Tea Party group apologizes for depicting Karl Rove as a Nazi

Politico.com. Karl Rove in Nazi uniform image: Screen grab from Politico.com showing Karl Rove's face digitally placed into a Nazi uniform. IMAGE

2/20/13 By Michelle McGuinness and Anthony Bartkewicz

Rove, whose super PAC American Crossroads is seen by some Tea Party groups as an attempt to silence them, accepted the apology.

A Tea Party group has apologized for an email that included a photo of Karl Rove dressed as a Nazi.

The fundraising email, sent by Tea Party Patriots with the subject line "Wipe the Smirk off Karl Rove's Face," says Rove "believes he can raise hundreds of millions of dollars, crush the Tea Party movement and protect the big government status quo."

Tea Party Patriots co-founder and national coordinator Jenny Beth Martin signed the message, which claims that "professional political cronies like Karl Rove are attacking the Tea Party movement" because "they see people like you and me as a serious nuisance, and they will do everything they can to crush us."

Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads, started an initiative to fund establishment candidates in 2014 rather than far-right candidates, who are often Tea Party favorites.

In a statement obtained by Talking Points Memo, Tea Party Patriots said it "did not know about or approve" the manipulated photo of Rove in a Nazi uniform.

"We apologize to Mr. Rove," the statement continued. "While we may have strong disagreements with Mr. Rove on the future of conservatism, we want to be clear this imagery is absolutely unacceptable and are working to ensure this type of mistake doesn’t happen again."

Reuters. Rove vs. the Tea Party: The Tea Party and Karl Rove have clashed after his support for 'establishment' candidates. IMAGE

Active Engagement, L.L.C., the fundraising firm that sent the email, took "full responsibility" and also apologized to Rove.

The company said the "offensive image" was "selected in error from an extensive group of images available publicly online and was adjacent to the image that Tea Party Patriots approved for use."

In a statement to The Daily Caller, Rove said he accepted the apologies. "Now let’s all get back to work building conservative Republican majorities and stop President Obama’s agenda,” he wrote.

Rove has argued that American Crossroads isn't trying to start a war with the Tea Party.

"This is not Tea Party versus the establishment," he said on FOX News this month. "I don't want a fight."

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