FRC Turns Down Palin Vid for Summit

Amanda Carpenter | September 12, 2008 9:57 AM

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins declined to show a video from the McCain campaign about Sarah Palin at his Voters Values Summit that began today.

The Christian Broadcasting Network's

David Brody wrote Perkins turned down a video because it was not an adequate substitute for a in-person appearance.

Perkins told CBN:

“Values voters have been excited by the pro-family and pro-life content of the 2008 GOP platform. It is a model we want to see all parties embrace. The excitement over Gov. Sarah Palin has spread across the country and is undiminished. As this hectic campaign got underway, we renewed our invitations to the major party tickets to address our Summit for 20 minutes each. That standard format was done to ensure fairness and to spare us another round of intrusive IRS inquiries regarding favoritism toward any candidate or party. Though we prevailed against an unwarranted complaint last year, winning an all-clear from the IRS cost us thousands in legal fees and staff time. Accepting any video from one campaign would have violated a proven format and exposed us to a complaint that all the candidates did not receive this option. We expect to have a tremendous event the next two days.”

Palin was planning to attend the summit, but recently canceled because of the trip she made to Alaska to see her son off on his deployment to Iraq yesterday.

McCain and Obama were both invited to speak at the conference Saturday, but neither confirmed an appearance.