The following is a rush transcript of the August 1, 2010, edition of "Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace." This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
CHRIS WALLACE, ANCHOR: In America's election headquarters, as the campaign for the midterms intensifies, we're going to talk with some top Republicans. In a few minutes we'll sit down with the GOP leaders in the House and Senate for their first joint interview ever.
But this month we're also going to talk with Republicans who are being mentioned as prime contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination. And we begin with perhaps the GOP's most intriguing figure, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who joined us earlier from Alaska.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: Governor Palin, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."
GOV. SARAH PALIN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you so much, Chris. Glad to get to be with you.
WALLACE: President Obama now says that the choice for November is between the party of Bush that drove this country into the ditch and the party of Obama that has gotten us out.
PALIN: I think President Obama is trying to deceive the public in pretending that he was not a part of Congress that has made some decisions in the past that got us to where we are today.
It just amazes me that he continues to look backwards and blame solely President Bush for the conundrum that we're in right now. No, President Obama was a part of that. And that's just one side of the argument that can be made against the comment that he wants Americans to believe that he helped get us out of this, the problem we're in economically. We're not out of the problem. We have a jobless recovery. And that's no recovery in the minds of most Americans.
WALLACE: Let's talk about some of the big issues that are going to be coming up for the midterms between now and November. A federal judge has now blocked the key provisions of the Arizona immigration law. Your response?
PALIN: Well, this is a temporary suspension of some of the key elements in the law that Jan Brewer pushed hard for Arizonans and for the rest of the country to be -- have the result of us being more secure. So you know, that's unfortunate that the judge chose those steps, but it is temporary.
And Jan Brewer, bless her heart, she's going to do all that she can to continue down the litigation path to allow secure borders, because she's -- Jan Brewer has the cojones that our president does not have to look out for all Americans, not just Arizonans, but all Americans, in this desire of ours to secure our borders and allow legal immigration to help build this country, as was the purpose of immigration laws.
If our own president will not enforce a federal law, more power to Jan Brewer and 44 other states who are in line to help support Jan Brewer in state laws, state efforts, to do what our president won't do.
WALLACE: But, Governor, let's look at the judge's ruling. You said that there was no racial profiling in the law. The judge said there is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens.
You said this falls within Arizona's authority. The judge said it creates a burden only the federal government has the authority to impose.
PALIN: Well, I think there are some inconsistent arguments there, because we've seen state laws as it applies to sanctuary cities, where some states are allowing sanctuary cities. That trumps the federal law. And yet there -- nobody is saying boo about that. Nobody's challenging...
WALLACE: Well, no, no. She took up the sanctuary...
PALIN: ... that from the Obama administration.
WALLACE: Forgive me. She did she did take out the sanctuary cities. She said that they can ban those.
PALIN: But my point is if the Obama administration did not put up a fight at all against the -- this idea, even, of having the sanctuary cities, and the judge did such a thing.
But it -- this is -- this is temporary. There are many, many more steps to take. And Jan Brewer and other governors who are protecting their citizens, protecting the nation as a whole, were very, very thankful that they're willing to go toe-to-toe and go all the way to the Supreme Court if need be and get this thing resolved.
WALLACE: Let's turn to the Bush tax cuts, which are also becoming a big issue, the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. The Obama White House is now saying end the tax cuts. And these are the tax cuts for the top 2 percent of all households in America. You can save $678 billion and it won't hurt the recovery.
Governor, if you're serious, as you say you are, about the deficit, don't you have to do something?
PALIN: To reduce deficit spending and our enormous debt, you reign in spending. You cut the budget. You don't take more from the private sector and grow government with it. And that's exactly what Obama has in mind with this expiration of Bush tax cuts proposal of his.
His commitment to let previous tax cuts expire are going to lead to even fewer job opportunities for Americans, because it's the job creators who will be taxed. The fewer dollars that they have to reinvest in their own businesses and hire more people, the worse it is for all Americans.
So, no. You know, here again, the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress -- they're all wet on this idea. It's idiotic to think about increasing taxes at a time like this.
WALLACE: But you know, they would argue, "Look, the economy did just fine during the Clinton years. The rates on the top 2 percent would be restored to what they were during the Clinton years."
The Republicans keep talking about being deficit hawks. This is $678 billion you're not going to pay for. They're saying you're being hypocritical. I say "you" -- I'm talking about Republicans.
PALIN: Yeah. No, this is going to result in the largest tax increase in U.S. history. And again, it's idiotic. And my palm isn't large enough to write -- to have written all my notes down on what this tax increase -- what it will result in.
Let me just go through a couple of things that I want people to be aware of, because, you know, the spin coming from Gibbs and the White House -- you're never going to get the truth out of their messaging.
But Democrats are poised now to cause this largest tax increase in U.S. history. It's a tax increase of $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years, and it will have an effect on every single American who pays an income tax.
Small businesses especially will be hit hardest. And small businesses account for roughly 70 percent of all of our job creation in this country. So raising taxes on these employers is the worst thing that can happen.
WALLACE: Can I just ask you, what do you have written on your hand? PALIN: $3.8 trillion, next 10 years, so I didn't say 3.7 and then get dinged, you know, by the -- by the liberals saying I didn't know what I was talking about.
But these higher income tax rates, though -- it's going to -- it's going to result in things that people aren't understanding is a part of this -- the reinstatement of the marriage penalty tax, cutting the child tax credit in half, higher investment taxes, capital gains taxes increasing 15 percent to 20 percent. Qualified dividends -- those taxes going up. Elimination of certain exemptions and deductions and a phasing out of personal exemptions.
WALLACE: OK.
PALIN: We could go on and on and on about what's a part of this expiration of the Bush tax cuts that people, I think, are just superficially hearing information on. They need to delve in there. They need to dig in there and get the information, get the facts, and don't believe the spin coming from the White House.
WALLACE: I want to -- I want to turn to one other issue with you and that's Afghanistan, where there are growing doubts about whether we're ever able to establish a stable country with a strong central government.
And more and more people are now saying, "Maybe we should pull out this big ground force, 100,000 American troops roughly, and go back to trying to kill our enemy with Special Forces and drones."
PALIN: Well, everything needs to be on the table in order to win this war on terror. And we do need that strong ground force. We've been put in a weaker position, though. And we have to, I believe, undo some of those decisions that President Obama has announced.
And we don't tell the enemy when it is that we're going to essentially wave that white flag and say we're leaving. No, we're in it to win it. And if we're not, then the American public needs to know that, too.
We don't want to send our sons and daughters over there for some kind of futile effort, Chris, that it's -- we're becoming war-weary in this country. We want to know that if we're engaged in such activity where we are protecting our own country, we're helping to protect our allies, we had better be in it for -- if it's the long haul, it's a long haul.
But we had better be in it to win it or, no, we're not going to keep supporting this idea of sending innocents, our young men and women, America's finest, over there for some futile effort.
WALLACE: Let's talk a little bit of politics. Your political action committee recently put out a video. It's called the so-called "Mama Grizzlies" and let's take a look at it:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: It seems like it's kind of a mom awakening in the last year and a half, where women are rising up and saying, "No, we've had enough already," because moms kind of just know when something's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: I'm curious, Governor, why are you targeting women? Are you trying to create a women's movement for this November and possibly for 2012?
PALIN: Well, it just so happens that these commonsense constitutional conservative women are willing to put it all on the line, and they're going to make a lot of sacrifices in order to serve their country.
They have a lot of common sense. They just happen to be women. And I support them strongly and wholly. They have common sense. They know that we have to extend the Bush tax cuts. They have to repeal the budget- busting bills like "Obamacare" and talk of cap and tax energy taxes. They have to rein in spending in Congress. They have to adopt policies that will allow us to be energy independent to get us back on the right track.
That video was all about supporting those women, men too, with common sense, with a desire to protect our Constitution and the free market in America and turn some things around in this country.
Now, everything that I just mentioned, what we need to do, those things that have not been doing, are resulting in the congressional approval rating being in the tank, you know, 11 percent, which is a reflection, too, on what's coming out of the White House.
That video was about supporting people who want to get the country back on the right track just using some common sense, using some wisdom and not underestimating the wisdom of the people.
WALLACE: Which brings me to 2012, I know one of your favorite subjects, but you and I are always going to play back and forth on this. The polls show...
PALIN: Yeah.
WALLACE: ... that your favorable rating among the Republican contenders is higher than any of the others, but you're polarizing. And I want to put up a Quinnipiac poll which shows that Republicans have a favorable opinion of you by a margin of four to one. But among independents, opinion is unfavorable by a margin of 50 to 33.
Question: Do you care about that? And how do you persuade the American people that you're qualified to be president?
PALIN: Well, I've never committed to running for president, for one, and I know that polls are fickle, so we won't even talk about the approval rating or the favorability. As for the unfavorable, you know, I don't blame people for not really knowing what it is, in some instances -- what I stand for or what my record is because if I believed everything that I read or heard in the media, I wouldn't like me either. So you know, that's one thing.
But I want to make sure that we have, especially in these historic midterm elections -- we have people elected -- and I want to help them get there -- to turn this country around and put it back on the right track. And you know, people are going to be worried about 2012 in future months, but that's not where my focus is.
WALLACE: And finally, I want to ask you one sideline question. Is that reporter Joe McGinniss still camped out at the house he rented next door to you?
PALIN: He is. And we just avoid certain angles in the house. And we avoid the front yard. And we're doing a lot of things out and about around Alaska to have our summer fun and our outdoor recreation. We've changed our behavior as a result of our new neighbor.
WALLACE: And has it been a problem? Or do you just go with the flow?
PALIN: Well, only dead fish go with the flow. So we won't ever just go with the flow and accept that somebody has infringed upon our privacy to try to kind of hamper some of our freedom and hamper our fun. So, no, not just going with the flow. Changing our behavior.
But I guess it's -- in October the guy finally moves back to the east coast and goes and does his thing to somebody else. That -- you know, like Todd says, some people just need to get a life. Well, bless his heart. He needs to get a life.
WALLACE: Governor Palin, I want to thank you so much. It's always a pleasure talking with you. Who knew that I was going to say "go with the flow" and it would turn out to be an Alaska straight line?
PALIN: Well, we'll always find something to tie Alaska in. Thank you so much, Chris.
WALLACE: You bet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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