The UpshotO’Donnell, conservative bloggers fire back at Rove
Karl Rove is used to riling up liberal hosts like Keith Olbermann. Now he's being compared to them.
"I just finished watching Karl Rove trashing GOP Senate primary winner Christine O'Donnell," wrote conservative author and blogger Michelle Malkin. "It was on Sean Hannity's FNC show. Might as well have been Olbermann on MSNBC."
Malkin is just one of the conservative commentators and bloggers taking shots now at Rove, the former top Bush adviser who is now a Fox News political analyst.
O'Donnell herself responded Wednesday on "Good Morning America."
"Everything that he is saying is un-factual," O'Donnell said. "And it's a shame, because he is the same so-called political guru that predicted I wasn't going to win. And we won and we won big. And again he is eating some humble pie and he is just trying to restore his reputation."
So how did Rove get in so much trouble on the right?
He certainly didn't waste time in starting to unload on O'Donnell, who had just been declared the winner over Republican U.S. Rep. (and establishment favorite) Mike Castle. Rove spoke of her "own checkered background," and said she has "little track record" and "serious character issues." (You can watch Rove's appearance on Hannity's show below.)
Rove also rattled off several questions he feels O'Donnell will need to answer in the general election this November.
"Why did she mislead voters about her college education?" Rove asked. "How come it took nearly two decades to pay her college bills so she could get her college degree? How did she make a living? Why did she sue a well-known, well-thought-of conservative think tank?"
Ben Domenech, writing Wednesday on the influential conservative blog RedState, summed up Rove's criticism of the insurgent tea party candidate as "an instructive moment about how the old guard is failing to adapt to this new environment."
Rove's critique also raised questions about whether he's still serving as a behind-the-scenes political operative for races he analyzes on Fox News.
Malkin linked to an item on the Freedomist — a site that bills itself as "freedom news and strategy reports featuring Bill Collier and Paul Collier" — that alleges Rove tried to strike a deal with Delaware Tea Party activists in December to withhold support for O'Donnell. Thanks to Malkin's reach, Freedomist's claim is already bouncing around the blogosphere. Dan Riehl, the blogger behind Riehl World View, followed up on the allegations noted in Malkin's post by writing that "Fox should suspend Rove and investigate."
Rove did not respond to The Upshot's request for comment.
(Photo of Rove sparring with Democratic strategist James Carville last year at Radio City Music Hall: AP/Marion Curtis, StarPix)
