Tea Party’s Karl Rove Nazi Image Offends, Groups Claims ‘Mistake’

A Tea Party Karl Rove image featuring the GOP bigwig dressed as a Nazi has caused a large degree of offense, and the group responsible for the message claims the deliberately Photoshop-altered pic was a “mistake” not approved by the group before it was transmitted.

The Tea Party group sent the Karl Rove Nazi pic to subscribers today in an email from Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots. Titled “Wipe the Smirk Off Karl Rove’s Face,” the mail featured the image of Rove altered to appear wearing an an SS uniform.

According to Politico, the missive included the pic of Karl Rove as a Nazi, and the site describes the Tea Party’s use of the image as well as its historical significance:

“The email features a photo illustration in which Rove’s face is grafted onto a photo of a uniformed officer in the Reichsführer-SS, an elite class of soldier in the German Schutzstaffel during Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich. The lower left-hand corner of the photo features the inscriptions “Reichsführer-SS” and “K. Rove,” and appears to match a photo of SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler.”

The site spoke to the Tea Party Patriots about the Karl Rove Nazi email, and a spokesman claimed that a mislinked image was responsible for the “mistake.”

After the story hit, the Tea Party Patriots released a statement about the Karl Rove Nazi controversy, blaming a vendor for the brouhaha:

“We did not know about or approve a manufactured image added to a recent email from the Tea Party Patriots … It was added by an outside vendor. The image was inappropriate and we have ordered the vendor to immediately cease further use of the image.”

The vendor behind the Karl Rove Nazi email was Active Engagements, and the group’s J.D. Norman concedes the pic “was the worst picture that could have been mistakenly put in that email,” but it was “just a human error.”