Rove Not Being Devil 'Complicates World View' of Newsweek Editor

FNC's Brit Hume on Tuesday night highlighted how “some in the media elite have found that Karl Rove, in his new role as a commentator” for Fox News and writer for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, “is, to their apparent astonishment, a pretty good guy.” Hume cited the admission, by an unnamed Newsweek editor, that realizing Karl Rove is not the devil portrayed by the media “complicated my world view. I may like Karl Rove.”

Picking up on the Monday New York Times story by Jim Rutenberg and Jacques Steinberg, “The Pundit Analyzing Obama? Some TV Upstart Named Rove” (Tim Graham's earlier post on the story), Hume noted how the article reported that Newsweek's top editor, Jon Meacham, revealed “Rove had been received surprisingly well in the magazine's newsroom, where he has been a reliable colleague who files his articles on time and works diligently with fact checkers.” After one editor dealt with him, Meacham told the newspaper: “The editor called me and said, 'This just complicated my world view. I may like Karl Rove.'”

Hume's lead “Grapevine” item on the Tuesday, May 13 Special Report with Brit Hume:

Some in the media elite have found that Karl Rove, in his new role as a commentator, is, to their apparent astonishment, a pretty good guy. Rove is now a Fox News contributor and also writes for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. The New York Times quotes Newsweek editor Jon Meacham as saying the former Bush political strategist is getting positive reviews from the staff.

The Times writes, quote: "Mr. Meacham said Mr. Rove had been received surprisingly well in the magazine's newsroom, where he has been a reliable colleague who files his articles on time and works diligently with fact checkers.” After one editor dealt with him, Mr. Meacham said, quote: "The editor called me and said, 'This just complicated my world view. I may like Karl Rove.'"