Cindy McCain defends Palin pick, husband

WASHINGTON - Cindy McCain said Sunday that Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin understands what's at stake in national security issues in part because she is governor of Alaska, whose borders nearly touch Russia's.

The wife of soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain also said she's "offended" by Democrats calling her husband elitist because of the number of homes their family owns.

Asked about Palin's credentials, Cindy McCain told ABC-TV's "This Week:" "The experience that she comes from is with what she's done in the government. And also, remember: Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So, it's not as if she doesn't understand what's at stake here."

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Alaskan and Russian islands are fewer than 3 miles apart in the Bering Strait. The two mainlands are about 55 miles apart.

Reminded that Democrats are calling Palin too inexperienced to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, she responded by saying that Palin's son is about be deployed to Iraq.

"I asked her, how do you feel about this? This is two things you have to do, is not only possibly be a vice presidential candidate, but also, you know, listen, to worry about your son," Cindy McCain recounted of her conversation with Palin before the vice presidential announcement. "And she looked me square in the eye and she said, 'You know something? I'm a mother. I can do it.'"

Democratic Sen. John Kerry, his party's 2004 presidential nominee, disputed Palin's credentials a few minutes later on the show, saying the Alaska governor has "zero, zero experience in foreign policy."

It's unusual for the spouse of a presidential candidate to go on a Sunday talk show, but Cindy McCain used her 10 minutes to defend her husband from charges of elitism.

She also signaled she'd want to focus on humanitarian crises as first lady, talking about her meetings in Georgia last week with refugees of the recent Russian invasion.

Georgia "is a wonderful, young democracy," McCain said. "We can't let it go. We can't let a country come back in and take it back down to a Soviet-style government. This is democracy, and that's what we're all about."

She added: "The United States is the best at what we do. We're the ones that give the most and give the earliest, every time something happens. And I'd like to continue that, and also encourage others to get involved. You don't have to cross an ocean to be of help."

McCain bristled at charges by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama that her husband is out of touch with most Americans because of the eight homes their family owns.

"My husband was a Navy boy. His father and mother were in the Navy. I mean, there's nothing elitist about that," she said. "I'm offended by Barack Obama saying that about my husband."