Wallace: Rove Is ‘A Political Savant’ And I ‘Use Him As A Straight Political Analyst,’ Even Though He’s ‘Partisan’
Wallace: Rove Is ‘A Political Savant’ And I ‘Use Him As A Straight Political Analyst,’ Even Though He’s ‘Partisan’
In an interview with TV Barn yesterday, Fox News’s Chris Wallace said that he doesn’t “use” former Bush political guru Karl Rove as “a Republican talking head” when he has him on his show, but as “a straight political analyst.” “Karl Rove is the most sophisticated political analyst I’ve ever met,” said Wallace.
But in the course of his interview, Wallace contradicted his own claim that Rove is a “straight shooter,” admitting that he’s “obviously’ a “Republican” and a “partisan”:
WALLACE: First of all, and you’ll see that today, Karl Rove is the most sophisticated political analyst I’ve ever met. I’ve been in this business more than a quarter of a century, and this is not a Republican talking head, he is a political savant and beyond any questions, obviously he’s a Republican, obviously he’s a partisan. But his ability to analyze a political situation and analyze the strategy and how it’s being played out is the deepest, the most sophisticated I’ve ever seen.
Asked about Rove’s relationship to the McCain campaign, Wallace ignored the issue, saying, “You’ll have to ask him about what his involvement is or isn’t on that.” Listen here:
Wallace’s contention that Rove should be a “straight political analyst” rather than a “Republican talking head” contradicts what Fox News’s own senior vice president, John Moody, says about Rove. In a recent interview with Howard Kurtz, Moody acknowledged, “Are we getting a Republican spin? Of course. But that’s what he’s there for.”
Despite what Wallace may claim, Rove often doesn’t play it “straight” in his Fox commentary.
Even though he says he plays “no official role” with the McCain campaign, Rove admitted just yesterday at a Television Critics Association Q&A that he would be “having dinner later this week” with “the Republican state chairman of a battleground state.” “It’s not just the quality of steak I’m going to fix him that’s caused him to stop by the house and pick my brain,” added Rove.
Transcript:
BARNHART: Do you think the fact that Obama is now coming under intense scrutiny for his seemingly very tactical decisions with regard to his campaign and now that journalists like Ryan Lizza in the New Yorker are taking a second look at how he actually built his political career, which is maybe less inspirational, more tactical, advantages Fox in some way that your two most high-profile commentators are the two people who have spent the most time pointing this out about Obama — Howard Wolfson and Karl Rove?WALLACE: Well, I think that we are advantaged because I think we’ve got the two smartest commentators out there. First of all, and you’ll see that today, Karl Rove is the most sophisticated political analyst I’ve ever met. I’ve been in this business more than a quarter of a century, and this is not a Republican talking head, he is a political savant and beyond any questions, obviously he’s a Republican, obviously he’s a partisan, but his ability to analyze a political situation and analyze the strategy and how it’s being played out is the deepest, the most sophisticated I’ve ever seen. So, I don’t think it’s…and Howard Wolfson is also a very smart guy, so first of all, when I use Karl on, like on primary nights, and when I’m going to be talking to him at the convention, I don’t use him as a Republican talking head, I use him as a straight political analyst and he’s scary smart talking about those kinds of things.,
BARNHART: Can you do that? Can you separate that out?
WALLACE: Absolutely.
BARNHART: There continue to be these reports that Rove is maybe if not on someone’s pay roll, on the QT continues to advice Republicans, which would not be beyond the pale.
WALLACE: You’ll have to ask him about what his involvement is or isn’t on that, but what I have found in my experience with him is that he’s a very straight shooter. I’ll give you one example, on June 3rd, which was the night when…the final primaries, I…McCain made a speech from New Orleans, which particularly in comparison to Obama’s from Minnesota…
BARNHART: Dreadful.
WALLACE: Your words not mine, but it paled in comparison, I mean it was bad in substance, it was bad in performance. The backdrop looked horrendous and Karl was dumping on it as much as anybody else and at one point I said to him, so do you think he did it here, did it in New Orleans, because he’s trying to separate himself from Bush and this was the scene of a Bush failure in Katrina. He said, no, he actually just had a couple of fundraisers and we laughed on the air about the idea that there was no strategy involved, it was just a matter of logistics. I have found him to be on the air, a very straight and objective shooter about things that both candidates do right and things that both candidates do wrong.
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Rove is an IDIOT savant!
July 15th, 2008 at 11:44 amSeems to me that Rove’s political savvy has a shelf life. After a few years, all that he sets up begins to crumble and disintergrate.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:45 amWallace clearly does not now the real definition of the word ’savant’.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:46 amDidn’t Rove predict that the GOP would gain seats in 2006?
July 15th, 2008 at 11:48 amRove is partisan?
Really? Wow! Who would have thought that KKK Rove could stoop so low as that!
sarc ON!
BTW: How is that permanent Neo-Nazi majority working out these days?
July 15th, 2008 at 11:49 amJesus Christ. Rove has LITERALLY committed criminal acts to further his career and ensure the success of his candidates, for example planting a bug in his own office and blaming it on his opponent’s campaign. He used law enforcement agencies for partisan purposes, enabling Republicans to capture every statewide office in Texas. He was involved in revealing the identity of a covert CIA operative. He’s currently dodging subpoenas in an attempt to avoid providing testimony to Congress. Never mind his blatant, obvious, incessant partisanship. Is there any CRIMINAL act Rove could commit that would be so bad it would cause Wallace and the rest of the so-called liberal media to stop using Rove for commentary and analysis?
July 15th, 2008 at 11:50 amI just don’t get people’s perception that the Turd Blossom is such a political genius. So he got Bu$h elected as Governor of Texas, big deal. If it weren’t for the right wing stacked supreme court, Bu$h never would have won in 2000. Thanks to Diebold and a corrupt Ohio Secretary of State , they stole the election in ‘04, and of course we all see how his strategy panned out in the ‘06 elections.
So why give this guy so much credit?
July 15th, 2008 at 11:51 amThey really think we’re stupid, don’t they?
Of course, they are right about their viewers.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:53 amhttp://www.theonion.com/content/video/bush_tours_america_to_survey
The Damage his Presidency has done to the country.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:55 amSo, by Wallace’s logic, if I go out and rob a bunch of people’s houses, set up their stuff in my own house and then open my house to a Home and Garden house tour that makes me a genius?
I mean, come on, Rove did gain what he gained for his party by stealing it – and some talking head thinks that makes him a savant? There are prisons full of geniuses then…
If this is what’s playing, then we really need to turn off our television sets America.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:57 amKKKarl Rove is a college dropout who has made a mint doing dirty tricks for rethuglican candidates down through the years. He is sleazy and unpatriotic and if he is not hiding his actions, why doesn’t he march up to the hill and put his hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth and then put an end to all the speculation about his wrong doing? Answer: He is a lying thug! This is not something that falls under executive privilege unless he discssed it with the Prez and if he did we have bigger issues.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:58 am“Karl Rove is the most sophisticated political analyst I’ve ever met,” said Wallace.
Please. Nixon would have eaten his lunch, and made him carry the empty sack.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pmIt makes perfect sense that Chris Wallace would see karl Rove as a “straight political an*lyst” even though he acknowledges that he’s a partisan.
Because for Faux News, a right-wing partisan IS the “balance” they’re looking for.
To Chris Wallace, Karl Rove sees things from the proper perspective, and therefore is a “straight shooter”.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:05 pmPolitical savant: maybe, not likely
Knows The Math: 2006
July 15th, 2008 at 12:05 pmKarl Rove and sophisticated in the same sentence??? Oh yeah, it’s just Chris Wallace projecting his man crush. I guess Rove found someone to donate to his upcoming legal defense fund at least.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:06 pmLet’s just do a test:
I’m going to copy-and-paste a section of the article. Let’s see if TP displays it:
WALLACE: First of all, and you’ll see that today, Karl Rove is the most sophisticated political analyst I’ve ever met.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:06 pmTP, please get your filter squared away.
I just copied-and-pasted a passage from the article YOU posted, and my comment is “awaiting moderation” simply because the pasted section included a no-no word for you guys.
(For the uninitiated. the “no-no word” was “an*lyst”).
How stupid is THAT?
July 15th, 2008 at 12:09 pmKKKarl Rove is a lying sack of sh*t, just like the rest of the lying sacks of sh*t at FUX.
I guess to one lying sack of sh*t, a bigger lying sack of sh*t looks like a genius.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:15 pmOther than me, how many of you have had it with this “anole eyes” problem? How can something so critical to higher level thought be such a no-no word? You can say all sorts of twisted shit here but say ” a knoll eyes” in any way and get moderated. It is so stupid
July 15th, 2008 at 12:16 pmMore physcobabble from this fool
July 15th, 2008 at 12:17 pmI hope Wallace at least gets a reacharound.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:17 pmRove this, Rove that, Blah blah blah… when is our party going to hold his feet to the fire? I’m as disgusted with the chicken-sh*t Democrats as I am with the Republic666ans.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:17 pmDefinitive proof that Chris Wallace is a gullible moron.
Rove is a professional liar.
If Wallace truly believes that Rove is “a straight political analyst,” then he’s an even bigger chump than the dimwits who tune into his teevee show expecting to be informed.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:18 pmdbd. ralph
how about ‘proctologist’ ? :)
July 15th, 2008 at 12:21 pmI am curious to see just what the most messed up thing you can say might be. Either that or I think a list of no-no words should be made available. I have gotten away with D-bag before in its normal spelling but not other times. Where the hell is Eric Cartman when you need him?
What about labia can you say labia? I saw donkey punch the other day. How about teabag?
July 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pmMy dictionary defines the word “savant” thusly: a person of profound or extensive learning; learned scholar.
When it comes to politics Karl Rove is indeed a “learned scholar.” Learned in the arts of personal destruction, lying, deception, political subterfuge, and generally being an all-around a$$hole.
Just saying . . .
July 15th, 2008 at 12:30 pmSavant definition:
1. A learned person; a scholar.
2. An idiot savant.
Chris Wallace just used the wrong definition of Savant. As for Chris’s rhetoric about Rove “is the deepest, the most sophisticated”, please give me a break. Rove has the depth of a puddle.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:32 pmTraitor Rove “savant”? No, idiot is more like it.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:35 pmRove is a savant. Idiot/savant.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:43 pmWith apologies to all of the idiots, except the repuglycans.
I hereby dub thee Whizzer Wallace, for outstanding dumbfu ckery in the cause of the Reich. Whizzing into the wind during a gale force storm is something only Wallace and his ilk enjoy.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pmIt is truly amazing the degree to which right wingers will promote their fantasies and absolutely deny reality. But even the most Loyal Bushie, after missing the memo on the 2006 election results, will be unable to deny the impact of the 2008 elections. I think after the next election you’ll never hear a right winger calling Mr. Rove a savant ever again.
Karl will forever be tied to the most loathsome administration in this nation’s history. Karl will be seen as more of a Dr. Frankenstein than a savant. But in his role as architect of the current Republican Party, Karl will take much of the blame for the utter destruction of that same party which we are all witnessing daily.
July 15th, 2008 at 12:48 pmKarl is a one trick pony – fear and smear. He made a good nazi, but everyone – except Wallace it seems – has heard the tune before. Only the Low Information Voters look to KKKarl for ’savant’ type advice. He makes them feel superior and good about themselves. Those feelings do not come naturally for them – they must be fed good, happy GOP hatred and spew to have eventful lives. KKKarl is the king to these LIV’s.
July 15th, 2008 at 1:05 pm“Wallace: Rove Is ‘A Political Savant’ And I ‘Use Him As A Straight Political @n@lyst,’ Even Though He’s ‘Partisan’”
Correction: “Wallace: Rove Is ‘A Political Satan’ And I ‘Use Him As A Straight Political @nus,’ Even Though He’s ‘Partisan’”
July 15th, 2008 at 1:09 pmFox news- THE enabler of the Fourth Reich!
July 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pmThe blossom is off the turd.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pmNow he’s just a turd.
A turd on the run.
You must remember that Chris Wallace once described Harpo Marx as “deep and sophisticated.”
July 15th, 2008 at 5:12 pmAnd while I think of it, what, exactly, makes Rove a “savant” or a “genius”? If you let me turn US Attorneys and the FBI loose on my opponents, kick supporters of my opponent off the voter rolls, rig voting machines, allow the relatives of my candidate to announce the results through a compliant media, and enable me to go to complacent judges to certify the results, I’d win some elections, too.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:12 pm