Republican political strategist Karl Rove said former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has shown a "sign of enormous thin skin" for getting upset that Rove said there had been indications that Palin planned to jump into the presidential race.

"She is all upset about this, saying I'm somehow trying to sabotage her in some way," Rove said Wednesday night on Fox News. "Look, if she doesn't want to be speculated about as a prospective presidential candidate, there's an easy way to end speculation — simply say, 'I'm not running.' But instead every time she pops into the public eye like she did on CNN, at the Iowa State Fair a number of days ago, she said, 'I haven't made a decision.' "

ADVERTISEMENT

And Rove said Palin would probably object if there were not any speculation about a potential Palin candidacy.

"It is a sign of enormous thin skin that if we speculate about her she gets upset — and I suspect if we didn't speculate about her she'd be upset and try and find a way for us to speculate about her," Rove continued.

Earlier this month Rove said that there had been signs that the Republican presidential field had not yet been fully set and that other candidates, like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanBiden's debate game plan? Keep cool and win Trump, Biden have one debate goal: Don't lose RNC chair on election: We are on track to win the White House MORE (R-Wis.) or Palin could enter the race.

“What I said last night is that we've got a really good field, but obviously there are people out there talking to these people who are walking away saying, ‘I think there's a chance Paul Ryan will run,’ ‘I think there's a chance Sarah Palin will run,’ ‘I think there's a chance Chris Christie will run,’ ” Rove said.

In response, on Tuesday Palin wrote on her political action committee's website that political pundits had been "citing false information" to say that Palin had decided to run for president.

"These are the same tired establishment political games that fuel the 24-hour news cycle and that all Americans will hopefully reject in 2012, and this is more of the "politics-as-usual" that Sarah Palin has fought against throughout her career," Palin wrote.