On the December 2 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, former White House senior adviser Karl Rove claimed that Republicans will “make gains in the Congress” in the 2008 elections. However, host Chris Wallace did not note that Rove wrongly predicted the results of the last election, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly documented. Further, in a December 2 Politico.com article, staff writer Martin Kady II reported that on Fox News Sunday, Rove had “predict[ed] Republicans could make gains in Congress due to Democrats' lack of accomplishments and displeasure with their tax and war policies.” Kady also did not note Rove's flawed assessment before the 2006 midterm election.

During his appearance on Fox News Sunday, Rove said to Rep. Chris Van Hollen Jr. (D-MD), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, “You may have more money than ... the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee [sic: National Republican Campaign Committee] today, but the RNC [Republican National Committee] has more money than the DNC [Democratic National Committee], and let's see where the individual candidates are when it really matters next September or October." He added, “I'm confident the Republican candidates are going to have enough money to make enough damage out of this record to make gains in the Congress.”

But Rove also expressed confidence in Republican victories during the 2006 election. Indeed, an October 18, 2006, Washington Times article headlined “Rove foresees GOP victory” quoted Rove as saying: “I'm confident we're going to keep the Senate; I'm confident we're going to keep the House.” During the October 24, 2006, edition of National Public Radio's All Things Considered, Rove told host Robert Siegel, “I'm looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I'm entitled to the math.” Democrats ultimately won 30 House seats and six Senate seats, thus regaining control of both chambers of Congress.

Further, during the 2000 presidential election, Rove predicted that George W. Bush, then the governor of Texas, would win 320 electoral votes, according to a November 6, 2006, St. Petersburg Times article. According to a November 6, 2000, Houston Chronicle article, Rove also predicted that “Bush will get about 50 percent of the popular vote, with [Vice President Al] Gore at about 45 percent.” The article went on to report that “Rove discounted the much-discussed possibility that Gore could win the Electoral College while losing the national popular vote to Bush, a scenario that has not occurred since 1888.” The Chronicle quoted Rove responding, “You had a weird set of political dynamics (in 1888) that are not repeatable in modern America.” In fact, the election was split, and Bush did not receive 50 percent of the popular vote or garner 320 electoral votes; Gore won 48.38 percent of the popular vote and Bush 47.87 percent, while 271 electors voted for Bush and 266 voted for Gore (one of the three electors from Washington, D.C. -- which Gore won with 171,923 votes to Bush's 18,073 -- abstained).

From the December 2 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:

WALLACE: Let me show you another set of polls, if we have -- the president's job approval is now down to 36 percent, but Congress' is even lower, as you can see there -- 26 percent. So -- and let me start with you Mr. Rove, and you can respond to this and that -- which is a bigger burden, Mr. Bush for the Republicans or the Democratic Congress for the Democrats?

ROVE: Well, the Democrat [sic] Congress will be on the ballot; President Bush won't be. And look, they've got momentum, I grant you that. They had momentum that went from very high ratings immediately after the 2000* elections to that record low number today, and it's because they have proposed big taxes, big spending, have failed to support our troops in the war, are undermining our intelligence collection efforts, have shut the Republicans out of any meaningful discussions to move the country ahead, as they had promised to do during the campaign, and have demonstrated an utter lack of fiscal responsibility by recommending $205 billion in additional spending over the next four years and two of the biggest tax increases in American history -- the repeal of the Bush tax cuts, which is over a trillion dollars in tax increases, and then a tax-reform plan from the Ways and Means Committee chairman, which is a trillion dollars in additional taxes. That's why they have gone from very high to very low. That momentum is going in the wrong way. Now, you may have more money than Democratic Congressional -- than the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee today, but the RNC has more money than the DNC, and let's see where the individual candidates are when it really matters next September or October. And I'm confident --

[crosstalk]

ROVE: I'm confident the Republican candidates are going to have enough money to make enough damage out of this record to make gains in the Congress.

From the December 2 Politico.com article:

Rove and Van Hollen, the chairman of the Democratic Congresional [sic] Campaign Committee, got feisty on “Fox News Sunday,” with Rove predicting Republicans could make gains in Congress due to Democrats' lack of accomplishments and displeasure with their tax and war policies.

“They have proposed big taxes, big spending, have failed to support our troops on the war ... and have demonstrated an utter lack of fiscal responsibility,” said Rove, who is out of the White House but still defending his old boss at every turn.

Van Hollen, who several times reached out and touched Rove's arm during the debate, swung back with clear polls showing Democrats had the lead in both generic presidential and congressional polls.

Asked about Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel's “mother of all tax bills” Van Hollen contended that “we will not raise taxes. We're going to give broad middle America a tax cut.”

Rove simply laughed at the statement.