On "The View," McCain said that Palin would help him reform Washington, in part by putting a stop to the funding of lawmakers' pet projects through earmarks. When co-host Barbara Walters pointed out that Palin requested earmarks of her own, McCain interjected: "No, not as governor she didn't."
For years, McCain has railed against the practice of lawmakers slipping in requests to fund pet projects without the standard oversight and review.
Every year, he stands on the Senate floor and reads aloud the list of earmarked spending instructions lawmakers have quietly inserted into defense appropriations bills requiring the Pentagon to buy unwanted or unneeded services and equipment.
In recent years, his lists of "objectionable" spending included almost $2 million in earmarks that Palin requested when she was mayor of Wasilla.
McCain's persevering objections and a series of scandals involving Appropriations Committee members led to some changes, including more transparency, which Obama supported in the Senate and which Palin has since hailed.
The changes were spurred in part by McCain's repeatedly calling attention to what he referred to as "the bridge to nowhere," a span designed to connect Ketchikan, Alaska, with the city's airport on a nearby island. The bridge became the best-known example of "earmark abuse," though many in Alaska still thought the project was a good idea.
When she ran for governor, Palin backed building the bridge. But after she was elected, it had become clear that Congress would not pay for it and she declared that it would no longer be built. The money originally earmarked for the bridge was used by Alaska for other purposes.
Since then, Palin has cut back her requests for earmarks, submitting $198 million in requests for 2009 fiscal year compared with $256 million for the previous year, her first as governor. Her position was best summed up during a news conference she held this summer with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) when she said that political realities required Alaskans to think differently about earmarks.
"Both presidential candidates have both confirmed that they will work towards earmark reforms," she said. "So, just recognizing that, seeing the writing on the wall and dealing with it, is where I am."
During Gibson's interview with Palin, he singled out two of the odder-sounding requests, for millions of dollars to study the genetics of harbor seals and the mating habits of crabs. "Isn't that exactly the kind of thing that John McCain is objecting to?" he asked.
