Sarah Palin is ready to be president, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh says, and she doesn't need to bone up on the issues either. Asked by Fox News' Chris Wallace if Palin is ready to be president, Limbaugh hesitated for a moment and said, "Well, yes. I do."
Limbaugh continued, "One thing I do not do is follow conventional wisdom, and the conventional wisdom of Sarah Palin is 'She's not smart enough. She needs to bone up on the issues. She's a little unsophisticated. Alaska, Where's that?, [She] doesn't have the pedigree,'" Limbaugh said. "She's the only thing that provided a spark for the Republican Party."
The conservative talk show host added, "This is not an endorsement, but I do have profound respect for Sarah Palin. There are not very many politicians who have been through what she's been put through and still able to smile and be ebullient and upbeat. This woman, I think, is tough." Story continues below...
The conventional wisdom surrounding Palin soured in July when she resigned as governor of Alaska for vague reasons. A recent poll found that 71 percent of Americans believe she is not ready to be president.
Limbaugh also predicted an "eruption" of voter sentiment against the Democratic Party in the 2010 mid-term elections, and also said he was betting on President Barack Obama to lose the election in 2012. He cited health care reform and climate change legislation as the two issues that would prompt a rebellion among American voters.
"I know that there is an eruption waiting to happen at the ballot box," Limbaugh said. "I know that a majority of people in this country are opposed to every single major agenda item that Obama has proposed and is trying to get passed. The mainstream media doesn't do it, doesn't know it. They think they need a visa to go to Missouri."
Support for health care reform, particularly a public option, varies widely from survey to survey, but in general polls have found anywhere between 55 percent and 75 percent of Americans in favor.
Of Obama, Limbaugh said, "If I had to bet now, he will not" win re-election, though he added he had "no idea" who would. He did not mention Palin in this context.