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Karl Rove Has Had It With The Donald Trump Debate: ‘This Is Not A Newsman’

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The evolution of Karl Rove‘s feelings on the prospect of Donald Trump moderating a Republican debate while contemplating running for president himself has been a marvel to watch. On Saturday morning, he was confused that anyone would take it seriously. This morning, he was insulted. Tonight on On the Record, Rove’s patience was clearly depleted, as he told host Greta Van Susteren it will “have the smallest viewership of any debate this year.”

RELATED: Karl Rove Is Completely Baffled By The Trump Debate: ‘This Is Weird, Isn’t It?’

Rove didn’t hide his feelings about the debate from the beginning of the segment, explaining that in Trump, “We’ve got a guy who is not only saying ‘I’m going to make a decision on who I’m going to endorse shortly after this debate and I’m already leaning someway, and I may run myself’ and we expect him to be the impartial moderator? Could you imagine what would happen if MSNBC hosted a debate and the moderator said ‘I’m going to endorse…’ Nobody would show up!”

Van Susteren argued that a similar situation arose when PBS’s Gwen Ifill moderated a general election debate in 2008 despite having written a book on then-Senator Barack Obama, a situation in which, Rove countered, “all heck broke loose.” There was also the matter that Trump had controversial positions and didn’t have any experience in journalism. “Is Mr. Trump going to ask the candidate whether they agree with him that Barack Obama was not born in the United States… that George W. Bush is ‘evil’?”

RELATED: Karl Rove Blasts Donald Trump, Says He’s Trivializing The Election Process

Rove went on to argue that Trump was “not a newsman” and that “he could do a lot of damage to somebody.” “I think it’s just odd,” he continued, then suggesting that “everybody’s going to bust up their holidays” to go to the debate and it would still have “the smallest viewership of any one of the debates this year.”

The segment via Fox News below:

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FSPIVAFYI672OH5NOKVRTEZA4U MadCharles

    Karl Rove, bah humbug… it’s a new day.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    I think the Teapublicans have more to worry about than some morally and financially serial bankrupt half-wit moderating a ridculous debate no one is going to be watching

  • Anonymous

    I can’t wait to see these “Presidential candidates” pander to Trump’s birther/teabagger sensationalistic bullshit that the lunatic fringe will eat up.

    Self destruct hilarity…

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TWK2YYJTTIDLZIVV7NKZM23Z6Q Tyler

    Rove you better be careful dealing with the Donald.  The Donald is very powerful in Republican circles.  

  • John Jacobjingleheimerschmidt

    Trump is only a small step lower than most of the Fox talking heads, like Hannity or (formerly) Beck. So why should anyone be surprised? The Republicans have been on this road for a while now. 

    Looking forward to the Pat Robertson debates.

  • John Jacobjingleheimerschmidt

    My guess is that Trump is going to tone it down with the birther stuff because it has all been an embarrassment to him and he really wants to be taken seriously as a political influence. 

  • John Jacobjingleheimerschmidt

    Very, very, very powerful… I hear that when the Donald walks into a room of GOPers, they fall to their knees and begin to worship him. He’s a very powerful and rich guy with a lotta smarts about him. 

  • Pablo

    It doesn’t need to be a “newsman” and the debates moderated by them have been silly soundbite exercises. The Huckabee forum with 3 Attorneys General asking the questions was much more useful than anything the “newsmen” have delivered.

  • Anonymous

    Tim Russert is dead there are no newsmen.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Hemmer/1061080208 Adam Hemmer

    That says a lot when it’s coming from the dude who thought Bush was great.

  • http://twitter.com/Seanmj63376 Sean Johnson

    No everyone will be watching Olbermann like you and his mother.

  • Tucsonense

    Again………………………………The joke/circus  that has become the republican party. The gift that keeps on giving!!!!!

    How can any republican/conservative defend this??????????

  • Anonymous

    This whole thing just makes me think of the scene in “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” where the morons are hitting each other with fluorescent tubes.

  • Anonymous

    Scott Pelley was the best example of the self-abortion of his proclaimed profession … absolute Delta to the Bravo…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkdo0LdBU8w

    “Soylent Green is people and so is Corporations” – C. Heston/Supreme Court

  • Pablo

    This is what happens when the “moderator” thinks they’re the show.

  • Anonymous

    I am sure even that lame debate will attract a sizable crowd of the usual know nothings

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_TWK2YYJTTIDLZIVV7NKZM23Z6Q Tyler

    It looks like Greta was a little upset with Rove for going after the Donald.  Seems like Greta is infatuated with the Donald. 

  • Anonymous

    No, there is still Jim Lehrer.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_45S32GWGDRUJIL6E2U4HOZW4BM Bob

    Just like she’s infatuated with L. Ron Hubbard.
    Hail Xenu! Hail Trump! Hail Greta!

  • Anonymous

    really, says who?

  • Anonymous

    here is the cuban idiot again

  • Anonymous

    Why not? It’s exists in their image. An extension of their ignorance, both natural and willful.

  • Anonymous

    Tomorrow Rove will appear and point out more obvious things: Steve Doocy? He is not a Chrysler Cordoba.

  • John Jacobjingleheimerschmidt

    I’m on the Cain train. 

  • Rex derWunderGott

    Right – a new day in the kingdom of the Flies, and such is it’s barbaric idiocy, Newt is it’s Lord and Rove it’s Piggy.

  • Anonymous

    This canned ham with glasses is the one behind Cain’s downfall.  Well, after Cain himself, of course.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

    Bill Cosby profiles Donald Trump – “He’s full of it!”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcuWAnDGOOY&feature=related

  • shle896

    Who’s going to tell Rove that “odd” is the name of the game as far as the GOP candidates go?  They’re a bunch of whack-a-doodle clowns and Fox “News” is their stage.  How is this any different? 

    The “Grand Old Party” is no more.  It’s full of crazies.  I’ve never been a Republican, but I believe we need two or more parties, so it’s kind of sad, in a way, what they’ve become in recent years.

  • Anonymous

    This is why Rove isn’t as popular right now among conservatives, he should go after Williams, Katie, Dianne, Pelly with this much gusto.  Donald never claimed to be a newsman. 

    Rove is stepping in it; he is making a mountain out of a molehill.  Chances are Donald will host, not moderate the debate anyway.

    Rove needs to learn to take his own advice and clam up a little some times.

  • Anonymous

    The republicans empowered Trump. Turned a reality show star into their king maker. Now they have to live with it.

  • http://twitter.com/Smerwickman Michael O’Shea

    Gwen Ifill’s book wasn’t about Obama in the way its been indicated in the article or by Greta. Obama’s name was in the title more as a timeline than being about him. But again it’s Fox News so why would they go out of their way to point that out. Why not say the book is about Colin Powell or any of the other black figures that it really is about as a whole?

  • Pablo

    Really? You look like you’re on the Inane Train.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    You don’t think these know nothings will be engaged in some special holiday activity, like melting Red Hots into generic apple juice or mixing up generic hot chocolate powder?

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Hardly. I haven’t seen so much shameless pandering since Mr. Potter tried to take over the Building & Loan. 

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Classic.

  • Anonymous

    A promise of creating 30 million jobs
    in the manufacturing industry will get Trump elected. He will not let any made
    in China product reach American shores unless a 25% import tax is paid.  Thousands of American factories will be
    opened producing everything from computers to sneakers.

  • Centrist79

    Rove is correct, this is nothing more than a reality show debate. Good for Paul and Huntsman for staying at home. I cannot take any candidate serious for participating in this sideshow.

  • Anonymous

    So is Donald Trump going to demand birth certificates and mothers hospital records from all presidential candidates at the debate?

  • Pablo

    Oh, so you don’t remember the “newsmen” in the 2008 Democrat debates? When even SNL calls it out, it’s pretty obvious.

  • Pablo

    Right, because “mainstream” is a community organizer President with a card-carrying communist pedophile mentor, an unrepentant domestic terrorist buddy, a PLO spokesmouth amigo, a racist America-hating pastor, a wife who doesn’t like America much either and all the leadership experience of a lemming.

  • Steve P.

    ‘This Is Not A Newsman’?

    That would be valid Karl if there were any TRUE Newsmen left, there isn’t

  • Cecelia

    You know when I picture that scene you describe, I instantly smile with a sense of the sort of merriment and spry fun that I’ve never felt at a cocktail party or formal dinner.

    When you help those less fortunate than you (as you say you do) do you make sure that they know that you think they’re gauche clods?

  • shle896

    Thank you.  You just proved my point.

  • Anonymous

    Karl is just jealous of the Donald’s hair..

  • http://mediamatters.org/ Leedog

    Karl seems very worried that Trump is going to further expose the Republican Party for the hilarious joke that it is!!

    I hope Trump continues to tell Karl to go suck it!!

  • Anonymous

    He does want to be taken seriously. But he’s Donald Trump. He used to be a  host of a reality show, some of his companies has suffered bankruptcies and now this whole birther madness. He’s so desperate for attention. He thinks he’s nr.1 in everything. He thinks this debate will be the best ever, the most popular of them all. He even thinks Lady Gaga is huge thanks to him. He’s a joke.

  • Pablo

    And you’ve proved mine. Fact free is no way to go through life, shle896.

  • Anonymous

    Donald ‘BIrther’ Trump as a moderator?

    He’s already possibly endorsing and possibly still running…

  • Anonymous

    Pay to mind to the Mormon Pablo, shle896. She is without shame. Or a brain.

  • Anonymous

    Has anyone called Turd Blossom a RINO yet?!?! Can I be the first??

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bart-Morgay/100001554351938 Bart Morgay

    One clown, Cain, steps off the stage and another clown, Trump, fills his spot.

  • Anonymous

    Like the day after an extinction level event. Is this really what you were hoping for in an attempt to unseat the POTUS?  Is this really the intellectual peek of the Republican Party that the country deserves in selecting its leader?  It has gone from a comedy of errors to something very sad for the republic as a whole.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6FYEM7KMS6GCFE3KTRNWPPAQHQ JOE M

    Why does anyone listen to Rove. He destroyed Bush and gave us the kenyan for President.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/YCYMWDZ2I2YLZ2KXPSATSJDM6U tinker thinker

    I’ve watched  all the debates so far and I will watch Trump’s. I resented the moderators in most of the debates….they all didn’t act  professional ….what about that one with the screaming man…?

  • Anonymous

    Tea Baggin Racist!

  • http://profiles.google.com/lordhowardhurts Lord Howard Hurts

    Donald Trump gives the impression that he is a real Patriot, but my doubts are founded in his past. Seems that he has said and done this all before (mentioning in August of 2011, that he might reenter as a third party candidate). And if my memory doesn’t belie me, Donald Trump was a lifelong, registered, Democrat, even thought he seldom took the “time” to actually “mark” a ballot. No. My suspicion is that Trump is acting as a “Cat’s Paw” for Hillary Clinton. Hillary knows that should she challenge Obama in a Democratic primary, the black vote will be offended, and not support her (they will stay home on election day).  Trump,  by bringing up Obama’s birth certificate flaws, again, and the legality of him being a Natural Born Citizen, might just cause the Democratic planners and George Soros, to go to their “back up” Marxist, Hillary Clinton. And I assure the reader that in a Presidential election between Hillary Clinton and any of the current Republican “pretenders”, Hillary will win by a landslide. So it is my expressed opinion, that to further the possibility for a real Republican contender to “rise” to a position of believability, Donald Trump must be STOPPED from monitoring any Republican debates. Donald Trump is not to be trusted. And the Republican canidates have made fools of themselves already without further being “helped” by this “Trojan” with bad hair. 

    Lord Howard Hurts  freedomfiles.blogspot.com

  • http://twitter.com/StrongCat Cat Armstrong

    4 Words:  ROVE IS AN IDIOT !!!!!    

    His man is Romney, yet he professes to be an unbiased commentator.  Bullsh*t!

  • Pablo

    Yeah, if only they had Oprah. sigh

  • Pablo

    Who said anything about race?

  • Pablo

    What Mormon do you want me to not pay attention to?

  • Pablo

    Yeesh. CNBC’s Jim Cramer. That was awful, except for Newt putting on a great show. http://tinyurl.com/c2o2hl2

  • Anonymous

    Do you have any more paranoid redneck “love it or leave it” ad nauseum complaints to leave here?

  • Anonymous

    You mean like all the college drop out anti-intellectuals with their talk radio & FOX shows who fill your little mind?

  • Anonymous

    Why should anyone listen to a peabrain bigot like you too?

  • Anonymous

    Not  being inclined to support brutal acts of violence that violate established legal and moral codes,I think yours and contemptible Pablo’s take in that video reflects more on your knee jerk brutal fascist instincts, masquerading as patriotism, than any problem with the moderator. It would be great to see a missile strike soon after that ugly pig ran his mouth like the egotistical fake he is and turn all those swine to Texas BBQ.

  • Anonymous

    Rove looks so pathetic

  • Anonymous

    I THINK THAT’S A FINE IDEA!  IN FACT, AS A MATTER OF ETHICAL CONSIDERATION, CONSIDERING THE CONUNDRUM OVER OBAMA’S BONAFIDES, ALL OF OUR PAST LIVING AND CURRENT PRESIDENT’S,  SHOULD TOO.

    WHO OR WHAT COULD OBJECT TO SUCH A NOBLE GESTURE BY OUR ESTEEMED LEADERS?

    Purveyor of Rhetoric

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PKEQSTA4WOBYU5Z7QNSBUR2LXI MASSMURDERMEDIA

    so far the “newsmen” have been quite mediocre…  trump has hosting experience…  i don’t know if he’ll have any real “newsmen” alongside him…  and i suspect trump will ask pertinent questions on the economy, rather than trying to win a pulitzer prize or emmy award with a gotcha question…

    but these are no more debates than they are press conferences…  when the gop nominee emerges, and i doubt we’ll see this, but i’d prefer to see a real debate with just the nominee vs obama, one camera and two mics…  leave rove’s qualified journalists at home…

  • Anonymous

    The ” Inane Train” was the Cain Train before it derailed

  • Anonymous

    Maybe, but I still think most of those plants would be opening up in other low wage Asian countries. But still some sort of tariff wouldn’t be a bad idea

  • http://www.facebook.com/revjoseywales Josey Wales

    *sigh*  Ron White —  ”You can’t fix stupid”.  Here’s your sign Pablo.  And short bus pass.

  • http://www.facebook.com/revjoseywales Josey Wales

    yeah sure.  Put the crack pipe down.  Trump is a clown, just like the rest of the GOPTP candidates.

  • http://www.facebook.com/revjoseywales Josey Wales

    Gingrich tosses his salad.

  • BooBoo Bear

    A gay friend told me what “tossing salad” meant…Let’s just say it’s like a Blow Job when they guy is turned around and bent over…..Let you mind think about it..

  • Anonymous

    I think that Rush Limbaugh and Rachel Maddow should moderate a debate together.  I do not know about the quality of the debate, but the ratings will be phenominal!

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like a good idea!  He should also demand their marriage certificates.  How else will we know whether or not they are all:living in sin”?

  • Anonymous

    Greta spends so much time at the “Donald’s” apartment interviewing him, that it would be so much easier if they just moved in together!

  • Anonymous

    I think he is planning on asking Rosie O’Donnell to be his running mate on a third party ticket.

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