WASHINGTON – As she eyes a run for the presidency, a top new aide to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) charged that Sarah Palin has proven herself unserious since she was "handed" the vice presidential nomination.
"Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," the recently-hired veteran GOP strategist, Ed Rollins, told Brian Kilmeade on his radio program, as reported by Politico's Ben Smith. "She got the Vice Presidential thing handed to her, she didn't go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance, she gave up her governorship."
He sang the praises of his new boss, calling her "probably the best communicator [in the GOP field] now that Mike Huckabee's not in there." Rollins ran Huckabee's insurgent 2008 White House campaign.
"Michele Bachmann and others [have] worked hard," he said, "she has been a leader of the tea party which is a very important element here, she has been an attorney, she has done important things with family values."
The remarks may reflect new tensions between two close allies and friends, who spectators have described as very similar in demeanor, rhetoric and ideology. They appear to be a tacit acknowledgement that Bachmann may have to fend off a challenge from the former Alaska governor, who has so far declined to reveal her 2012 intentions.
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