On ABC panel, Karl Rove jokes: Donna Brazile 'owes me some fried chicken'
theGRIO REPORT - Unfortunately for Karl Rove, some food jokes go over better than others...
During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Republican strategist Karl Rove joked with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile about the state of the GOP. Apparently, the two have been betting on the party’s electoral prospects, with food as the currency. Unfortunately for Rove, some food jokes go over better than others.
According to RawStory, after Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, who was also on the panel, pointed out that many of the rifts within the Republican Party will be healed when a strong presidential candidate emerged, this exchange happened:
“That was Bill Clinton after Walter Mondale lost, after Jimmy Carter lost,” Brazile pointed out. “We had a dynamic governor who was reform minded, who took those reform issues and brought them into the national forefront. He really helped recharge the Democratic Party.”
“But you know, the Republican Party is out to lunch,” she added, turning to Rove. “I watched CPAC, Charles — I mean, Karl… Charles was former friend.”
“I thought I was a current friend,” Rove laughed.
“You’re always a friend,” Brazile replied. “But you owe me some chili.”
“You owe me some fried chicken,” Rove joked with his best Southern drawl.
Brazile didn’t seem offended by the reference, or at least she didn’t react to it, and immediately pivoted to reminding Karl that she had “saved [his life from] malaria once.”
The joking reference got Twitter buzzing, and was picked up by some liberal blogs. But so far, it doesn’t seem to have gotten a rise out of Ms. Brazile, who after all is known to make frequent references to her southern cooking — a subject she even wove into her best-selling book on politics.
Still, for a political strategist, Rove doesn’t seem to have quite mastered the art of avoiding stereotypical references (and bad southern accents…) which could be taken the wrong way.
