Palin Takes Hard Line on National Security, Softens Stance on Global Warming

Palin, 44, whose political career began with the PTA and a city-council seat in Wasilla and who obtained her first passport last year, told Gibson that she was up to the challenge of being Sen. John McCain's vice president.

Palin said she knew immediately that she was prepared to run as vice president when McCain offered her the job. It is a core of shared values and drive that makes them a good team, she said.

"I answered [McCain] 'yes,' because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink."

Related

WATCH: Palin on God and War

WATCH: Does Palin Have Experience for VP?

WATCH: Palin Clarifies 'God' and War Remarks

"I thought yes right off the bat. … When he offered me the position as his running mate, the first thing I said to him was, 'Do you really think that I could help the ticket? Do you really think that I could help this country? Absolutely, I want to do this with you.'"

On Israel's right to defend itself against a nuclear-armed and bellicose Iranian regime, Palin agreed with McCain that the country had a right to take action.

"Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second-guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security."

Iran, she said, presented a threat not only to Israel but to "everyone in the world."

"We have got to make sure that these weapons of mass destruction, that nuclear weapons are not given to those hands of [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, not that he would use them, but that he would allow terrorists to be able to use them," she said.

Though seemingly flummoxed by the term, Palin agreed in principle to the "Bush doctrine," or the idea that the United States has the right to preemptively strike another country before first being attacked.

"Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.

When asked whether the United States should be able to invade Pakistan in pursuit of terrorists along the Afghanistan border, Palin demurred.

"Is that a yes?" asked Gibson. "That you think we have the right to go across the border with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, to go after terrorists who are in the Waziristan area?"