Posted on 10/27/2010 3:38:13 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Karl Rove, the former senior adviser to George W Bush, has cast serious doubt on Sarah Palin's viability as a White House candidate, questioning if the American people thought she had the "gravitas" for the "most demanding job in the world".
Expressing the strongest public reservations about the conservative star made by any senior Republican figure, Mr Rove said it was unlikely that voters would regard someone starring in a reality show as presidential material.
In two weeks, the former governor of Alaska launches a cable television series exploring her home state's wilderness.
"With all due candour, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office'," said Mr Rove, who remains a considerable force on the U.S. political scene.
He added that the promotional clip for Sarah Palin's Alaska could be especially detrimental to any political campaign. It features the mother of five in the great outdoors saying: "I would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office."
Mr Rove also implied that Mrs Palin lacked the stomach for the rigours of a presidential primary campaign, which will begin early next year before the first polls in 2012.
Mr Rove was asked if 46-year-old Mrs Palin, who is among the front-runners for the next Republican nomination, would be a wise choice if the party wanted to seize the White House from President Barack Obama. He replied: "You can make a plausible case for any of them on paper, but it is not going to be paper in 2011. It's going to be blood, it's going to be sweat and tears and it's going to be hard effort."
He said Mrs Palin had done a "terrific job" in 2008 when Senator John McCain took her from near obscurity to the vice-presidential nomination, but added: "Being the vice-presidential nominee on the ticket is different from saying 'I want to be the person at the top of the ticket'.
"There are high standards that the American people have for it [the presidency] and they require a certain level of gravitas, and they want to look at the candidate and say 'that candidate is doing things that gives me confidence that they are up to the most demanding job in the world'."
After losing with Mr McCain in 2008, Mrs Palin resigned as governor to write books, become a television pundit - on the same Fox News network where Mr Rove is an analyst - and an influential supporter of Tea Party-backed Republican candidates in next week's mid-term elections.
Thanks to her staunch conservative views, Mrs Palin remains a highly divisive figure with high negative ratings. Many Republican strategists think her selection as nominee would almost guarantee Mr Obama a second term.
But such is her popularity among the grassroots of the party, few in Washington are prepared to stick their head above the parapet.
No major figure in the party has yet to come out in support of Mrs Palin, including Mr McCain, who refused to endorse her yesterday.
Mr Rove's forceful comments signalled his confidence in his own standing and track record as the architect of Mr Bush's two election victories. She could face further attacks from within the party's hierarchy in the coming months as the competition for the nomination heats up.
All the indications are that Mrs Palin will run for office. She has delivered a speech in Iowa, where the first caucuses are held, quietly accumulated members of staff and has a sizeable pot of money.
But Mr Rove suggested that "outside of the true believers", most Republican primary voters were still watching the race and would choose the candidate most suitable for the role. "They are going to be saying 'the person who can win is the person who proves to me that they are up to the job'," he said.
Indeed, I smell ozone.
You know me, not the biggest Palin fan. But good flippin grief Rove, shut your effin trap.
All the above - in Spades!
LOL...no kidding! What is Rove’s problem?
This is supposed to be a Travel type program, NOT a “reality show” where people scream at each other and talk behind their backs and vote them off the island.
did Rove not know what day it is? It is not Nov 3 yet. rove needs to shut the hell up and hold his fire until Wed of next week. He is costing us Power and seats make no mistake about it. Rove and the Rinos would rather have the Dems lead us then conservatives. Rove’s 15 min are over He is becoming the parker of the right.
Screw Rove.
IMO, it's that they think she can actually win.
And, that she will do what she says she will do, when she does win.
Plus, she doesn't owe the "party" much of anything; she's more likely to give her loyalty to the people who elected her, the voters.
Further, they've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at her for the last two years, and it hasn't stopped her, yet.
If you were a politician, wouldn't that scare you, too?
Well two of them are gone Castle and Bennet. Hopefully a third and foruth will be gone come tues Lisa and Christ
Hmmmmmmmm
LOL! Thank you! You are so right!
I don't believe it's that she lacks gravitas, so much as that she lacks the ruling class elitist trappings. She doesn't have that proud old family name, like Kennedy, or that Harvard degree, like Obama, and isn't even a brilliant practicing lawyer, like Mrs. Obama. (Oh, wait...)
Now, come to think of it, I'm not so sure that many of us out here in flyover country don't see her lack of those things as assets!
Rove is clearly working now for Romney or one of the other RINO hacks...
One more sentiment to add to the other very curious opinions coming from FL newbie?
Unfortunately, Karl Rove was right about O’Donnell. Oh well.
George W. Bush: Mr. RINO himself. GWB makes John McCain look like a conservative.
“Hey, appearing on TV didn’t hurt Fred Thompson. Oh, wait a minute...’
__________
Appearing on the Arsenio Hall show in June of 1992 wearing Blues Brothers shades and playing the tenor sax sure didn’t hurt President Bill Clinton.
Rove is carrying water for Romney here.
- JP
Unbelievable.
How about
Sarah Palin for President and
Christine O’Donnell for VP?
Talk about a Dream Ticket!
Here's the more realistic set of questions on the test ...
Christine O'Donnell or a Bearded Marxist?
George W. Bush or Algore?
George W. Bush or Juan McQueeg?
Rove (presuming to speak for Americans) or the sentiment of actual Americans about the fitness of Sarah Palin for POTUS?
So, just to clarify, is it your position that it is a good idea for an aspiring Presidential candidate to do a reality TV show?
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