Karl Rove Concerned About Republican Rhetoric on Ground Zero Mosque
EmailI asked Karl Rove if he was concerned that the heated rhetoric from some of his fellow Republicans on the proposed Islamic center would undercut the work that President Bush did and the work President Obama is trying to do to reach out to the moderate Muslim world.
"I am," Rove told me.
By expressing his concern Rove joined New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former speechwriter Michael Gerson and former undersecretary James Glassman — three Republicans who have said the controversy could have negative repercussions.
But Rove said that he is "even more worried about what the president himself did" when Obama indicated he supported the building of the Islamic Center two blocks from Ground Zero and then backed off the next day.
"He did real damage to America’s standing in the world by this inconsistent and incoherent answer that he gave on Friday night with a different answer on Saturday morning," the former President George W. Bush adviser told me.
Rove, who does not support the building of the center so close to Ground Zero, said Obama blew an opportunity to stay out of it.
"The president was better to have signaled a tone of respect for Islam on Friday night without engaging in a controversy, a local controversy that he previously avoided," Rove said.
Watch my interview here and then tell me what you think below.
–George Stephanopoulos
Obama: 'Now Is the Time For Common Sense Action' 
Romney Takes Aim at Conservatives
What a one sided bucnch of nonsense. To have the most vicious Republican who was responsible in large part for the mess we are in to provide comment about yesterdays primaries and President Obama is ludicrous. Without anyone from the other side to provide balance shows the bias that is all to familiar at FOX-ABC.
Posted by: Jerry Vaughn | August 18, 2010, 10:38 am 10:38 am
Why do you have someone from a pretend news network on your show? Why not have John Stuart or Steven Colbert on for analysis. FOX News and Comedy Central are both pretend news networks, except Comedy Central acknowledges it. When you have a FOX News commentator on your show, you are just lowering ABC News to the lowest level possible. Please stop doing this, or I’ll have to watch the Today Show!
Posted by: Steve Rusk | August 18, 2010, 10:44 am 10:44 am
Is it ABC or FOX…since when does GMA give a one sided report…..?
This was not news, it was a political commercial.
Shame on you George and GMA.
Posted by: Paul Cirocco | August 18, 2010, 10:52 am 10:52 am
The thing to worry about is the protection of the free expression of religion. If the minority rights of Muslims are undermined, who is next? Jews? Mormans? Non-theists? Respect the first amendment and let the law take its course.
Posted by: Greggw | August 18, 2010, 11:01 am 11:01 am
Who cares what Karl Rove thinks? He’s “The Brain” that got us into the horrible mess that our country is in right now. Karl Rove needs to go away. (And take Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich with you.)
Posted by: New Yorker | August 18, 2010, 11:03 am 11:03 am
What else would you expect Karl Rove to say? To have him on to give a one-sided view on such a passionate issue is irresponsible. ABC and George Stephanapoulos should be better than this. It’s time news programs understand that the vast majority of people want to watch news that’s objective and truly informs us of real aspects of the issues. To have people on that just stoke controversy and divisiveness, caters only to the fringe, insults the viewer’s intelligence, and damages the news program’s credibility.
Posted by: Dblack | August 18, 2010, 11:46 am 11:46 am
LOL…LOl…Oh Karl…That is a good one. Now what he “really meant”. ‘This “fire” I and the other cynical strategists started is blazing out of control…and could consume us in the long run’…LOL…LOL…It looks good on you Karl…you dirt bag!
Posted by: CND FOXc | August 18, 2010, 12:23 pm 12:23 pm
When does ANYone ever think “I wonder what Karl Rove things?” How is reporting his opinion in any way helpful?
Posted by: HRCrawford | August 18, 2010, 5:05 pm 5:05 pm
Rove was a good strategist for the incompetent Bush. In this case, the world was doing fine without his nonsensical commentary. There are enough sparks already on this issue. Adding more is not necessary, nor wise, nor good journalism.
Posted by: Charlie Self | August 18, 2010, 5:37 pm 5:37 pm
It did not go over Rowe’s head but we can count on him not saying that what the president said was that he supports the US Constitution. I can’t figure out why George did not say it, he was there during Clinton’s inaguration, so I know he heard what all presidents are sworn to do in office.
Posted by: Martu U | August 18, 2010, 6:34 pm 6:34 pm
I volunteered and joined the Army, and I served as an 11B Infantryman. Most of my time in the field was in squad or platoon size operations. We would have discussions about what we were fighting for. It always came back to the “Bill of Rights”. To me the most important was “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
Posted by: Larry Linn | August 18, 2010, 8:51 pm 8:51 pm
This is the worst interview I have to bever seen! George is not cut out to interview any one. Go back to school. He let Karl Rove go on and on never challenged him on any thing. Unbelievable! J.L.
Posted by: Judy lucero | August 18, 2010, 10:20 pm 10:20 pm
ABC goofed again! Karl Rove’s opinion is necessarily biased. and ABC is also following Fox’s Big Lie technique of calling the proposed Center a “Mosque at Ground Zero” when it is neither.
Hitler defined the Big Lie in Mein Kampf in 1925; Goebbels perfected the technique during the Nazi conquest and defeat. Fox and too many Republican Party hacks perpetuate the practice.
Shame!
Posted by: Edwina Rawlins | August 18, 2010, 11:26 pm 11:26 pm
I really do not care what Rove and the idiots who got us into the mess we live in today say.The constitution which the conservatives declare they want to preserve does not allow anyone nor the government to decide whether the mosque will be built near ground zero. Yes muslims attacked us, yet many muslims died in the towers too. It may not be a wise decision to build it there or a very sensitive decision to do so, but, they have the right to do so.Even Buh did not condemn the whole faith. He had his friends, the Saudis and the good bin Ladens as friends lest us all forget. Maybe the Republicans are holding a double standard when it comes to a black Democratic president. After all they blame him for all their messes. Obama is not perfect nor do I agree with him on everything , but the Republican base seems to think that he is wrong when he continues Bush policy and he is wrong when he has his own policy and he is wrong when he gets the Romney Heath Care passed for the whole nation. He will also be wrong to revive the Bush McCane Immigration Act. I guess Republicans truly believe their party to be wrong all the time,
Posted by: John | August 19, 2010, 12:18 am 12:18 am
For the first time in 10 years, I find myself looking at other morning shows. I was so excited when George first took over, but I’m becoming increasingly disillusioned.
Posted by: Patty | August 19, 2010, 12:48 am 12:48 am
Please !
George
Do we have to listen to what Karl needs to say. He is soooo old news and not for comments on anything. He belongs to the pass 8 years of the hole we are now in. Get someone else to come before your show so that we as a nation can move forward.
YES WE CAN !
LV
Posted by: Lois Vasquez | August 19, 2010, 7:55 am 7:55 am
And we think Roves opinon should matter why?? Because he stayed under radar & outta jail!!!
Posted by: Pamela | August 19, 2010, 8:39 am 8:39 am
Pres Barry should remember that successful presidents build bridges to solve national and international problems. They leave polarizing local controversies to divisive community organizers and partisan activists.
Posted by: bl | August 19, 2010, 10:21 am 10:21 am
Using the term “Ground Zero Mosque” in the title of the post tells us everything we need to know about George’s bias. (although he is a bit more careful in his framing in the actual interview)
In case you missed that piece of disinformation, the fourth paragraph goes the extra mile:
“But Rove said that he is “even more worried about what the president himself did” when Obama indicated he supported the building of the Islamic Center two blocks from Ground Zero and then backed off the next day.”
Is George being partisan, or does he have some kind of personal grudge against Obama?
Posted by: Flash Override | August 19, 2010, 11:59 am 11:59 am
George, you seem determined to not give President Obama credit for anything – you always make sure to point out all of the negative and nothing positive that he has done that’s why you see fit to invite someone like Karl Rove on your show and you seem to think that Sarah Palin would make a better President than President Obama – I used to look forward to watching GMA in the morning now I refuse to watch anymore because you have turned it into a FOX no news segment with all of you negative crap against the current Administration – you come armed everyday with your Agenda that appears to have been handed to you by Sean Hannity – you should be ashamed of yourself – anyone with a bit of sense can see through your sleezy rhetoric that you think is news.
Posted by: Belle | August 19, 2010, 7:26 pm 7:26 pm
WE WANT DIANE SAWYER BACK!
Posted by: Belle | August 19, 2010, 7:27 pm 7:27 pm
George, I just shook my head — Karl Rove — REALLY? Don’t tell me that he is there to teach you “fair and balanced” reporting. Ask him to give us his objective analysis? REALLY? Shame on you.
Posted by: Diane Griest | August 20, 2010, 4:10 am 4:10 am
Note to Mr. Rove and all others who think like he does….the president did not say he supported the building of the Muslim Mosque. If you go back and read what he actually said was that everyone has a right according the the constitution to express his/her religion freely. He was relating to the constitution and in fact when he came out the second day..he flatly refused to be brought into the decision and said so. He said he will not express an opinion on this. As president he must support the constitution but I believe in his heart he would prefer they not build there. However, if he came out and actually said so…he would be accused of other things and so he is in a no win situation no matter what he says and the republicans love it. Of course, they are saying he supports it when in fact he never did say this. He supports the rights of all to express freedom of religion as said in the constitution. That is why we came here for this freedom, however, the republicans feel they can change the constitution when they don’t like something in it and yet attack the president as if he were trying to adust the second ammendment which he has not. Of course when you have your own republican station Fox spouting anti Obama views from 7 a.m until midnight…it helps to get their ideas across. What happened to equal time????
Their wanting to change the 14th ammendment is o.k. according to them.
Posted by: talmag | August 21, 2010, 7:59 pm 7:59 pm
Also…it was not the Muslems who attacked on 9/11 and many of them died in that building or lost loved ones and Mr. Rove knows this. They also volunteeed to go in to rescue people who were trapped and they did not stop to ask are you a Muslem…they worked as hard as anyone else. They are a religious group not an Alkida sect who hates Americans. We need to keep this straight if we are going to talk about this.
Posted by: talmag | August 21, 2010, 8:04 pm 8:04 pm
Mr. Rove…this president did not say he supported building the mosque on that site. He came out and said that we all have the freedom to express our religion according to the consititution. He was talking about the constitution and on the second day, he said he would not express an opinion on it and he would not be drawn into one. These people did not bomb on 9/11..they are a religious group notlike Alkida and Bin Laden which are the ones who actually did the bombing. Why else did Bush send soldiers to Afghanistan..to get Alkida (another war which was not paid for and we are now stuck with the costs of it) and many other of his and his cohorts ideas. If you want to know why people think Obama is a Muslim…listen to the republicans and Fox. They say it twenty times a day and like everything else if you say it often enough..lemmings start to believe it…not intelligent people.
Posted by: talmag | August 21, 2010, 8:17 pm 8:17 pm
I believe in the freedom of religous beliefs and also believe not all Muslims are terrorist. I feel the anger towards the Muslim Community in general is wrong, but I can understand. To me it is like saying all Italians are Mafia or all women from New Jersey act like the NJ housewives. My question is did any Muslim people die in the 911 attachs…no one has ever talked about this.
Posted by: Sandy | August 24, 2010, 2:19 pm 2:19 pm
Yeah really?? A mosque at ground zero? Nice place to put one 14 stories higher then a Greek orthodox church that still hasn’t been rebuilt because it was too tall. This is a disgrace to all the dead people including fighter fighters who died on 9.11. It will cask a shadow on their graves. You all should be ashamed at your self for even thinking of building one so near. This isn’t about religion. Its about not spitting on the graves of fallen heroes. Emond is a radical like those who destroyed the towers. He has proven this by his words.
Posted by: truthbetold | August 29, 2010, 12:33 am 12:33 am
Cask a shadow!? Shows you who thinks this way. Real smart people. This poster has never even been to NY. KNows nothing. Should stuff up.
Posted by: truthbenot told | August 31, 2010, 12:09 pm 12:09 pm