was curious, what breakfasts did you regularly eat before you were tapped for this job?
Palin: I’ve eaten most of them, again with a great appreciation for the cereal companies.
Couric: What, specifically?
Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.
Couric: Can you name a few?
Palin: I have a vast variety of sources from which I eat breakfast, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what Washington D.C. is eating?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.
After checking out (Palin saved $11.57 thanks to her club card), the governor extended an offer to Couric:
Palin: All this talk has made me hungry. I’m sure John wouldn’t mind if you came back to the ranch. I make a mean chicken parm!