Stephanopoulos Does What Fox News Refuses To Do, Identifies Rove As An Informal McCain Adviser
Stephanopoulos Does What Fox News Refuses To Do, Identifies Rove As An Informal McCain Adviser
On ABC’s This Week today, host George Stephanopoulos introduced Karl Rove as “President Bush’s former deputy chief of staff and political strategist, an informal adviser to John McCain’s campaign.” But Rove immediately objected to this characterization, saying “I wouldn’t even go that far, informal adviser, no way.”
Stephanopoulos pressed Rove on his relationship:
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you pass on information to them, you give them advice.
ROVE: Chit-chat.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Chit-chat, ok. Well I think that that justifies, that that qualifies as informal, but let’s move on.
Watch it:
This isn’t the first time Rove has dismissed his ties to the McCain campaign as just “chit-chat.” But, as ThinkProgress has noted, his influence on the campaign is hard to deny:
– Rove’s consulting firm has been disseminating 2008 electoral map projections to influential media outlets and party operatives. In late March, McCain media advisor Mark McKinnon participated in a public conversation about the campaign with former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd. During the talk, McKinnon displayed maps analyzing the states and their electoral votes; the maps bore the header “Karl Rove & Co.”
– At the beginning of April, McCain embarked on a biography tour to introduce himself to the public, which may have been Rove’s idea. In an April 4 blog post, the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder noted that Rove had laid out the idea for such a tour during a Feb. 20 appearance at the University of Pennsylvania. Rove proceeded to list the very locations that McCain would eventually visit in April. (Although, McCain actually spoke in Prescott, AZ, rather than Rove’s suggested Sedona, AZ.)
– On April 22, while doing on-air coverage of the Pennsylvania primary for Fox News, Rove let slip that he “saw Senator McCain recently at a private gathering” where the general election campaign was discussed.
By correctly identifying Rove as an informal McCain adviser, Stephanopoulos is making an appropriate disclosure that Rove’s part-time employer, Fox News, has thus far been unwilling to do. In the 110 days that Rove has been a Fox News contributor, the network has not once identified Rove’s ties to the campaign, despite the ample evidence of an active relationship.
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Steffie also put it to KKKRoverBoy regarding his recent subpeona and Turd Blossom cleverly evaded the question while scorching Congress for going after him.
I thought the most telling “non-answer” was when he said that he first learned of the Seligman investigation when he read it in the newspaper. He never responded to the allegation that he had made phone calls to encourage initiation of the investigation in the first place.
RoverBoy is a slimeball and it came across very clearly once again this morning. I sure hope that he gets what he’s got coming to him — humiliation, conviction, incarceration and a good corn-holing by his cell-mate.
May 25th, 2008 at 11:40 amSTEPHANOPOULOS: Chit-chat, ok. Well I think that that justifies, that that qualifies as informal, but let’s move on.
Heh. Nice dismissal of the Turd Blossom.
May 25th, 2008 at 11:44 amAhhh, the vile lies of Turd Blossom vomit across the airwaves as a rainbow touches a morning rain.
Why isn’t Rove in jail?
May 25th, 2008 at 11:53 amRove never just “chit-chats”. I hope Stephi knows that.
May 25th, 2008 at 11:54 amRove’s fingerprints are all over McCain’s recent website request for Republican trolls to come and attack liberal blogs (in exchange for “points” LOL). Of course Rove is involved. No way they could keep him away from McCain’s campaign.
http://www.johnmccain.com/ ActionCenter/ BlogInteract/ BlogInteract.aspx
May 25th, 2008 at 11:54 amRove has a vested interest in a Bush third term. He doesn’t like the idea of prison at all.
May 25th, 2008 at 11:58 amgood morning, TP! finally! something you can talk about!
i thought of you when i heard this… ‘oh boy! new rove thread!”…
May 25th, 2008 at 11:59 amThe rules don’t count for Rove. He is the original GOP outlaw. He gets to do whatever he wants…right up to the day Conyers puts him in jail.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:01 pmwell, welcome back, girl!
May 25th, 2008 at 12:01 pmRove abandoned George’s leaky barge to get on board the next fantasy cruise ship.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:02 pmStephie-poo is still a dooshbag.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pmThe only thing any sane “independent” should need to know in order to make an intelligent choice this November is whether or not KKKarl is involved in a campaign.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:10 pmkaty Says:
May 25th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Re your question at TheZoo; Champaign-Urbana, IL
Anywhere near you?
May 25th, 2008 at 12:15 pmunbelievable Says:
Rove’s fingerprints are all over McCain’s recent website request for Republican trolls to come and attack liberal blogs (in exchange for “points” LOL). Of course Rove is involved. No way they could keep him away from McCain’s campaign.
http://www.johnmccain.com/ ActionCenter/ BlogInteract/ BlogInteract.aspx
Thanks for that link, unbelieveable. I always assumed the troll campaigns tried to be clandestine.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:18 pmOf course Rove spread some more of his own bull during this part of the interview.
What I found most interesting was Rove’s claim that the GOP lost control of both houses of congress in 2006 because of scandals, not the war.
Really? I take comfort in knowing that the GOP runs to the Democratic party to get away from scandals, because once the crimes of this administration are exposed, including yours, Karl, the Democrats are well positioned to hold onto congress and the presidency for decades to come.
PEACE
May 25th, 2008 at 12:18 pmLet’s all just hope that Tubby McTreason is providing the McSame campaign with “THE Math”.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:19 pmOf course Rove is an “informal advisor” to the McSame campaign. He knows what’s going to happen to him if McSame doesn’t manage to get “elected”. First, a formal investigation of Rove’s activities during the last 8 years, followed by a long — and well earned — stint inside a federal prison.
Hey, one more reason to vote Democratic…
May 25th, 2008 at 12:19 pmzooey! yes! just an hour away!!!
where my kids went to college!
can you get email? i left a comment at the zoo too!
May 25th, 2008 at 12:24 pmI heard Karl is bringing the Jello salad to Pork Chop’s barbeque.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:28 pmNevar Says:
I heard Karl is bringing the Jello salad to Pork Chop’s barbeque.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I’m not sure why, but this statement makes me feel ill. :P
May 25th, 2008 at 1:07 pmZooey
May 25th, 2008 at 2:10 pmJello and Pork are two great “foods” that go great together. You still need a food czar!
Wow, the joy. George Steph decides he should grow a pair just for this morning & confront Rove a tiny little bit on the Seigelman case. Aren’t we lucky.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:36 pmCalling out Rove for his misrepresentation and disingenuousness is only one baby-step for GS — he has a lot of steps to travel in order to make up with some of us Dems before we give him any credibility again.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:53 pmYes, a very small step for real journalism. Now if we could just get this to be a consistent pattern with a little balance on discussion of the issues. Frankly, I think Stephanie will be a little more fair and balanced because he received so much crap over the debate. We need to ape the Republicans and continually scream about the right wing bias of the media.
May 25th, 2008 at 4:49 pmJMOHR,
May 25th, 2008 at 5:12 pmThe oft-repeated claims of liberal media bias prove your point. The media is no more liberal than the RNC, but people hear it, repeat it, ergo, it is so.
And so the response to the question was a total of two whole words. And so that constitutes an exceptable answaer for George. I sure hope that Conyers can pry a couple more words. Maybe, an “I plead excutive privilige”, so we can go on for another six months.
May 25th, 2008 at 7:13 pmHey Stephie,Disney brass are on the phone,and boy are they pissed!
May 25th, 2008 at 7:21 pmDon’t be silly. Rove is working for Hillary, not McCain.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:37 am