World Sep. 01, 2008 - 06:17AM JST ( 206 )

ST PAUL, Minnesota —

Republican White House candidate John McCain on Sunday defended his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate against Democratic claims she is dangerously inexperienced.

McCain’s wife Cindy, meanwhile, said Palin credentials were bolstered by the fact that she hails from Alaska, the closest part of the U.S. continent to Russia, to which her husband has adopted a tough political line.

“She’s got the right judgment. She doesn’t think like Senator Obama does that Iran is a minor irritant,” McCain said an interview with Fox News Sunday on the eve of the Republican National Convention here.

“She’s been a commander in chief of the Alaska national guard,” said McCain, adding Palin’s son, who is in the U.S. Army, is shortly to be deployed to Iraq.

“I’m proud of her knowledge,” McCain said.

Democrats and some political commentators have savaged McCain’s pick of Palin, 44, a mother of five, over her lack of expertise in foreign affairs, saying she is too inexperienced to be a “heartbeat” away from the presidency.

McCain’s wife Cindy also defended her husband’s decision to turn to Palin, which electrified the crucial conservative power base in the Republican Party.

“She is heavily experienced in what she has done,” said Cindy McCain on ABC News This Week.

“The experience that she comes from is with what she’s done in the government,” she said of the former mayor and Alaska governor.

“And, also, remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. So it’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.”

Democrat John Kerry, however, a key ally of Democratic nominee Barack Obama, lashed out at the selection, saying on ABC that it proved McCain was “erratic”

“John McCain’s judgment is once again, put at issue, because he’s chosen somebody who clearly doesn’t meet the national security threshold, who is not ready to be president tomorrow.

“He’s chosen somebody who actually doesn’t believe that climate change is man made. He’s chosen somebody who has zero—zero experience in foreign policy.”

Wire reports