Sarah Palin leaves door open to Presidential bid
11.17.2009 2:32pm EST
(New York) Sarah Palin said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that a 2012 presidential bid is “not on my radar,” but wouldn’t rule out playing some role in the next presidential election.
“My ambition, if you will, my desire is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors will be open in the year 2012,” she told Barbara Walters.When asked whether she’d play a major role, the former Republican vice presidential candidate replied that “if people will have me, I will.”
Palin is making the rounds to promote her new book, “Going Rogue,” which came out Tuesday. On Monday, she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Palin said she’s gotten plenty of offers during the past few months, including to open up her family for a reality show, that she has rejected. She also said she wasn’t sure whether a talk show would be best for her family.
“I’d probably rather write than talk,” she told Walters.
The former Alaska governor said she’d rate President Barack Obama’s performance a 4 out of 10. She criticized the president for his handling of the economy and for “dithering” on national security questions.
“There are a lot of decisions being made that I – and probably the majority of Americans – are not impressed with right now,” she said on ABC. She said Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was “premature.”
Palin also discussed David Letterman, whom she criticized for a sexually suggestive jokes made at the expense of her teenage daughter in June. Letterman eventually apologized to Palin.
Palin told Walters she has ruled out an appearance on Letterman’s late night TV show. “I don’t think that I’d want to boost his ratings,” she said. “I do want him to sell my book, though I hope he keeps it up.”
The title of Palin’s book refers to a phrase John McCain’s campaign used to describe his vice presidential running mate going off message. In the book, she criticizes the people who ran McCain’s campaign and says she wished she had been allowed to speak more freely. But she told Walters the outcome probably would not have been different if she had.
“The economy tanked,” she said. “(The) electorate was ready, sincerely, for change.”
On the controversy about the $150,000 spent on her wardrobe by the campaign, Palin said there was a double standard: No one ever questions male candidates where their shoes or suits came from, she said. In the end, she added: “The clothes all went back. They were never my clothes.”
Despite the internal squabbling and ultimate loss, Palin said she would go through the experience again. “(I) would do it again in a heartbeat,” she told Walters.
And though she backed the first federal bailout, Palin says she would not support a second. “That did not put our economy back on the right track. So we learn from our mistakes.”
During her interview with Winfrey, which was taped last week, Palin said that it’s heartbreaking to see the road that Levi Johnston, the father of her grandson, has taken and that the soon-to-be Playgirl model hasn’t seen his baby in a while.
The new memoir doesn’t mention Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be. When Winfrey asked about Johnston, Palin said she didn’t think “a national television show is the place to discuss some of the things he’s doing and saying.”
But Palin went on to say she finds it “a bit heartbreaking to see the road that he is on right now” and that “it’s not a healthy place to be.”
Palin also said Johnston remains a member of the family and that they can work out any troubles. She said she prays for him and that he has an “open invitation” to Thanksgiving dinner.
Winfrey began the interview by asking Palin if she felt snubbed at not getting an invitation to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last year. Winfrey said she didn’t have any candidates on her Chicago-based show during the campaign because of her support for President Barack Obama.
Palin said she didn’t feel snubbed and told Winfrey, “No offense to you, but it wasn’t the center of my universe.”





Does anyone on this site really care what that ignorant bitch wants to do?
If she is ever elected President I will be leaving this country.
Chauvenist anti-female sexism alert!
Should she be watching some turkey slaughter right about now?
I agree with the comments. She is simply ridiculous, never should have been chosen and should have stayed off stage after being laughed off. The really sad and scary thing is that people like her. People want her to run, people would vote for her.
I have watched her give interviews and speak. She is terrible! Incoherent, nothing to really say except stupid sound bites.
I wish my fellow Americans were smarter, I can’t imagine even one single person except her mother thinking she’d be a good president.
i wonder why nobody asks her: “what have you accomplished in your life?” and “have you ever thought maybe you should go back to Alasks and rack up a list of accomplishments for your resume?” and “Can you tell the American people anything you’ve done that would indicate you can run a huge organization such as THE ENTIRE WORLD”.
in interviews we ask these questions before hiring people. Why is politics simply a popularity contest? Can it be that we are really that stupid? How incredibly sad…..
For my part, I really DO hope this bimbo from the north becomes the republican nominee. It shows just how in touch they are with the rest of the world, and she would stand a snowball’s chance in hell of getting elected.
Oh good lord, if Miz. Palin gets into the White House; we should all hope for the ending of the world in 2012!!! Anyone who doesn’t fit into her conceived ideas for the country better have their passports up to date!
re CraigChurch: I once thought the same when Bush Jr. first ran for President. I though the same when he ran the second time (thank God for term limits!). Now, I realize there is no telling what may be going through the collective minds of the American public. It’s scary!
I’ll spend much more time in Canada if she becomes president. I’ll pretend that I am not an American and speak with a Nova Scotia accent when up there. What an embarrassment. There is way too much American TV broadcasting in Canada. Canadians as a result, know a lot about America, about our politicians and about our ugly popular culture. I will be sure to turn off the TV everytime “President” Palin shows up on TV in Canada. Maybe I’ll buy a cabin up in some wooded area in Canada and escape until she leaves office if we Americans are stupid enough to elect her. Which we probably will.
Hey ‘petenick’: We need to care what that ignorant bitch wants to do because this is America and if you’re an idiot, you have an EXCELLENT chance of becoming President (G.W. Bush, 2000 & 2004).
I’m with Morgan–I’m already getting married in Canada. If there is a President Palin, my husband and I will be gone.
I don’t like Sarah Palin either. But – can we stop calling women we don’t like “bitches,” please? It is very, very similar to calling gay people “faggots” just because someone disagrees with/doesn’t like their views.
It is hurtful to me and other women readers – it feels like a violent slap in the face for someone’s gender to be attacked.
Thanks. (And thanks to all, like Morgan, who are great about calling it out!)
Alas calling women “bitches” is the foundation of much of gay political internet conversation. Call people out on it and they roll out some line how they are being revolutionary and such. Shows a lack of politcal maturity if you ask me.
James