To be a fly on the wall....
Sarah Palin met with Billy Graham over the weekend in North Carolina. The video of her arriving and speaking to the media is below and the story about her visit is below the video.
From The Charlotte Observer:
Sarah Palin, the hottest name in the Republican Party, took a detour from her book-signing tour Sunday to dine with Billy Graham at his mountaintop home in Montreat.
"He's followed her career and likes her strong stand on faith," said son Franklin Graham, who was present for the 2 1/2-hour get-together. "Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up."
The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate told Billy Graham about how she came to faith in God as a girl in Bible camp.
She quizzed him on the presidents he's known and wanted his take on what the Bible says about Israel, Iran and Iraq, Franklin Graham reported.
Graham's son also confirmed his father got a call Nov. 12 from President Obama, a Democrat, who was phoning from Air Force One as he jetted to Asia.
"He said he wanted to come by and meet my father sometime," Franklin Graham said. Obama also wished the evangelist belated birthday wishes - he turned 91 on Nov. 7. Graham told the president he'd be happy to meet with him and then shared a verse from Proverbs, his son said.
Billy Graham is no longer a regular visitor to the White House and his travels are now room to room, not country to country.
But a private meeting with the Charlotte-born evangelist - still one of the country's most admired figures - remains high on the to-do lists of politicians from both parties.
Palin, who will sign copies of "Going Rogue," her memoir, today at Fort Bragg, brought several family members with her to the Graham homestead: her mother, her father, a maternal aunt and daughter Piper and son Trig.
Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, a Raleigh-based evangelist, also joined the dinner. They ate chicken breast, roast beef and green beans - washed down, of course, with that most Southern of beverages, iced tea. All the food was catered, Franklin Graham said.
A little after 3 p.m., Palin and her family arrived at the Asheville airport, where she was met by Franklin Graham. The two got to know each other this year in Alaska. She accompanied him as Samaritan's Purse, a Boone-based international relief agency he heads, delivered 44,000 pounds of groceries to Eskimo families in villages along the frozen Yukon River who had been hit by a harsh winter.
Samaritan's Purse has an office in Alaska, and Franklin Graham owns a cabin in the state. Graham also leads the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which his father founded decades ago.
Billy Graham told his son that he ought to invite Palin to visit the next time she was near North Carolina. Palin accepted.
At the airport, prior to the dinner, she told reporters that she considered the prospect of meeting Billy Graham "a once-in-a-lifetime honor" and credited the evangelist with being perhaps the world's most influential figure in passing along "issues that matter," including the eternal ones.
At Graham's Montreat home, he and Palin sat one-on-one for 35 to 40 minutes, talking about spiritual and other matters, Franklin Graham said.
Billy Graham has trouble hearing now, but Palin spoke directly and loudly enough, Franklin Graham said.
Graham signed Bibles for her parents, her aunt and each of Palin's children. And he signed two for her - a small one she can carry with her and a large New King James version with margins big enough to write in during Bible study time.
Palin also came bearing a gift, Franklin Graham said. She brought the evangelist a late birthday present: a Carhartt jacket, a heavy outdoorsy coat that's also considered a sort of uniform of sorts in cold Alaska.