Palin Tries to Shore Up Foreign Policy Creds

Palin's meetings with foreign leaders were closely guarded from the press.

ByABC News
September 23, 2008, 3:59 PM

Sept. 23, 2008— -- Seeking to shore up her foreign policy credentials, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin met with foreign leaders today as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York.

Her meetings closely guarded by the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain garnered plenty of media attention but not for the reasons the campaign might have hoped.

The campaign barely allowed journalists access to Palin's meetings, setting off a firestorm that dominated the tone of her press coverage, on a day the McCain camp had hoped to quell concerns about the Alaska governor's foreign policy experience with photo ops with foreign leaders.

Accompanied by McCain foreign policy advisers Steve Biegun and Randy Scheunemann, Palin spent 30 minutes with with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for 20 minutes and then spent an hour and a half with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.