Rove may snub Congress, but not supposedly”tame” TV writers who part control his Fox-TV destiny – and suddenly turn in to tough White House correspondents as interview changes tone

By Gayl Murphy

BEVERLY HILLS, CA (Hollywood Today) 7/14/08 — Former White House adviser Karl Rove was a no-show in Congress a few days ago in spite of a Federal subpoena, yet did show in Beverly Hills yesterday to tell TV critics his Fox News show will “not be neutral” and to say the anti-gay marriage spin on the 2004 presidential election, regarded as one of his political coups, was not his, but a fluke of the Michigan courts at the time.

Rove, a surprise to most attendees though he has a commentary show on Fox, told the Television Critics Association meet that “The issue was not introduced by the two candidates, neither Bush nor Kerry. It was the (gay marriage ok in state) ruling of the Supreme Court of Michigan that exploded and got a life of its own. I don’t think the California initiative has gotten that attention in the 2008 campaign, nor will it.”

Rove, speaking directly before a room of reporters allowed to ask questions, a rare event for him, handled mostly news coverage questions, given attendees were TV critics, not Washington correspondents. When asked if viewers could be assured election coverage that would not be affected by an agenda for the candidate some Fox folks were pushing, Rove made no bones that his commentary would not be neutral – in spite of earlier comments from Fox News brass and anchors that Fox was as advertised, fair and balanced.

“It’s not like we are coming from neutral position,” Rove said “We have our lifelong bias. I think it’s got to be our job to help people understand what’s going on. I’m a Republican, and (fellow commentator) Howard is a Democrat. I’ve contributed to McCain. We have to be aware of that fact that my job was to make people understand what is in front of them.”

John Moody, Fox News executive vice president, was quick to add “Our anchors are not cheer-leading anybody.”

Appearing before the TCA did not guarantee hard political questions were not asked, however. Moody was asked if Rove’s presence undermined credibility due to the former Bush strategist’s “political baggage.”

Moody said no as the current conflict was between Rove and Congress. Rove broke in and said “It’s not between me and Congress. I’ve not asserted any personal privilege. This is between the White House and Congress.”

The issue is about “the ability of the president to receive advice from senior advisers and for those senior advisers not to be at the beck-and-call of Congress for testimony,” Rove said.

Long-standing questions of Rove arose. “Now that you’ve left the administration, did it make sense to appoint the head of a horse show association to be the head of FEMA? Did you support the appointment of Michael Brown?, asked one reporter.

Other questions arose, but framed within the constraints of pop culture. One reporter asked if watched the Fox animated shows, which they said “really beat up on you.”

“A lot of people beat up on me. I read the New York Times every day. Have you read some of the ugly things they say about me?, Rove asked. “I mean, who cares? You know, actually, you know, my attitude is, you know, I know who I am. I’m not the myth that I’ve been developed into, and there’s nothing I can do — I’m like Grendel and Beowulf.”

“People talk about me a lot, and they don’t see me very often,” he said.

The former Bush advisor said this about upcoming Republican Party leaders. “There are a bunch of governors. There are some younger senators.There’s some House members, but four years and eight years is a long time in politics, and you know, I’ve got some personal favorites that I’ve — Richard Burr of North Carolina is a very smart guy. The guy knows more about healthcare, which I think is going to be a big job and domestic issue for the next ten years. There are governors, Pawlenty, Sanford, very smart people, Paul Ryan in the House who’s very smart. There are lots of talented people. The question is what happens during the course of events over the next four to eight years that allow these people to gain a moment on the stage and perform. That really is left up a lot to chance.”

Once the usually staid TV reporters heated up to the political ramifications of the Rove interview, all bets were off. They asked if he thought Dem presumptive nominee Barack Obama had Muslim leanings.

“You have three percent of the American people to eight percent of the American people who think he’s a Muslim, which he’s not. This is not healthy for the system. I don’t think it’s particularly healthy for the right (wing) blogisphere to harp on this because, look, the voters who are up for grabs in this election, if somebody goes out and makes this kind of sustained argument, (voters) are going to respond badly to it, that is to say, they’re going to reject it and reject John McCain. Whoever has been out there putting these things on the Internet is not doing John McCain any favors.”

He continued “I do not believe (Obama) is anti-American in any way. I do believe he has a liberal perspective on things that I don’t share and I think a lot of Americans don’t share, clearly, but anti-American, no.”

At this point Moody tried to wrap the interview, but Rove and the TV media were on a roll. The debated Obama’s lapel pin, and directed more questions at Moody whether Rove’s refusal to testify under oath to Congress was a liability to the network.

Rove responded “We’ve said to them, ‘Look, you don’t have to promise to do anything, but if you want to find out what I know and what my knowledge of this is, we’d be happy to come up in a setting that does not – that respects the form of executive privilege and gives you the information you need, but doesn’t violate the principle of a President having the right to have senior aids not at the beck and call of Congress for testimony’ ”

“Here’s the deal, Rove said, more specifically. “They would know what I had to say and they could easily go out and find out whether it was true or not. I would, if you have a lot of spare time on your hands, I would just simply point you to the MSNBC website to find a letter that I send to Dan Abrams which is pretty lengthy but goes over a series of questions that a beginning high school journalist would have asked had this issue been put in front of them. Again, I have asserted no privilege. This actually has been going on for a year. A year ago the Senate Judiciary Committee cited for contempt Josh Bolton and me and then cited Harriet Myers, and as a result of that there’s now a lawsuit that Congress — that the Senate tried to enforce those citations, and there’s now a court case. Now, you talk to the constitutional scholars, and they will tell you that this is an issue that Congress has been reluctant to try and get the courts to be more specific on because this privilege, longstanding in law and practice, any further definition is likely to reduce the power of Congress.”

Rove said the Republican party was not on the ropes, though headlines indicate rough times for the GOP behind unpopular Bush policies which Rove helped create or promote. ‘I think there are lots of different ways in which majorities are created, where the point of equilibrium between the parties and one party is going to gain advantage, and it’s going to take some period of time for one party to gain advantage over the other because we’re not in a 1932-’34 situation, we’re not in an 1896 situation, we’re not in an 1828 situation. The nature of the development of realignment is different. It’s going to be what they call a “rolling realignment.”

That was not the only thing Fox had to defend on this amiably contentious confab. Reporters also brough up the doctored photos placed on the website of one New York Times reporter who said negative things about Fox and was made up with a large nose to make him look more “Jewish” and other alterations.

“What do anti-Semetic accusations do to your credibility?,” asked one reporter. Chris Wallace said “I was surprised when I saw the doctoring of photos (as documented) in the New York Times.”

Moody said “Fox and Friends” is an entertainment show that does some news. It’s there for a little humor, something its edgy, sometimes people don’t think it’s funny, but that’s the nature of humor, not everyone thinks it’s funny.”

Fox news has been regarded as GOP-leaning, and as such took on questions of how it would cover the upcoming national conventions, which place the fairly rigid John McCain against the “rock star” orator Barack Obama, who the Dems moved to a football stadium to accommodate his fans, noting it’s up to the Republicans to make convention sexy. They will not have the historic, dramatic venue that the Democrats have. They will have a hard time matching it.” Chris Wallace added “it isn’t our job to make it sexy, as there is tremendous drama in both these conventions and the general election. First of all, you have John McCain, the oldest candidate ever to seek presidency, spent five years in a war prison, left for dead politically last year. He triumphed because of human determination and grit and he will receive the Republican nomination. I don’t think we’ve had a more dramatic election in recent years.”

“It’s weird,” said Rove of being on the other side of the microphones. “I’d be well prepped and well briefed in the past. But the people round me gave me advice and pointers.

“I was never nervous going on tv before, I felt comfortable. Whether “Meet the Press” or whatever, I was well prepared and felt comfortable. But I have to tell you, the first time I went on with Chris and Britt, I was nervous – it was like flying a plane without any instructions.

“If you spent as many nights as I have sitting in back rooms, counting votes and doing projections, it’s a little weird trying to explain this thing. Particularly if you have multiple-states primaries. You don’t want to do something that affects the outcome, you want to report the outcome, you want to help analyze the outcome. We were pining bout something while ballots were still being counted. I remember on the night of Missouri, Huckabee was ahead at first, then McCain. It was my job to understand that early returns were from smaller rural counties and the larger urban ones came later.”

Wallace added “My colleagues and I thought we were sophisticated, but to work next to Karl Rove on an election night, you realize how utterly superficial our analysis was. Karl is a Master Class. He drills down into numbers, precincts, parts of state, strategy, in ways most reporters never think about, including myself. It is fascinating, humbling experience. “It’s actually a sickness,” said Rove. “You know how someone can tell you the 1954 starting lineup for the Cleveland Indians? I can tell you precincts.”

Tony Snow’s death came up. It was an honor to serve with Snow and become his friend. “He was a sweet person and great colleague,” said Rove. “He was first person to speak at senior staff meeting. He had strong faith that this was part of bigger plan. He was definitely of strength and courage. He was a genial, happy warrior to advance to president’s case before he died of cancer.”

After Rove failed to appear in Washington on Thursday, the Democratic chairman of a House subcommittee ruled that Rove was breaking the law by refusing to cooperate. It was perhaps the first step toward holding him in contempt of Congress.

The White House has cited executive privilege as a reason he and others who serve or served in the administration shouldn’t testify, arguing that internal administration communications are confidential and that Congress cannot compel officials to testify.

A decision on whether to pursue contempt charges now goes to the full Judiciary Committee and ultimately to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.