Karl Rove responded Friday to the latest round of complaints by potential GOP presidential hopefuls Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee that elitism in the party was driving Republicans to form a conspiracy to keep them off the ballot in 2012. Such actions, Rove seemed to suggest, were not ones that "confident leaders" would take.
Rove played down their fears that there was any concerted effort to sabotage future candidacies and said that comments to the contrary were "unnecessary."
"Look, Barbara Bush is 80-some odd years old, and she's entitled to her opinion, as is everybody," Rove said about Palin's recent "blue-blood" comment toward the Bushes. "Governor Palin ought to be confident. She's got a right to run. All she's gotta do is pay the filing fee and form a committee."
As for Huckabee, Rove said his recent claim that he was not an establishment favorite and therefore could potentially be discounted as a viable candidate in 2012 was frivolous.
"And Governor Huckabee, again it's -- look, with all due respect to my Fox colleague, he doesn't need to be saying "Oh, well, they weren't for me," Rove said. "Look, do you think Ronald Reagan was sitting there, saying "George Bush was not for me." Look, just move on. You're making the best argument you can for yourself. Jump into the race, if you like to. I think it is, frankly, healthy."
Rove continued:
"I think it would be healthy for the party for us to have everybody jump in, and let them go out there and spend the next year making the case for themselves and making the case against President Obama and let people know what they got and show them that they can unite the party and reach outside the party like Ronald Reagan did."
LISTEN (from Mediaite):
Here's the transcript, from GOP 12:
ROVE: I think that was unnecessary. Look, I know what Governor Palin was responding to, which was a comment by former First Lady Barbara Bush, but look, Barbara Bush is 80-some odd years old, and she's entitled to her opinion, as is everybody.
Look, Barbara Bush, World War 2 young bride, you know, moves with her husband to Bakersfield, California and then lives in a duplex in Odessa, Texas that they share with a prostitute.
I've been to the boyhood home that they upgraded to in Midland, Texas...
INGRAHAM: [interrupting] ... but why is that relevant? Why is it relevant to -- the elites don't want Palin to run, Karl. I mean, that's the concern is that the elites don't want Palin and Huckabee to run.
ROVE: Governor Palin ought to be confident. She's got a right to run. All she's gotta do is pay the filing fee and form a committee.
And confident leaders don't take -- look, Barbara Bush is entitled to her opinion and entitled to respect. Let her -- you know, the best thing to do is to say "You know, I love Barbara Bush. She was great First Lady" and move on.
INGRAHAM: She did say that. Yeah, I think she did say that. She said she really likes the Bushes.
ROVE: And Governor Huckabee, again it's -- look, with all due respect to my Fox colleague, he doesn't need to be saying "Oh, well, they weren't for me."
Look, do you think Ronald Reagan was sitting there, saying "George Bush was not for me." Look, just move on. You're making the best argument you can for yourself. Jump into the race, if you like to. I think it is, frankly, healthy. Right now, we've got eleven of these people who are thinking about running.
.... It's just unseemly for them to say 'They're trying to keep me out."
Nobody can keep anybody out. Let David Brooks write every column he wants in the New York Times saying this person should run and that person shouldn't run, and it has boo-do-diddly impact on whether or not somebody gets in or gets out.