Fox Civil War: Huckabee Attacks Rove For “Absolutely Repulsive” Anti-Tea Party Group

Written by Eric Hananoki

Published

Fox News contributor Karl Rove recently formed a group that will, in the words of The New York Times, work “to recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts.” That doesn't sit well with Rove's Fox News colleague Mike Huckabee, who called Rove's Conservative Victory Project “absolutely repulsive” and suggested that people like Rove are spending millions “to destroy a Republican that you don't think is up to your country club level” during a February 8 interview.

Listen to Huckabee's comments from Cumulus Radio Networks' Geraldo:

RIVERA: Karl Rove says the Republican Party has to go through a metamorphosis, has to change. You know Bill Kristol says wait a second, the Tea Party's not so bad. Where do you stand?

HUCKABEE: I think Karl needs to go through a metamorphosis. You know this idea that somehow a handful of Republicans are going to attack Republicans that the handful doesn't like? I find that repulsive. I find it absolutely repulsive. This is not how you build a strong Republican Party, is by going after the people in your party who are different than you are. This is fratricide. And if the Republican Party wants to render itself utterly, utterly irrelevant, the best way to do it is to become several little parties within the party, which is apparently what some folks seem to think we ought to do. When you marginalize the Tea Party, marginalize the pro-life and pro-family part of the party, you lose every election coming up in the future. You lose every election. There may be a few local elections that you might win in some places outside the base of the party, but you're not going to win a national election again.

[...]

HUCKABEE: If you're going to spend millions of dollars, spend it to build up your Republican, the one you like, not millions to destroy a Republican that you don't think is up to your country club level. I find that just horrendous. [Cumulus Radio Networks, Geraldo, 2/8/13]

Despite both working for Fox, Huckabee and Rove have had several fights over the past few years related to the direction of the Republican Party.

Huckabee joins numerous other conservative pundits, including Fox News contributors, who have criticized Rove's project for favoring the Republican establishment over conservative principles.