Fox News reportedly benches Karl Rove after election meltdown

By Meredith Blake

Dec. 5, 2012 12 AM PT

You remember Karl Rove: He’s the Republican strategist and Fox News contributor who made television history last month when he refused to accept that President Obama had won the state of Ohio and effectively clinched the entire election, leading to a showdown between Megyn Kelly and the behind-the-scenes statisticians on the network’s “Decision Desk.”

If a report out Wednesday from Gabriel Sherman at New York magazine is to be believed, Fox News is now trying to distance itself from Rove’s election-night shenanigans by strictly limiting his on-air appearances. Joining him on the bench will be Dick Morris, whose confident prediction of an electoral landslide for Romney became a punch line after the election and, to Fox News’ critics, epitomized the network’s skewed perspective.

According to Sherman, Fox News producers must now get permission before booking either Rove or Morris, who have both been noticeably scarce in recent weeks. Apparently network chief Roger Ailes wasn’t amused by Rove’s televised mutiny, even though it proved to be one of the most buzzed-about moments of the election-night coverage.

Sherman also shares a juicy tidbit about Morris’ reputation within Fox News, where his track record of making “reality-denying predictions” did not go unnoticed: “At a rehearsal on the Saturday before the election, according to a source, anchor Megyn Kelly chuckled when she relayed to colleagues what someone had told her: ‘I really like Dick Morris. He’s always wrong but he makes me feel good.’ ”

Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.

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