On Thursday, MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt caught up with Sarah Palin at the Capitol, and asked her about the recent wave of sexual harassment and assault allegations in the media. Palin responded as one might expect, noting that because she carries a gun, people don’t mess with her. However, she also talked seriously about the importance of the issue of sexual harassment.
The transcript below contains several comments from another cut of the interview, which can be seen here:
HUNT: [Do you] want to talk about Al Franken and what happened today?
PALIN: Oh, it’s amazing what happened today, the revelation there. And knowing that, you know, it’s very important that we are consistent and that double-standards aren’t being applied. It’s not a partisan issue. So, when we see this happening today, I think it leads to a lot of questions about what standards are gonna be applied to whom.
HUNT: Have you ever experienced sexual harassment in the workplace as an ambitious woman in public life?
PALIN: Um, you know, I think a whole lot of people know that I’m probably packing, so I don’t think there’s a whole lot of people who would necessarily mess with me. And I don’t mean to be lighthearted about it because it’s a serious issue. It really stinks for women in the workplace that for too long, men have thought that they can get away with kind of being that old school thinking that it’s okay to belittle and harass women in general.
… In some respects, it’s great that people are finally talking about this issue because it’s got to stop. If we truly are one standing up for equality in the workplace, the only way that we’re going to really see manifested equality is for that practice to stop.