SARAH PALIN DOES FIRST INTERVIEW: Did she pass or fail?; experts/pundits weigh in.

*Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, John McCain's VP pick, was recently interviewed by ABC's Charlie Gibson.

Excepts of the interview will be broadcast on tonight's "World News" program and "20/20," which will broadcast a one-hour special edition at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT.


You can also see excerpts here and/or read the entire interview here.


In the meantime, the reviews are in and here's a smattering of reactions from some major news outlets ...


Los Angeles Times: "Palin took a hard line on Russia and Iran on Thursday as she fielded questions on foreign affairs for the first time since Republican presidential candidate John McCain named her his running mate two weeks ago. The Alaska governor also reversed her stand on the cause of climate change, telling ABC News that she believes ‘man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming.’ Less than a year ago, she said the opposite.”


The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg: "At times visibly nervous, at others appearing to hew so closely to prepared answers that she used the exact same phrases repeatedly, Ms. Palin most visibly stumbled when she was asked by Mr. Gibson if she agreed with the Bush doctrine. Ms. Palin did not seem to know what he was talking about. Mr. Gibson, sounding like an impatient teacher, informed her that it meant the right of ‘anticipatory self-defense.’”


The Times’ Alessandra Stanley: “Ms. Palin didn’t look rattled or lose her cool in her first interview with Mr. Gibson, the network anchor, on Thursday night, but she skittered through with general answers, sticking to talking points that flowed out quickly and spiritedly, a little too much by rote to satisfy her interviewer that she was giving his questions serious consideration… ABC News delivered the first glimpse of Ms. Palin without a script or a cheering audience, and it was a strained and illuminating conversation… At times, her eyes looked uncertain and her voice hesitated, and she looked like a student trying to bend prepared answers to fit unexpected questions.”


The Washington Post: “GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin … appeared to back Barack Obama's assertion that the United States could attack targets in Pakistan without the country's permission -- a position that her running mate Sen. John McCain has called ‘naïve.’”


“Pressed three times by Charles Gibson of ABC News on whether the United States had the right to make cross-border attacks into Pakistan, ‘with or without the approval of the Pakistani government,’ Palin twice avoided the question before answering: ‘I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table.’”


The Post's Howard Wolfson: “Up until last night's interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, the McCain campaign had shielded Governor Palin from the media. And based on her performance yesterday they were right to do so… Her answers to a fairly basic set of foreign policy questions were formulaic and unimpressive. She didn't say anything disqualifying, but it is unlikely that anyone watching would have come away sanguine about her ability to step in as President on Day One if necessary.”


Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times: Sarah Palin showed herself as steely and supremely confident--even when she stumbled over a question about the Bush Doctrine --and brushed off whether it mattered that she had never met a foreign head of state in her much anticipated first network interview as John McCain's running mate.


And there's this item from former Rhode Island Republican senator Lincoln Chafee, who is backing Barack Obama. He's standing by his previous remarks, calling Palin a "cocky wacko."