Holding a whiteboard and yelling about the cost of health care reform, former Senior Bush adviser Karl Rove melted down on ABC's This Week Sunday. Rove faced off against David Plouffe, one of President Barack Obama's senior advisers. Rove is a paid contributor for Fox News where he rarely receives the kind of debate offered by Plouffe.
"Isn't there a point though," ABC's Jon Karl asked Plouffe, that "there is some interesting accounting here? Isn't it hard as a political factor for people to believe that a big new health care program is actually gonna cut the deficit?"
"First of all, Karl and the Republicans have zero credibility, about as much as Greece," Plouffe said.
Rove interrupted almost immediately, via satellite.
"This is the CBO," he said. "These numbers are in the analysis from the CBO! For God's sake, will you stop throwing around epithets and deal with the facts?"
Plouffe insisted the point of health insurance reform is fighting skyrocketing premiums.
"We will see if they pass this bill," Rove countered. "I hope they don't. I pray they don't. It will be an economic disaster for the country if they do."
ABC News has the key quotes.
NBC host Luke Russert, son of the late Tim Russert, took exception to Rove's use of the whiteboard. "With all due respect to Mr. Rove, a man I find quite personable, a breakdown of #s on a whiteboard should only be done by 1 man," tweeted Russert.
This video is from ABC's This Week, broadcast March 21, 2010.
Download video via RawReplay.com
Rove also claimed Sunday that Democrats would suffer huge losses in the fall if health care reform is passed. Plouffe suggested that Rove should pull out the "Mission Accomplished" banner to prematurely celebrate Republicans' electoral gains.
Rove: “This thing is paid for with Bernie-Madoff-style accounting. … It’s a gigantic disaster.”
Plouffe: “Karl and the Republicans would be familiar with that.”
Rove: “You will bankrupt the country if this bill passes. … For God’s sake, will you stop throwing around epitaphs [sic] and deal with the facts for once, David? … We will fight the election on this,. and the Democrats will have significant losses in the House and Senate as a result of this bill.”
Plouffe: “If Karl and a lot of Republicans want to call the election already, they ought to break out that ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner.”
Rove: “That’s cheesy, David. … You should not denigrate the mission of the USS Abraham Lincoln.”
