Real cage fighting: Gingrich vs. Rove

The Rove Machine 

By JULIET LAPIDOS, NYT

In the continuing struggle for control of the right, the Tea Party Patriots, a Georgia-based group, sent out a fundraising email portraying Karl Rove as a Nazi — and later apologized, claiming an outside vendor added the doctored image without their knowledge.

That mini drama should blow over quickly. But the Patriots will no doubt continue rallying disaffected Republicans against Mr. Rove. He asked for such treatment when he launched the Conservative Victory Fund, a group designed to channel money to “electable” candidates (read: not Tea Party candidates like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock).

Now Newt Gingrich seems to be glomming on to the Tea Party side, echoing their attacks on Mr. Rove in a Wednesday op-ed for the conservative magazine Human Events.

In their Nazi email, the Patriots wrote: “Karl Rove believes he can raise hundreds of millions of dollars, crush the Tea Party movement and protect the big-government status quo in Washington from millions of freedom loving Americans.”

(More here.)