Feature

Tea Party group depicts Karl Rove as a Nazi

The GOP's internecine warfare has been taken up a notch

Karl Rove recently ruffled some feathers in the GOP with the launch of a new super PAC called the Conservative Victory Project, whose mission is to sideline right-wing candidates in Republican primaries. And you know who else started a secretive organization designed to destroy their political enemies? You guessed it — the Nazis!

Or so goes the imagined storyline behind a new fundraising email from the Tea Party Patriots, which features Rove's face photoshopped onto the body of SS leader Heinrich Himmler. The image features the inscription: "Reichsfuhrer-SS" and "K. Rove." The email's subject line reads "Wipe the smirk off Karl Rove's face," and goes on to lambaste "Republicans like Rove" for calling "Tea Party members 'racists', 'bigots', 'paranoid', and even political 'underbrush.'"

The Tea Party Patriots say that it's all a huge mistake, and that they intended to use an image of Rove in which he is thumbing his nose at the camera. The next image in a Bing search is reportedly the Himmler-Rove mashup.

Still, the email raises a host of questions. Didn't anyone check the email before it was sent out? Do people really use Bing for image search? And most of all, isn't about time we stopped comparing every perceived slight to an ungodly reign of terror that has no relationship whatsoever to contemporary America? Because there must be way more creative ways to classify political positions than being anti-Nazi or pro-Nazi.

Update: The Tea Party Patriots have officially apologized to Rove, saying, "While we may have strong disagreements with Mr. Rove on the future of conservatism, we want to be clear this imagery is absolutely unacceptable and are working to ensure this type of mistake doesn't happen again."

Recommended

Indicting the 'Teflon president'
Two hands in cuffs, one giving a thumbs-up and the other giving a thumbs-down
Talking point

Indicting the 'Teflon president'

Do Republicans want to bomb Mexico?
Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks at CPAC
Behind the scenes

Do Republicans want to bomb Mexico?

DeSantis plays both sides in comments on a possible Trump indictment
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Talking point

DeSantis plays both sides in comments on a possible Trump indictment

ICC issues warrant for Putin
Vladimir Putin
WANTED

ICC issues warrant for Putin

Most Popular

The truth about alcohol
Alcohol being poured into a rocks glass.
Briefing

The truth about alcohol

Russia's spring Ukraine offensive may be winding down amid heavy losses
Ukrainian tank fires near Bakhmut
Attrition

Russia's spring Ukraine offensive may be winding down amid heavy losses

North Korea claims 800,000 people volunteered to fight against the U.S.
North Korean soldiers march in a parade in 2018.
A Frightening Figure

North Korea claims 800,000 people volunteered to fight against the U.S.