Karl Rove under fire
Richard Viguerie, a pioneering direct mail consultant, called for Republicans to purge from their ranks Rove and Ed Gillespie — who helped found Crossroads and later moved over to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign — as well as Romney advisers Stuart Stevens and Neil Newhouse. “In any logical universe,” he argued, “no one would give a dime to their ineffective super PACs, such as American Crossroads.”
Rick Tyler, a former strategist for the pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC and a top adviser to Todd Akin’s Missouri Senate campaign, called Crossroads’ efforts “a colossal failure,” and asserted “Rove has too much control over the purse strings.”…
In fact, donors are starting to question the fundamental strategy of Crossroads and other groups that spent primarily on advertising, said Drew Ryun, who helped start or run two groups – the Madison Project and American Majority Action – that focused almost exclusively on ground organizing.
“In that reassessment, folks like Karl Rove and Carl Forti are going to take a beating,” Ryun said, referring to Crossroads’ political director Forti, a Rove protege. “If Rove is not done, he is dangerously close to it.”
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Conservatives lined up in a circle
“Ready, aim, FIRE !!!!”
I’m just going to get out my popcorn and enjoy this.
antifederalist on November 10, 2012 at 2:18 PM
He should be under fire. And it should include a few dozen rotten eggs, a bucket of tar, and fifty pounds of feathers.
CurtZHP on November 10, 2012 at 2:19 PM
Wow, rocketsurgeons everywhere.
the_nile on November 10, 2012 at 2:19 PM
This may be true…I’ve been critical of Rove for years…but I will not believe anything the legacy media reports again. Their vision of America is not mine.
d1carter on November 10, 2012 at 2:20 PM
Uhhhh…
Kataklysmic on November 10, 2012 at 2:21 PM
He’ll be back, so will Dick Morris. I’m willing to bet.
lester on November 10, 2012 at 2:23 PM
Well these aren’t the only ones under fire! From my cold dead eyes and ears will I stop listening to Rush or watching Fox!
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/blogger-andrew-sullivan-fox-news-needs-to-be-demonized-and-cut-off-along-with-poison-on-the-discourse-rush-limbaugh/
L
letget on November 10, 2012 at 2:25 PM
And this is one of the reasons the GOP loses, because we eat our own. We blame and throw people under the bus and then whine when they can’t win. Alan Grayson says things just as idiotic as Akin did, but you can betcha that the DNC financed him to the hilt this year. And the same goes for all the calls for the purge of the RINOS and the libertarians. Until we all realize that we all need each other and learn to find commonality; the Dems will keep winning. Good luck, signed a socon little “l” libertarian..
melle1228 on November 10, 2012 at 2:28 PM
If I were Rick Tyler, I would remove Top Adviser to the Todd Akin campaign off my resume immediately.
salem on November 10, 2012 at 2:28 PM
I love this. They didn’t have a Conservative on the ticket to blame all their failures this time.
OWN IT MODERATES!
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 2:28 PM
Rick Tyler you’re not looking a prize yourself. I hope you and turdblossom saved enough of that consulting money to have a happy retirement. If not I hope I don’t run into you on a used car lot. FOAD.
burnitup on November 10, 2012 at 2:29 PM
Who’s to blame? Is it Rove? Is it Mitt? Is it Akin? Maybe Murdock? What about the clusterfark of ORCA? Is it SB 1070?
El_Terrible on November 10, 2012 at 2:29 PM
These “Consultants” & “Political Gurus” move onto the next campaign, while we suffer from the consequences of their incompetence. ORCA, ineffective ads, poor judgement on ad placement, poor strategy, is NOT the voters fault.
OWN IT MODERATES.
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 2:31 PM
Yep. Ol Krafty Karl ™ was able to rig those machines in Cleveland and Philly. And those are just the ones that were so blatant that we know about them.
I’m tired of this infighting trying to assign blame. Sure there is enough of that to go around, but no amount of effort can overcome 90% turnouts and 100+% of the vote.
Joe Mama on November 10, 2012 at 2:32 PM
you can make a case Rove/Gillespie/Bush have done more damage to the GOP in the last 24 years than anything the dems could have dreamed of.
Purge them!!
Those rats, could never get a real job in the private sector, they are only good at living off donor money or public funds!
Danielvito on November 10, 2012 at 2:32 PM
Karl Rove & his ilk fought harder against TEA PARTY candidates than he did against the Democrats. His Vindictiveness cost US more than it costs HIM.
OWN IT MODERATES
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Probably a little bit of all of it, and the fact that we push comes to shove our “consultants,” our media pundits don’t point their guns where they belong- at the left. Stop eating our own. Even if you absolutely hate the candidate- zip it and vote. That is what Dems do.
melle1228 on November 10, 2012 at 2:33 PM
He should be. Romney had his problems but if conservative pundits actually told the truth about our ground game and the true state of the race, maybe things would have been different. We were told we were ahead and had a good GOTV operation.
This guys have lost all credibility. The grassroots will take over in the next election, we will do things the way we know how, boots on the ground, going door to door explaining our ideas in a friendly manner not depending on establishment cronies. F&&k the establishment.
celticdefender on November 10, 2012 at 2:34 PM
The TEA PARTY delivered us 2010 Election results.
The GOP MODERATE HIERARCHY delivered us 2012 Election results.
OWN IT MODERATES
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 2:35 PM
Heh.
the_nile on November 10, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Every category of the GOP got its butt kicked. You can’t ignore that.
Social conservatives, social liberals, tea party, moderates, establishment… all of them lost.
El_Terrible on November 10, 2012 at 2:37 PM
Wait…a top adviser to Todd Akin is criticizing other strategists? Ha!
Rove did a great job of steering Bush’s two campaigns, so not sure why Crossroads was so ineffective. None of the Super PACs seemed to make much of a difference…they all canceled each other out, imo.
changer1701 on November 10, 2012 at 2:37 PM
Conservative States showed up to vote.
The Liberal States showed up to vote.
Where were the MODERATE GOP voters in Purple States who this whole election hinged on? These Moderate GOP voters who demanded MODERATE candidates or they would stay home? Where were they? They got TWO MODERATE candidates on ONE TICKET, and still stayed home or voted FOR OBAMA.
OWN IT MODERATES
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 2:38 PM
Sick people. Totalitarian.
the_nile on November 10, 2012 at 2:38 PM
I’m tired of the people whining about how we shouldn’t have infighting and finger pointing. Here and now is the time.
It’s about ACCOUNTABILITY. If your favorite football team turned in a performance like the other night would you be demanding someone’s head to roll? Romney is gone for good. But let’s look at the brain trusts, the advisors and what the did with your money, time and effort. We had over 30,000 volunteers who may have been burned by mismanagement. SOMEONE’S ASS NEEDS TO BE KICKED SO FAR AWAY FROM THE PARTY TO ENSURE THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.
Karl what happened to all the money Adelson and Koch Bros gave you? Where was the ground game? Then again, who cares FOAD.
burnitup on November 10, 2012 at 2:39 PM
All I know is that all this finger blaming sure is harder without Palin :p
El_Terrible on November 10, 2012 at 2:40 PM
No they didn’t.
I understand 2 “Rape-Abortion” idiots lost.
But the 4 senate candidates who were Moderates LOST in Purple states. The states that this whole Presidential Ticket was specifically made to ensure Moderates to come out and vote in.
They stayed home or voted Obama.
I am FED UP with the GOP manipulating the Primaries.
The MODERATES OWN the 2012 Election results.
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 2:42 PM
lol
I have this mental image of Rove awakened in the night by the sounds of angry voices growing louder and louder. I can see him, paralyzed by fear, standing at window with the reflection of torches on the window and on his glasses.
Dack Thrombosis on November 10, 2012 at 2:43 PM
Rove is smarter than everyone else, that’s what the RNC, fox etc. tell us endlessly. Then explain how you blow $100 million and according to media Rove’s return on investment was 1%.
Then look at Palin’s candidates this cycle with almost NO MONEY bacause the GOP establishment blackballed her;
Ted Cruz- pushed him accross the line in the primary, is the new senator of texas.
Deb Fischer- pushed her accross the line in the primary- is the new Senator of Nebraska
Orrin Hatch- would have lost the primary pushed her accross the line and got him re-elected
backed Sarah Steelman in GOP Mo. primary and was beaten back by the RNC/Mike huckabee to give us Todd Akin
All told Palin backed 61 winners and 26 losers. Compare that to american crossroads & karl Rove.
I blame Fox news for giving Rove/ DICK morris a platform. Without Fox, these two chumps would have gone away 15 years ago.
Danielvito on November 10, 2012 at 2:44 PM
Exactly , how else do you learn from disaster. Denial?
the_nile on November 10, 2012 at 2:46 PM
And one of those was specifically a tea party challenge to a moderate who had a lock on the seat.
El_Terrible on November 10, 2012 at 2:47 PM
You’re right.
And I’ll challenge you with TEA PARTY candidate Sarah Steelman who would have annihilated Hungry-Hungry Hippo McCaskill but had the vote split by the RNC/Huckabee backed Akin.
Steelman was a lock. Claire was against the ropes.
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 2:56 PM
We need a new generation of gurus and consultants. It’s not about blame but about new school vs old school.
SAZMD on November 10, 2012 at 3:00 PM
The delusion is strong with these ones.
Stoic Patriot on November 10, 2012 at 3:29 PM
RNC didn’t back Akin.
However the DNC did. To the tune of 1.5 mil.
RNC didn’t back Steelman either, which was a big mistake.
RNC needs to start intervening in some of these primaries and push out the looney tunes, and get the candidate most likely to win-whether they are Tea Party or not.
We’ve probably lost 5 or 6 Senate seats-that not only were winnable but were actually in the bag, due to p***-poor candidates. Unbelievable.
Where is Casey Stengel when you need him?
http://charlestonteaparty.org/cant-anybody-here-play-this-game-casey-stengel-1962/
Dreadnought on November 10, 2012 at 4:04 PM
Clearly it’s George Bush’s fault.
Donald Draper on November 10, 2012 at 4:11 PM
Apathy and ignorance won, and everyone else will pay for a long long time.
4-5 SCOTUS judges appointed by one man. A leftiest radical.
Thanks a lot purist fools and all you chumps who didn’t care enough to pay attention.
Mimzey on November 10, 2012 at 4:19 PM
…Karl Rove is dead too me!
KOOLAID2 on November 10, 2012 at 4:26 PM
The football game analogy doesn’t really work.
In a sports game, both teams are playing by the same rules.
Mimzey on November 10, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Rove and Gillespie will make adjustments and bounce back..
Dire Straits on November 10, 2012 at 4:49 PM
Those of you who think you can convince more people going door to door than through advertising have never tried it. It is a horse and buggy approach in a jet age. We lost because the infantile electorate on their side were ginned up by tax free goodies and Akin and Mourdock and the purists, bigots and cultists on our side didn’t vote.
Basilsbest on November 10, 2012 at 5:12 PM