2008 Elections

Thursday, Sep 18, 2008 06:35 PDT

War Room

Rove says Palin was political choice

The former advisor to President Bush also told the Associated Press he believes Palin-mania will subside soon.

By Alex Koppelman

Karl Rove knows a little something about making decisions for political reasons. So it's interesting that on Wednesday he was willing to admit to the Associated Press that the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate was political, and that she is not the most qualified candidate.

Of course, Rove took his shots at the Democratic ticket too, arguing that Barack Obama's choice of Joe Biden was political as well, and saying, "I think the American people have deep and persistent doubts about the readiness of this dynamic and charismatic first-term senator from Illinois."

But Rove also said he thinks that Palin-mania will die down over the coming weeks. "Nothing lasts for 60-some-odd days," Rove said. "Will she be the center of attention in the remaining 48 days? No, but she came on in a very powerful way and has given a sense of urgency to the McCain campaign that's pretty remarkable."