Palin Comparison? Karl Rove on CBS Had Mocked Obama Considering Kaine for Veep-- Only Governor 'For 3 Years'

By: Greg Mitchell Surely, the many months of John McCain charging Barack Obama with not being ready to be president will likely gain wide play on editorial pages on Saturday, following his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. But there's also the matter of GOP leaders previously mocking Obama for even considering less-than-fully-experienced candidates for vice president.

Appearing on CBS's Face the Nation less than three weeks ago, for example, Republican strategist Karl Rove singled out Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who was on Obama's short list.

"With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished," Rove said. Palin has been governor -- of a much, much smaller state -- for less than two years.

Rove also said: "I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America." Palin was formerly mayor of a town that must be ranked about 15,000th biggest in America.

He added, "So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with -- is this person capable of being president of the United States?'"

CBS News summarized Rove's other statements as follows:

"He expects presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama to choose a running mate based on political calculations, not the person's readiness for the job.

"'I think he's going to make an intensely political choice, not a governing choice,' Rove said. 'He's going to view this through the prism of a candidate, not through the prism of president; that is to say, he's going to pick somebody that he thinks will on the margin help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He's not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities of president.'"

But USA Today notes this afternoon in the lead to its Palin story, McCain chose her primarily to go after women and possibly disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters -- not the "responsibilities of president."