Scocca

, naturally: asked by Der Spiegel to compare the Tea Party to the Reagan Revolution, Karl Rove was

:

[T]he Reagan Revolution was driven a lot by the persona of one man, Ronald Reagan, who had an optimistic and sunny view of what the nation could be. It was also a well-organized, coherent, ideologically motivated and conservative revolution. If you look underneath the surface of the Tea Party movement, on the other hand, you will find that it is not sophisticated.

This is America's greatest/scariest political savant? The sentiment is reasonable and inoffensive, in context; in context, it might even have been meant to be a deceptive talking point, presenting the Tea Party as a genuine product of the grassroots, rather than something ginned up by scheming billionaires. In context. And but since when has Karl Rove been in the business of discussing things in context?

Also,

You have to read three whole sentences to put that stuff in a palatable context. Reading fairly quickly, it took me 15 seconds to say it all aloud. Who has 15 seconds to spare? You can fit a whole commercial into 15 seconds. This is late October. Karl Rove says the Tea Party is not sophisticated.