Karl Rove Not Keen on Palin Reality Show: Where's the 'Gravitas'?
Tom Diemer
Correspondent
Posted:
10/28/10
Karl Rove, the Republican guru who is helping to raise tens of millions dollars for Republican candidates this year, questioned Thursday whether Sarah Palin's new reality show on Discovery will help or hurt her political ambitions in 2012.
"With all due candor, 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,' " Rove said in an interview with the U.K. Daily Telegraph. The story appeared on the British newspaper's website under the headline: "Karl Rove questions Sarah Palin's suitability for president."
Americans have high standards for the person occupying the White House, said the man who was President George W. Bush's top political adviser. "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.' "
Rove singled out as potentially hurtful to her political future a promotional clip for the new show -- "Sarah Palin's Alaska." In it, the mother of five, enjoying the great outdoors, says "I would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office. I'd rather be out here, being free."
Palin did a "terrific job" as John McCain's running mate two years ago, Rove told the Telegraph. But "being the vice-presidential nominee on the ticket is different from saying, 'I want to be the person on the top of the ticket:' " Palin has not said whether she will seek the presidency in two years. But she is the darling of the GOP's right wing and is widely believed to be considering a campaign for the Republican nomination.
Back in the USA, Rove took heat from some conservatives and tea party activists when he challenged the worthiness of Palin-endorsed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell for some of her "nutty" past statements.
"With all due candor, 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,' " Rove said in an interview with the U.K. Daily Telegraph. The story appeared on the British newspaper's website under the headline: "Karl Rove questions Sarah Palin's suitability for president."
Americans have high standards for the person occupying the White House, said the man who was President George W. Bush's top political adviser. "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.' " Rove singled out as potentially hurtful to her political future a promotional clip for the new show -- "Sarah Palin's Alaska." In it, the mother of five, enjoying the great outdoors, says "I would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office. I'd rather be out here, being free."
Palin did a "terrific job" as John McCain's running mate two years ago, Rove told the Telegraph. But "being the vice-presidential nominee on the ticket is different from saying, 'I want to be the person on the top of the ticket:' " Palin has not said whether she will seek the presidency in two years. But she is the darling of the GOP's right wing and is widely believed to be considering a campaign for the Republican nomination.
Back in the USA, Rove took heat from some conservatives and tea party activists when he challenged the worthiness of Palin-endorsed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell for some of her "nutty" past statements.