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Sarah Palin: Center of the GOP universe?

Love her or hate her, GOP leaders can't stop talking about the former Alaska governor 鈥� even if they want to.

Yes, Sarah Palin鈥檚 poll numbers haven鈥檛 looked great lately. Only about 30 percent of Americans approved of her rhetorical response to the Arizona shooting rampage, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News survey.

But we鈥檒l say this for the ex-governor of Alaska: up or down, rising or falling, she remains the center of the Republican universe, potential presidential candidate division.

Why do we say this? Because so many other political figures, when they appear on news chat shows, get asked what they think about her latest move.

Monday night, for instance, Ms. Palin appeared on Sean Hannity鈥檚 Fox News show. She attempted to defend herself against accusations that she misused the term 鈥�blood libel鈥� when talking about how some critics tried to link political rhetoric to the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

So of course, the burning question reporters asked other, non-Palin political guests on Tuesday: How did she do?

Newt Gingrich sounded kind of jealous. On ABC Tuesday morning he opined that Palin needs to 鈥渟low down鈥� and 鈥渢hink through what she鈥檚 saying.鈥� Then he added that 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know anybody else in American politics who can put something on Twitter or put something on Facebook and automatically have it become a national story.鈥�

Dick Cheney admitted that he likes her reality show. Appearing on MSNBC, he was noncommittal about her personally, saying only that 鈥渟he鈥檚 got an interesting political career established鈥� and that he鈥檚 鈥渘ot going to get into the business鈥� of saying whether she鈥檚 qualified for president or not. (Hmm. Is that a backhanded non-compliment?) But Bush鈥檚 ex-veep, an ardent outdoorsman himself, said he鈥檇 watched 鈥淪arah Palin鈥檚 Alaska鈥� on the Learning Channel.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 very good. I love Alaska,鈥� Cheney said.

Tim Pawlenty, former GOP governor of Minnesota and, like Gingrich, a potential 2012 candidate, appeared to be trying to get past her as a subject during his own MSNBC appearance Tuesday. Palin is 鈥渁 very powerful voice in the conservative movement,鈥� he said, and 鈥測ou鈥檙e going to have conflict鈥� when conservatives try to steer the political culture of the party in a new direction.

Pawlenty was probably wondering if Sarah Palin has ever been asked what she thought of the latest Tim Pawlenty interview. We鈥檙e guessing she hasn鈥檛.

And finally, Tim Kaine called her 鈥渁n entertainment industry figure.鈥� He鈥檚 the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, of course, so he wasn鈥檛 likely to give Palin a rave review. On MSNBC he questioned whether Palin likes the process of governing, considering that she resigned her Alaska post.

鈥淧eople are in this for a lot of reasons. And, you know, sometimes wanting to get headlines, it鈥檚 a venerable American tradition,鈥� said Kaine.

As for Palin herself, she said on Monday night that she had used the phrase 鈥渂lood libel鈥� to refer to people who are falsely accused of having blood on their hands.

Some Jewish groups had protested her use of the term, which historically was used to accuse Jews of using the 海角大神 blood in religious ceremonies.

鈥淚 think the critics . . . were using anything they could gather out of that statement,鈥� said Palin.

The former VP candidate added that she knows attention, good and bad, now just naturally flows to her.

鈥淚鈥檒l take the darts and the arrows because I know others have my back and I have their back,鈥� Palin said at the end of the Hannity interview.