Where does Karl Rove have his grubby little fingers?
When he was George Bush’s political adviser, many journalists complained that Karl Rove typically refused to talk to the media, instead choosing to stay out of the spotlight. Now that he’s no longer working for the president, the media can’t get enough of him, no matter how many conflicts of interests he may have.
These days, Rove has regular gigs with Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, often providing “analysis” on the presidential campaigns. But as Salon documents at length, those outlets are refusing to disclose several conflicts, including Rove’s informal advising of John McCain’s campaign and the consulting firm he heads that distributes electoral maps. I say “refusing” because they’ve been aware of these criticisms for weeks.
“After Rove had made 14 appearances on Fox News, Politico reported that soon after donating to McCain’s campaign, Rove ‘had a private conversation with the senator,’” writes Salon. “A top McCain advisor also told the paper that Rove and Bush-Cheney ‘04 campaign manager Ken Mehlman were ‘informally advising the campaign.’”
Yes, the cable news landscape is littered with former political advisers, though for the most part their political affiliations are disclosed. Failures to inform viewers of conflicts of interest have become a rampant problem in the industry, as we saw with the recent NY Times “military analyst” story.
It’s time for Rove to choose: Does he want to be a pundit or a political strategist? And since he long-ago proved that he has no qualms with violating ethics, it’s time for these news outlets to choose for him.
