Palin says she knew her 2008 Couric interview had gone badly

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) says she knew her campaign-defining interview with CBS's Katie Couric last fall went poorly.

In an excerpt of her highly-anticipated sit-down with Oprah Winfrey (to be broadcast Monday), Palin said she knew the interview, in which she didn't name any magazines or newspapers she read regularly, had gone poorly.

But Palin said that aides to the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) encouraged her to do more segments of the interview, though the former governor knew it was going poorly.

"That is why Segment 2 and 3 and 4 and maybe 5 were scheduled. The campaign said, right on. Good. You're showing your independence. This is what America needs to see and it was a good interview," Palin said in the interview, recorded Wednesday.

"And of course I'm thinking, if you thought that was a good interview, I don't know what a bad interview is because I knew it was a bad interview," Palin added.

The former vice presidential nominee denied that the interview was a seminal, defining moment for her and the McCain campaign, though many outlets had seized on perceived missteps in the interview.

Palin also addressed the public actions of Levi Johnston, the estranged father of her daughter Bristol's baby.

Palin stopped short of saying whether Johnston would be invited to Thanksgiving dinner with the Palin's, and decried the public controversies between her family and Johnston that have boiled into public view since Johnston split with Palin's daughter.

"He is a part of the family and you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that, too, Oprah," Palin said. "I think he needs to know that he is loved and he has the most beautiful child and this can all work out for good."

"We don't have to keep going down this road of controversy and drama all the time.  We're not really into the drama," she added. "We don't really like that. We're more productive."

---