Palin: GOP needs a "fighter" to take on Obama
Sarah Palin offered her assessment of President Obama, the GOP field, and her potential candidacy in speaking with her Fox News colleagues Sean Hannity and Chris Wallace in the last few days.
She told Wallace Sunday that President Obama wants to "go down with this sinking ship," referring to his handling of the economy. "We don't have to go the way of the Titanic," Palin added.
She described her bus tour as being about her "message" of the American public getting "back to our foundational beliefs, our values, free market enterprise, freedoms for Americans to make our decision instead of elite faraway government making the decisions for us," not about her candidacy for the presidency.
Palin told Hannity on Friday, "Not only do I love my freedom and independent of not having a title and being a declared candidate...that is liberating but, I know you can make a difference as an individual," she said. "Hopefully, I can inspire others to know that you don't need a title. You don't need to be in office in order to effect positive change. Whether I am candidate at sometime or a supporter, I look forward to coming days and months."
On Sunday, Wallace asked Palin to clarify her intentions regarding a run for the White House. The following is their exchange:
WALLACE: But - and you've always been really straight with me. After this week, and obviously, you got a lot of attention, there was a big response. Does it make you lean more towards running?
PALIN: I tell you, the response - I haven't interpreted it as being about me, about being me as a candidate or a potential candidate. It's been about the message, Chris. Truly, it has. It's been about the desire of the American public to get back to our foundational beliefs, our values, free market enterprise, freedoms for Americans to make our decision instead of elite faraway government making the decisions for us. So, it's not about me. It's about this message.
WALLACE: So, on a spectrum where zero is an absolutely not running and 100 percent is "I'm in the race," where are you now? Give a number.
PALIN: Still right there in the middle, Chris, still trying figure out what the lay of the land will be as these weeks and months go by.
Speaking with Hannity, Palin gave her view on the possibility of a third party rising out of disaffected Republicans. "Too many in the GOP are still resistant and resisting the movement of this new crop of common sense conservatives. If they are not careful, a new third party will rise up, just like in day when the Whigs finally went away and Republicans rose up."
In response to Hannity's question about whether she would consider running for president as a third-party candidate, the former Alaska governor first noted that the people in the field for the GOP nomination shared her values and views about the economic situation. However, she fears those in the field "are not going to be aggressive enough and lay it all on the line," and will engage in too much "political correctness" during a campaign.
"We are going to need a fighter in there," she declared.
