Rove’s Retort: He’s Not Anti-Tea Party, He Just Wants Good Candidates

Moderation madness at Fox? I don't think so, gentle reader. As my colleague Ellen just pointed out, frequent Fox contributor Karl Rove is in big trouble over his new super PAC, the Conservative Victory Project, designed to keep controversial conservatives from winning Senate primaries. Now Rove is all over the place trying to do damage control. Thursday night he was on the Factor, assuring Bill O’Reilly that he was no squishy RINO moderate but a dedicated supporter of Tea Party candidates.

Rove assured O'Reilly he wanted conservatives to win elections too – just not bad ones. By “bad” he meant the infamous rape guys Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, or Christine O’Donnell in 2010: “big star among the Tea Party people but the woman couldn’t put three sentences together.” Raising his trusty whiteboard he pointed out that American Crossroads had given generously to other Tea Party candidates, notably Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Pat Toomey. It was not about ideology but about being a good candidate, he insisted. “Can we begin to do a better job of vetting these candidates?”

Not everyone is buying it, that's for sure. It isn't just Mike Huckabee - it's Rush and Mark Levin and all the other uncompromising hard-right types, the ones that Fox Nation swoons over. It all leads me to believe that Fox News isn't going to turn loose all the horses in their right-wing stable. Just the most obviously stupid ones.

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Showing 6 reactions

commented 2013-02-12 11:12:38 -0500 · Flag

The looming battle between the RW media and RW political machine for the soul of the party will be an interesting watch. Will Fox be tempted to cover the controversy in order to gain a ratings boost, rather than smoothing over or ignoring their divisions in the name of party unity—I think they’ll go for the ratings, and probably hasten the coming splitting of the party.

commented 2013-02-12 11:04:56 -0500 · Flag

Visitor 55 wrote: "Turdblossom helped create the teabaggers. It’s somewhat satisfying to see the teabaggers turn on him. "

So true.

commented 2013-02-12 02:39:42 -0500 · Flag

I’m with Rove on this but disagree on what constitutes a “good” candidate. For him, it’s a question of getting people who aren’t as honest as the Tea Party ones who make no bones about being un-informed, mis-informed, haters, racists, misogynists, and haters (yes – that side is worthy of being mentioned twice). The idea for him is to give each and every person what he or she wants with the full intention of forgetting everything as soon as a GOP seat hits that leather-covered chair.

All in the name of a tender and loving Jesus.

commented 2013-02-11 23:40:30 -0500 · Flag

I hate to tell them this, but the GOP’s two best hopes for a 2016 White House are Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal.

Both for the same reason- Fox News would rather shut down than endorse either right now. That goes a long way right now… we’ll see if they blow it between now and time to cast.

commented 2013-02-11 21:48:33 -0500 · Flag

Turdblossom should have told KKKlannity and Van Suckup that Witch O’Donnell was an unelectable moron. That might have eliminated all of those blowjob infomercials posing as news interviews.

commented 2013-02-11 18:56:30 -0500 · Flag

Speaking of Bellowing Billow, his dream job has just opened up. POPE BILL OF ILL WILL, this your moment.