Barbara Bush 'hopes Sarah Palin will stay in Alaska'
Barbara Bush, the former US First Lady, has poured cold water on Sarah Palin's presidential aspirations, underlining how elements of the Republican establishment regard her as a dangerous upstart unworthy of national office.
Asked during a television interview to share her thoughts about Mrs Palin, Mrs Bush replied: "I sat next to her once, thought she was beautiful."
With pursed lips, she added: "And I think she's very happy in Alaska. And I hope she'll stay there."
Mrs Palin, who campaigned alongside John McCain in the 2008 election as his vice-presidential candidate, has admitted that she is seriously considering a bid for the 2012 Republican nomination at a time when her national exposure has never been higher.
Her second book, America by Heart, is published on Tuesday and is likely to be another bestseller, the second episode of her TV show, Sarah Palin's Alaska aired last night, while on Monday her 20-year-old daughter Bristol will compete in the final of television's Dancing with the Stars.
The book is billed as a tribute to conservative American values. It includes attacks on President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, the First Lady, as unpatriotic and criticises John F Kennedy for shunning his Catholic faith.
According to an early copy of the book purchased by the Associated Press, Mrs Palin discusses at length Kennedy's noted speech on religion during the 1960 campaign, when he said: "I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic."
Mrs Palin said that Kennedy – the first Catholic elected president – "essentially declared religion to be such a private matter that it was irrelevant to the kind of country we are".
Ted Widmer, a historian and former speech writer for Bill Clinton, said: "It's putting a negative spin on what was interpreted at the time as a sensible and uplifting message. JFK was trying to protect his own right to be a Catholic and to run for president."
Mrs Palin's ability to cross over from politics to popular culture, combined with what critics regard as an inflated self-regard, has unnerved many old school Republicans who think that she is not only unworthy of the presidential nomination but would cost the party the White House.
She however enjoys substantial grassroots support from fans, mostly connected with the Tea Party movement, who prize her straight talking and atypical approach to politics. Polls show that among Republican voters she is the most popular of the likely 2012 candidates, though she is not always chosen as their favourite for the nomination.
Karl Rove, the former adviser to George W Bush, recently suggested in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that Mrs Palin lacked the "gravitas" for the most demanding job in the world. He also suggested her television show was unpresidential.
Mrs Palin's retort that Ronald Reagan had enjoyed a career in popular entertainment before becoming president brought an angry response from Peggy Noonan, a columnist and Mr Reagan's favourite speech writer. She called the Alaskan a "nincompoop" for making the comparison.
"The point is not 'He was a great man and you are a nincompoop,' though that is true," Mrs Noonan wrote.
"The point is that Reagan's career is a guide, not only for the Tea Party but for all in politics. He brought his fully mature, fully seasoned self into politics with him. He wasn't in search of a life when he ran for office, and he wasn't in search of fame; he'd already lived a life, he was already well known, he'd accomplished things in the world."
Her potential rivals for the nomination have however been conspicuously absent in their criticism, either public or private, worried that a pre-emptive attack could wreck their own chances.
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