McCain, Palin Decry ‘Gotcha Journalism’ over Palin’s Pakistan Remark

John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) decried what they called “gotcha journalism” in an interview yesterday with CBS’s Katie Couric, defending Palin’s statement last Friday that the U.S. should “absolutely” launch cross-border attacks on terrorist targets in Pakistan.

The two indicated that either Palin or the journalist who reported the comment (CBS’s Scott Conroy) did not hear clearly the voter’s question on Pakistan policy.

“I understand, this day and age, gotcha journalism,” McCain said. “Was that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn’t hear the qestion very well, you don’t know the context of the conversation, grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don’t announce you’re going to attack another country.”

“In the context, this was a voter, a constituent, hollerin’ out a question from across an area asking, ‘What are you gonna do about Pakistan, you better have an answer to Pakistan,'” Palin said. “I said, ‘We’re gonna do what we have to do to protect the United States of America.”

Palin has caught criticism for the comment, made at a Philadelphia restaurant on Friday, that concurs with a stance Barack Obama has held. Obama caught his own flak when he asserted, during an early Democratic primary debate, that the U.S. should launch attacks on terrorist targets in Pakistan if it had reliable intelligence and the Pakistani government would not act. McCain has criticized Obama for making the assertion, arguing that U.S. leaders should not publicly announce such a policy.

Couric disagreed with the assessment of how Palin’s comment was reported.

“It’s not a gotcha, she was talking to a voter,” Couric said.