The comment met with derision from Palin's critics and was turned into a punch line for a "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring actress Tina Fey. Appearing as Palin, Fey proclaimed, "I can see Russia from my house!"
In the interview yesterday, when CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked how Alaska's closeness to Russia enhanced her foreign policy experience, Palin said, "Well, it certainly does because our next-door neighbors are foreign countries." Alaska shares a border with Canada.
Palin didn't answer directly when Couric inquired about whether she had been involved in any negotiations with the Russians, but brought up Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where - where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border," she said.
In a rare exchange with reporters earlier yesterday, Palin declined to endorse the candidacy of Senator Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican on trial for corruption.
Outside a firehouse near ground zero of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Republican vice presidential nominee took a handful of questions. She has yet to have a news conference in the four weeks since John McCain chose her as his running mate and has submitted to only three major TV interviews.
Asked if she believed that US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were helping to fight terrorism, she replied, "I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security for our nation. We can never again let them onto our soil."
