Karl Rove has been taking a lot of heat over the past few weeks for his new I-swear-this-isn’t-about-smothering-the-Tea-Party PAC-extension, whose mission is to help nominate what they deem to be the most ‘electable’ candidates ahead of the 2014 midterms. Rove again appeared on Fox News on Sunday to defend his new operation’s agenda and try to quell the circulating fears about his suspiciously establishment-shaped ambitions:

Let’s be clear, we did spend $30 million on behalf of Tea Party candidates. … We were the largest outside group supporting Rand Paul. … No, some people associated with the Tea Party — look, Todd Akin was not a Tea Party candidate. … Our object is to avoid having stupid candidates who can’t win general elections, who are undisciplined, can’t raise money, aren’t putting together the support necessary to win the general election campaign — because this money is too difficult to raise to be spending it on the behalf of candidates who have little chance winning in the general election. … The more we examine the quality of these candidates from top to bottom, the more likely we end up with fewer Christine O’Donnells and more Rand Pauls.

In a nutshell, no, this isn’t about quashing the unruly Tea Party, it’s about the Conservative Victory Project playing self-styled Republican-party policeman by more thoroughly vetting potential candidates in the first place.

To which Bob Woodward rejoined, “My last book is going to be called, ‘Some People Never Go Away,’ and Karl’s going to get his own chapter. … So you’re going to set yourself up as a kind of polling hero… The whole theory of Republicanism is to let the local, state, or district decide.” Heh.