On Feb. 4, Fox News began promoting former White House adviser Karl Rove as its newest contributor. On Feb. 5, Rove made his first appearance in his new job, providing Super Tuesday analysis. Since that time, Fox has refused to disclose that Rove has been described as an informal adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and reportedly provided electoral maps to the campaign.
Once again, Rove’s ties to McCain went undisclosed during last night’s Pennsylvania primary coverage. Throughout the night, he was introduced as a “very frustrated Karl Rove,” a “very happy Karl Rove,” and “Fox News political analyst Karl Rove.”
During this time, he was free to criticize Barack Obama (“His personal instincts don’t put him in synch with these people”), Hillary Clinton (“Now we’re starting to see doubts on Barack Obama’s supporter’s part about Clinton”), and the Democratic party generally (“First of all the Democrat rules are so messed up it’s impossible for somebody to secure the nomination relatively early in the process”).
Coincidentally, Rove was also able pump McCain’s strategy, which the senator shared with Rove during a recent “private gathering.” Watch it:
In a Washington Post chat on Monday, media reporter Howard Kurtz criticized Fox’s lack of disclosure, saying that Rove is “a maxed-out donor to McCain, and Fox should mention that when he’s on.”
Yesterday marked the 77th day that Fox refused to mention Rove’s ties to the McCain campaign. Starting today, ThinkProgress is starting its Rove Watch clock, modeled after Fox’s own Obama Watch clock. Fox News, when are you going to come clean on Rove’s conflict-of-interest?
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