It seems Code Pink really got under Karl Rove's skin because he lashed out at FOX & Friends for bringing up the issue to him.

Fox News contributor Karl Rove directed some unfriendly fire at the hosts of "Fox and Friends" this weekend when the show's anchors decided to ask Rove to respond to protesters who disrupted the former top Bush adviser's book tour.

"This is sad, you people are recycling stuff that happened three to four weeks ago, this is a small blemish on what was a great trip," Rove said when asked about members of the group Code Pink who showed up at a March 30 book signing in Beverly Hills, Calif., called Rove a "war criminal" and brandished handcuffs.

"It was a blemish," he insisted, adding that there were no such incidents at other stops on his book tour.

"Please don't paint this as much a sign of anything," he continued. "These are sort of sad and pathetic people ... Can you imagine being some kind of nut wandering around with handcuffs? Let's not give them any more attention."

The Code Pink protesters have proven to be a thorn in Rove's side at several stops on the tour to promote his book "Courage and Consequence."

Wow, Rove bashing his own people. Hey Karl. It was news and you have to deal with it. It's not Jodie Evan's fault that Rove served under Bush when he attacked a country that didn't attack us and lies were used to sell America on a war with Iraq after 9/11. America is still angry about this issue, but Rove would like nothing more than to sweep it under the rug with all the other deceptions he used during the Bush administration.

You go, girls.

Jodie Evans: You outed a CIA officer, you lied to take us to Iraq. You ruined the country. You totally ruined the country.

Wonkette:

Fancy book-author Karl Rove went to Beverly Hills last night to take questions about his very very gay dad. But then Code Pink showed up to make a citizen’s arrest, and Karl had no security! Was he able to beat up these ladies good? Also, someone brings up the Downing Street Memo, which Rove calls a fabrication — just like in 2005!

Lying us into a war is the kinda thing that can get people a tad bit upset. Does Rove really think he's going to be welcomed at book events like he is with Jay Leno or on FOX News? Poor Michele Malkin was shaken to her core over the event. I'd figure it would just roll off her back since she stalks children and family's like Graeme Frost because she disagrees on a policy level. Hey, she even goes to their homes for a little chat.

UPDATE: TP commenter Mr. Ed notes that Malkin visited the Frost’s home and business today. A coworker of Mr. Frost tells Malkin that the family is “struggling,” but she refuses to believe it.

Jane Hall was on FOX and was shocked that the right wingers attacked a 12 year old boy.

DOWNLOADS: (701)

PLAYS: (2974)

Embed

Jane Hall on the Frost family: Right Wing bloggers swiftboated a 12-year old boy!"

Malkin and her kind are shocked that Rove would be confronted by the very un-scary Code Pink, but takes pride in stalking children. Nice.

Also read: Malkin Debases Herself With Further Attacks On A 12 Year Old. C&L Exclusive Quote!

They can sure dish it out, but they can't take even a light little pink-colored whiff of it.

DOWNLOAD (1883)

PLAY (3489)

Fox News' Brian Kilmeade caused quite a stir in 2007 (see above video) when he suggested that members of Code Pink should be tased or beaten to a pulp. Media Matters asks the question -- Does the one who is not Steve Doocy believe the astrobirthers who are disrupting health care town hall meetings should be treated the same way?

That sure doesn't sound like the Fox News of today which seems quite impressed by the GOP mini-mobs which have been formed expressly to heckler Democratic politicians who want to discuss health care reform with their constituents at town hall meetings.

But back in 2007, when anti-war protesters who make up Code Pink, made headlines by disrupting an official event, the Fox News morning team was seriously pissed off:

During a discussion about a Code Pink member heckling Hillary Clinton at a recent event, Fox News host Brian Kilmead said that people who confront politicians are “threatening” and should be Tased or “beaten to a pulp,” as the establishment media continues to sell the idea that anyone who disagrees with authority should be brutally punished. Read on...

DOWNLOADS: (587)

PLAYS: (1239)

Embed

(h/t Heather for the vid)

Being part of the Village sure makes villagers say dumb things. On Reliable Sources, the topic was, "Are media fanning the flames of extremism?" Or, are some people blowing the vile behavior of many in the tea party movement out of proportion selectively because we hate liberals?

Ana Marie Cox, who got her start in the blogosphere, said that anger really doesn't influence people to vote one way or the other.

KURTZ: Wait. He's unpopular, but he has a huge and passionate following on the radio.

COX: Because people like anger as entertainment. They tend not to like anger as a motivation in actual real elections.

Really? Joe Lieberman was voted out of the Democratic party in 2006 and almost lost his Senate seat because of his total support for the Iraq war and the anger the base had towards him over it. And the Republicans lost control of the Presidency, House and Senate because of the anger Americans felt towards them. Maybe I'm wrong, but anger does have an impact and it will certainly carry over to the 2010 midterms.

Now I agree with Howard Kurtz that it would be best if authors aren't egged when they go to speak at their book events, but figures like Karl Rove are polarizing, especially after he helped lie us into a war with another country, and Code Pink has always been outspoken when it comes to the Iraq war.

KURTZ: That signing was disrupted by Code Pink. And Fox played that up every other hour because obviously it fit the Fox narrative and obviously is an infringement of free speech.

COX: Right. Of whose free speech?

KURTZ: Well, shouldn't an author be able to go and have a book signing without being shouted down?

Saying his "First Amendment" rights are being violated because they tried to have him arrested is off the wall. After all, the First Amendment is about protecting our speech from government censorship, not from the free speech of our fellow citizens. Howard was fanning the flames there a bit.

And this one made me laugh because Howard makes a good point and Ana only looks at it through the prism of the DC Beltway power structure.

Ana Marie Cox, don't the media reward politicians and others who say inflammatory things, as opposed to mild-mannered moderates?

ANA MARIE COX, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "GQ": Well, it depends what you mean by reward. I mean, is covering that a reward? Is giving someone air time a reward? What I think is really interesting --

KURTZ: Well, I would say it is a reward. There are 535 members of Congress. When you shout "You lie!" or "Baby killer!" or Alan Grayson said Republicans want old people to die, you get booked on shows.

COX: You do.

KURTZ: You get your profile raised.

COX: But I don't know if that necessarily translates into power, especially power when it comes to this White House.

As you know, I've been doing some research for this long-term project at "GQ" on the D.C. power list. And the interesting thing about talking to the White House about who the powerful journalists are, they don't mention anyone at Fox, they don't mention anyone at MSNBC. They mention a few people at CNN.

But it really is focused mainly on sort of the big traditional print outlets, as well as some Internet outlets. They don't think of the stuff that goes on at Fox as something that's really harming them. I mean, it may harm them in sort of -- it excites a certain amount of base that's never going to vote for them anyway, but it's not something that they're like, you know --

Of course, the power elite inside the Beltway keeps getting their agenda blocked by that "certain amount of the base" because they underestimate and minimize them -- and especially the ability of Fox News and the right-wing media to whip up a hysterical frenzy among the Tea Party folks.

After all, Erik Erickson got hired by CNN because he writes whacked out things on his blog and that raised his profile in the minds of CNN. See any liberal provocateurs being hired at CNN?

At least Craig Crawford got it right:

CRAWFORD: The mainstream media falls prey to this false equivalency stuff. I mean, comparing the Code Pink, you know, speech interrupter at Rove's book signing to a bunch of militia who planned to kill police officers and blow up their funerals, you know, the media is prone to those false equivalents.