Tag Archives: Karl Rove

May 15, 2013 · 5:55 PM

Fox News Gives Karl Rove’s Crossroads Groups Millions In Free Airtime

Karl Rove on Fox News Channel

It’s important to review why the Tea Party groups were petitioning the I.R.S. anyway. They (the Tea Party) were seeking approval to operate under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. This would require them to be “social welfare,” not political, operations. There are significant advantages to being a 501(c)(4). These groups don’t pay taxes; they don’t have to disclose their donors—unlike traditional political organizations, such as political-action committees. In return for the tax advantage and the secrecy, the 501(c)(4) organizations must refrain from traditional partisan political activity, like endorsing candidates.  (The New Yorker)         Ed. Note: Emphasis are mine

Think Progress

Though Karl Rove receives a salary from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp for his work as a Fox News Channel “political contributor,” his compensation doesn’t end there. The network frequently airs ads by his American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS political committees, as “news,” free of charge.

A review of Fox News Channel broadcasts over the past twelve months revealed that Fox News programs ran all or a significant part of Crossroads ads at least 34 times — an estimated value of more than $3.6 million in free air time. Frequently, the network’s hosts run the ads during Rove’s segments and then allow him to explain and repeat their charges.

On Monday, for example, Fox News aired a significant chunk of a new American Crossroads ad attacking former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her handling of the attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Noting criticism the ad received from conservative columnist William Kristol, host Martha MacCullum asked Rove: “What say you?”

Watch the video:

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May 14, 2013 · 8:12 AM

Chris Hayes explains why Citizens United is the real scandal behind the IRS scandal

Chris Hayes screenshot

 

The Raw Story

MSNBC host Chris Hayes on Monday night explained how the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United ruling lead to the current IRS scandal.

The IRS on Friday admitted that it had targeted tea party groups applying to be social welfare nonprofits with extra scrutiny.

Hayes said the Citizens United ruling obscured the line between political organizations and social welfare organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Unions and volunteer fire departments. Political organizations have been categorized under section 527 of the federal tax code, while social welfare organizations fall under section 501(c)(4).

“Citizen’s United said essentially any organization of any kind can spend money out of its general treasury to run political ads,” Hayes said, “and that decision brought about a pivotal moment for politics and taxes and campaign spending in this country and we’re still dealing with the fallout.”

Republican strategist Karl Rove and Democratic strategist Bill Burton used the Citizens United ruling to their advantage ahead of the 2012 elections. Both used social welfare nonprofits to run overtly political ads, allowing them to intervene in political campaigns without disclosing their donors. Hayes remarked that their example obviously inspired others to do the same.

“Suddenly, the IRS starts getting a flood of new applications from other political groups and strategists saying, ‘Oh, oh, it turns out I too want to set up a social welfare organization that just so happens to be focused on taking the country back from Barack Hussein Obama,’” he said. “Now, here is the thing the IRS appears to have done unequivocally wrong, that we all agree was absolutely inexcusable. They reacted to all this by targeting one part of the ideological spectrum in looking at whether this flood of new applicants passed the smell test. Being skeptical about a new wave of wolves in sheep’s clothing invading the nonprofit game was entirely appropriate.”

Watch video, courtesy of MSNBC…

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April 27, 2013 · 5:35 PM

Karl Rove Ranks Bush’s Presidency Somewhere ‘Up There,’ Just Below Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, FDR

Karl Rove just can’t seem to get it right on certain issues.   After all, he wrongly predicted the 2012 election would go to Mitt Romney then had a rather embarrassing display on Fox News on election night when he didn’t believe that Obama had won.  Not to mention that many American citizens and foreign nationals around the globe believe Mr. Rove is a war criminal.

So this from the guy who hasn’t gotten anything right since the 2000 election?  I think Rove has been around too long and all the big money deals with deep pocket donors contributing to his various PACs may just be taking its toll on poor Karl.  Not to mention that the Hague wants to have a little talk with Rove’s colleagues from the Bush administration: Cheney and Rove, Rice and Rumsfeld about the “war” in Iraq.  In fact none of the above can travel to Europe at this time…

The Huffington Post

Former President George W. Bush isn’t quite a George Washington or an Abraham Lincoln, his former campaign strategist Karl Rove admitted to ABC News on Thursday, but according to Rove, he’s not too far off.

“The greats, you can’t touch: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, FDR,” Rove said in Dallas at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. “But yeah, I’d put him up there.”

Rove’s claim came after an aggressive defense of Bush’s legacy, which he said history would view favorably more quickly than most thought. Bush left office in 2009 as themost unpopular outgoing president in the history of Gallup polling. Rove pointed to arecent poll that showed his popularity at 47 percent to argue that Bush was already experiencing a turnaround.

Rove also said that Bush deserved more positive treatment, claiming that he “kept us safe after 9/11″ and “tackled the big issues of trying to reform Social Security, Medicare, immigration, education.” He also defended the Iraq War as “the right thing to do.”

(Watch Rove’s entire interview at Yahoo News.)

Bush’s recent return to the main stage has highlighted the controversial decisions that he made as president, renewing a dormant battle between his supporters and his opponents. While Rove has been one of Bush’s most vocal defenders, writing a column in the Wall Street Journal this week jabbing back at his former boss’ critics, Bush himself has consistently maintained that his legacy doesn’t need defending.

In an interview published in USA Today last week, Bush declared that “there’s no need to defend myself” on issues like the Iraq War.

“I did what I did and ultimately history will judge,” he said.

That said, nobody has ever said you can’t attempt to nudge history into your corner. On Thursday, former President Bill Clinton ribbed Bush on that point, saying that his impressive facility was “the latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history.”

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March 25, 2013 · 4:39 PM

Terry Moran To Karl Rove: ‘Stop Scaring People’ Over Gun Control (VIDEO)

I’m a day late with this, but watching Karl Rove squirm is worth the delay…

Huffington Post

ABC News’ Terry Moran went head to head with Karl Rove on Sunday, telling the GOP strategist to “stop scaring people” with his warnings against tougher gun control.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a gun control bill, which includes universal background checks, on Thursday.

On Sunday’s “This Week,” Karl Rove insisted that the check would create more red tape, and warned against requiring gun owners to register their firearms. He added that loopholes to background checks would remain.

“You wanna get something done?” Rove said. “Then, stop scaring people. Don’t say we’re gonna keep a registry of all these guns —”

“Stop scaring people,” Moran interjected. “You’re scaring people with this Orwellian sense, that black helicopters and the government are going to confiscate Americans’ guns. That kind of paranoia fuels —”

“Will all due respect, it’s not paranoia,” Rove declared.

“Who is going to confiscate all of the guns?” Moran asked. “The result of this is that all the votes that have been taken since Newtown have weakened gun control,” he added.

(h/t Think Progress)

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February 10, 2013 · 4:12 PM

Obama’s Reelection is Literally Destroying Fox News

obama-smile-fox-news

My mom used to say: Be careful what you wish for, it may come back to bite you in the [butt]…

PoliticusUSA

President Obama’s reelection has had a devastating impact on Fox News. Ratings are down, viewer trust is at an all time low, and now the network is caught in the middle of a Republican civil war.

Republicans and right wing media have become fond of claiming thatPresident Obama is out to destroy the Republican Party, but no other media organization has suffered greater damage from the president’s reelection than Fox News. But it wasn’t Obama that wounded Fox, it was a series of absurdly poor decisions that have left the network reeling.

As the Republican Party’s demographic base has shrunk, Fox News has followed. The recent news that FNC (Fox News Channel) registered their lowest ratings with the 25-54 demographic in 12 years is not a surprise. During Obama’s first term, Roger Ailes and company have geared their programming towards the newly radicalized base of the Republican Party. They ran wild with anti-Obama rhetoric and conspiracy theories. The daily Fox News message that the country really didn’t like Obama was one of the main reasons that the Republican Party went into the 2012 election thinking that they could nominate anybody and win. While Fox embraced the quest to make Obama a one term president with gusto, the rest of the country still liked Obama. Fox News alienated everyone who wasn’t a hard core conservative with their extremism. As a result, many moderate people stopped watching Fox.

However, the biggest problem for Fox News is that they were wrong. FNC was so blinded by their partisan mission that they got the 2012 election completely wrong. They were wrong about Obama’s vulnerability, wrong about Romney’s victory, wrong about who would show up to vote, wrong about Republicans retaking the Senate, and most importantly, they were completely wrong about the direction of the country. The success of Obama’s tax message, the popularity of ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and his action on immigration were a clear signal that the country was moving left. Instead of injecting a bit of reality into their coverage, Fox News kept trotting out people like Sarah Palin and Dick Morris to tout the inevitability of Romney’s victory. Viewers reacted to Fox’s propaganda over facts attitude by giving award the network their lowest trust ratings ever. Except for the political right, viewers don’t trust Fox.

The third wheel to fall off the Fox News juggernaut is the now out in theopen civil war between the Republican Party establishment, and the tea party. Fox News employs both Karl Rove, the leader of the establishment push back, and several tea party darlings, like Mike Huckabee. Fox News was a big factor in the promotion of the right wing billionaire backed AstroTurf movement known as the tea party in 2009 and 2010, but over the past year, they have been trying to distance themselves from the monster that they helped create. President Obama’s landslide reelection turned what was stealth conflict inside the Republican Party into full on public warfare. Fox News is going to be forced to alienate a portion of their audience by picking a side. So far, the network has tried to straddle the middle publicly, but the firing of Sarah Palin made it clear that Murdoch and Ailes are siding with the party establishment.

All of these problems at Fox News were caused by Obama’s reelection. If Romney beats Obama, Fox News was correct about the election. They have a Republican president to sell, and the warfare between the establishment and the tea party goes back underground.

Firing Sarah Palin and Dick Morris won’t be enough to fix what is wrong with Fox News. Like the Republican Party, Fox execs think that adopting a more moderate tone will bring the viewers back. It won’t. Having a conservative slant is not the same thing as partisan political activity. Cosmetic changes can’t hide the fact that viewers are rejecting both the ideology and the tone of the network.

Fox News will continue to lead in total viewership until either CNN gets their act together or MSNBC is available in more homes, but their viewership edge, which is built on monopoly of conservative news viewers, is camouflaging some much bigger issues.

The Fox News audience is static. Fewer younger people are watching, and fewer Americans trust the network. Fox News is an aging network, with aging leadership that is being left behind because, like the Republican Party, they are fighting losing battles against demographics and time.

In other words, the fallout from Obama’s election to a second term is causing the piecemeal destruction of what we used to know as Fox News.

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February 8, 2013 · 3:01 AM

Dick Morris On Fox News Ouster: ‘I Was Wrong At The Top Of My Lungs’ (VIDEO)

Mr. Morris sticks to his talking points: “…at the top of [his] lungs.”

TPM LiveWire

Dick Morris opened up about his departure from Fox News in an interview with CNN Wednesday night, telling Piers Morgan, “I was wrong, and I was wrong at the top of my lungs.”

But a lot of people on Fox News called the election wrong, Morgan said, including Karl Rove, whose contract at the network was recently renewed.

“I think that I was wrong at the top of my lungs. Maybe I’m being made a poster child for that,” Morris said.

Morris said he doesn’t resent the decision. “Look, Fox has given me the opportunity of a lifetime. Fifteen years, 3,000 interviews, and at some point a great marriage has to come to an end.”

Watch the interview:

 

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February 7, 2013 · 3:44 AM

Quick Look @ The News

Lawmaker Wants to Require Students to Read Ayn Rand

Idaho state Sen. John Goedde (R), chairman of the Education Committee, introduced legislation to require every Idaho high school student to read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and pass a test on it to graduate from high school, the Spokane Spokesman-Reviewreports.

Said Goedde: “That book made my son a Republican.”

Majority of Americans Trust Just One TV Network

A new Public Policy Polling survey on television news finds that there’s only one source more Americans trust than distrust: PBS. 52% of voters say they trust PBS to only 29% who don’t trust it.

The other seven outlets  polled on are all distrusted by a plurality of voters.

Rand Paul carves out own space on foreign policy

Sen. Rand Paul advanced his foreign policy views in a speech on Wednesday that appeared to be aimed at showing his fluency in that arena, particularly on radical Islam, the suspected Iranian nuclear weapons program, and U.S. military involvement.

On some of those issues, he sounded tones similar to his father, the former three-time presidential candidate and Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Rand Paul campaigned for his father, who drew attention for his libertarian views – which he described as non-interventionist but critics described as isolationist.

Jay-Z tweets reaction to Bey’s Super Bowl show

After Beyoncé finished her exhilarating halftime Super Bowl set, she received a hug of support from one of her biggest fans: her husband Jay-Z.

A photo posted to Instagram, reportedly by Beyoncé’s makeup artist, shows the singer embracing her partner with a huge smile plastered on her face.

Jay-Z, who wed Beyoncé in 2008, joined in the jokes on Twitter that his wife’s performance was so electric it knocked out the power in the stadium.

“Lights out!!!” he posted after her show on Sunday night. “Any questions??”

The GOP, Fox political purge

Republicans and Fox News are moving to purge the controversial political creatures they created.

Both were damaged badly in 2012 by loud, partisan voices that stoked the base — but that scared the hell out of many voters. Now, the GOP, with its dismal image, and Fox News, with its depressed ratings in January, are scrambling to dim those voices. To wit:

  • Fox ousted contributors Sarah Palin and Dick Morris, two of the most obnoxiously partisan figures on the network’s air.
  • Karl Rove, himself sidelined by Fox after the election, has helped start a new super PAC, the Conservative Victory Fund, designed to keep controversial conservatives like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) from winning Senate primaries.
  • Senate GOP leaders created what amounts to a buddy system with their caucus’s most popular tea party members, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas, to get their help in taming anti-establishment conservatives.
  • Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has been running around the country warning anyone who will listen that Republicans must quit being the “stupid party” that nominates nutty candidates.

“The fact that we lost a winnable election has caused Republicans to take this very, very seriously,” Jindal told us in an interview. “I don’t think it’s just a marketing change. I don’t think it’s just cosmetic changes. It is going to require some serious changes, not in principles, but in the way we talk and act.”  More…

Scott plans $100M campaign vs. Crist

Rick Scott is preparing to defend his Florida governorship with the most expensive reelection campaign in state history, drawing up plans for a battleship-sized political operation aimed at overcoming the Republican’s deep personal unpopularity.

The anticipated price tag, according to sources familiar with Scott’s plans: $100 million.   More…

Donald Trump To Sue Bill Maher for $5 Million Over Orangutan Joke (VIDEO)

Donald Trump will take Bill Maher to court for refusing to honor his joking pledge to pay $5 million if Trump could prove his father wasn’t an orangutan.

Karl Rove’s Super PAC Isn’t Wasting Any Time Attacking Ashley Judd

Dear Ashley Judd, Welcome to the world of campaign-style politics.

The actress-turned-activist is seen as a possible challenger to Sen. Mitch McConnell in next year’s election. As we explained in December when her name first began to pop up, her resume is a little thicker than most actresses. She earned her masters in public administration from Harvard University in 2010 and has become increasingly vocal on progressive public-policy matters in recent years, from social issues to the environment. While those strengths may not be big sellers in Kentucky, there’s no denying that she has much stronger name recognition than any of the other names being floated for a McConnell challenge.  More…

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January 22, 2013 · 12:10 AM

Top Ten Things Republicans Hate More Than President Obama’s Second Inauguration

When one thinks about the failed GOP efforts to derail President Obama’s first term it’s hard to believe there are things they hate more than the POTUS’ second term…

Addicting Info

10. Nate Silver’s stupid predictions based on stupid “math”

9. Donald Trump and Birtherism (No, they’re not laughing with you…)

8. Sandra Fluke and her damn birth control pills (She riled up the slut vote!)

7. Rick Perry’s terrible memory (You couldn’t remember THREE agencies?!)

6. Karl Rove and Fox News (You said we would win in a landslide, you lying pricks!)

5. Non-rigged elections (WTF?! We passed those Voter ID laws for a reason!)

4. Rachel Maddow and her stupid facts (Freaking lesbian know-it-all…)

3. Minorities (Who the hell let them vote?!)

2. Republicans that won’t STFU about rape (I don’t CARE if it’s legitimate or not! Stop talking about it!)

And the number one thing that Republicans hate even more than President Obama’s second inauguration?

1. Mitt Romney

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December 17, 2012 · 1:01 AM

Anonymous hits Westboro Baptist Church over Sandy Hook picket plans

Anonymous hits Westboro Baptist Church over Sandy Hook picket plans

I’m beginning to think Anonymous is not such a bad group after all.  Especially in this instance and thwarting Karl Rove’s alleged voting irregularities via his GOTV operation…

Salon

The ever-hateful Westboro Baptist Church has not failed to deliver in the wake of the Newtown school massacre. The Church, notorious for picketing the funerals of fallen troops with “God Hates Fags” placards, announced Saturday that they would picket Sandy Hook elementary school, where 20 children and six adults were shot dead Friday.  Tweets from the Phelps family suggest they believe the horrors in Connecticut are a punishment from God for gay marriage.

Hacker collective Anonymous was swift to respond, releasing private information of  Westboro members including email addresses, phone numbers and home addresses. This video, decrying the church for spreading “seeds of hatred” was also released. It warns, “We will destroy you. We are coming.”

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December 11, 2012 · 10:26 AM

Rachel Maddow Rips Conservative Media For Scamming Donors

Rachel Maddow

Rachel Maddow has no qualms about exposing the underbelly of the Right-Wing Super PAC scamming business and the Right-Wing media’s compliance.  This woman is awesome.  No wonder she’s beating brain dead Hannity in the ratings.

The Huffington Post

Rachel Maddow tore into members of the conservative media on her Monday MSNBC show for what she called “scamming” gullible members of their own party who donate to various Super PACs.

Maddow discussed how watchdog group Media Matters recently looked into conservative pundit Dick Morris’ Super PAC and found that some of his key expenditures included renting his own email list, which is operated by Newsmax Media.

“So your money … goes to Dick Morris, who apparently then pays it to Newsmax to send emails, and then Newsmax maybe just pays it back to Dick Morris to pay for the email addresses to which they just sent all of his emails,” Maddow said. “What these financial reports seems to indiciate is that donations to Dick Morris’ Super PAC substantially end up just going to Dick Morris.” She added that Morris’ Super PAC has been around for a couple of years “so maybe it doesn’t always look like a scam,” but that more and more “scammy-looking” arrangements have been coming to light — as in the case of the well funded Tea Party group Freedom Works.

Dick Armey, the man who helped build the conservative group, recently left and arranged an $8 million golden parachute for himself upon his departure, which raised some eyebrows. Then news broke that Freedom Works president Matt Kibbe allegedly used the group’s staff and funds to write part of his book. “So if you think about it, anyone donating to Freedom Works was effectively paying for the staff time and the resources to produce a project that just personally profited one of the people who works there,” Maddow said. “A scam.”

Maddow likened the situation to what she called Newt Gingrich’s “direct mail scam,” where he would give businesses fake awards, which gave them the opportunity to donate $5,000 to meet him. “Congratulations to you!” Maddow quipped. “Where is your check to me?”

She also compared the situation to what she called the “scammy campaign” where Mike Huckabee asked supporters to donate $2,500 to “help fund the battle” against Obamacare, which also went towards helping to keep Huckabee on TV to repeal Obamacare.

“Will having Mike Huckabee on TV repeal Obamacare? I’m checking with the constitution, but I don’t think so,” Maddow said. She later added, “If you are a person who has long been fascinated by how similar the conservative ‘be afraid’ direct mail that asks for money looks to the kind of direct mail that tries to scam your grandmother out of her savings … it is amazing to see, if you have been watching this over time … is how persistent this is.”

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