Why in the world do they agree to so many debates? How many debates did Ronald Reagan have when he ran in 1980? I bet not too many. And there has to be some kind of standard to get into the debates. No more Herman Cain´s please.

Single issue (Repub) voters will continue to kill any hope of a true conservative candidate. This is the reason we had 10 guys running for the nomination, and so many debates.

As usual, Karl is correct - the debates were won by Romney but media claimed their little moron bammy was best. Debates are a useless preview of what a President will do, but somehow I cannot believe that the American people were so stupid as to vote for the black moron.

What a charming man.... s/

I don´t want to hear from Rove anymore. Next!!

Poor Romney - it is not about Romney it is about the country. Many votes for Romney were really votes against Obama. Romney trashed his rivals in the primary but would not trash his enemies in the election campaign. This is something that needs to change. I remember Mark Levin experessed concern that these loosing GOP candidates would not be able to unite behind Romney after what he did not them in the primary. Is Rove going to give an unopposed path to the next nomination for an articulate genuine conservative or is he only asking for a clear path for an establishment candidate?

Gingrich couldn´t handle his primary campaign finances, Bill Clinton, or his massive baggage - all self inflicted. Cain hadn´t even been elected dog-catcher. Santorum couldn´t win his senate seat. Bachmann barely won her house seat. Perry wasn´t ready. Ron Paul was his usual distraction without a real purpose. You go to war with the army you have - Romney.

Memo to Rove: Not interested. Go away.

Pardon me. But I guess that butt ugly is in the eyes of the beholder and my eyes see Rove himself as butt ugly Hes just sore that he made an idiot of himself with his little dry eraser board. And I am SICK of talking heads running off at the mouth about how Romney ran his campaign. Name ONE other candidate who would´ve gotten as far as he did! Others may have said what some wished , but the media would´ve DESTROYED them in the 1st month.

Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry did a great job of poisoning the well. None of these guys were even close to ready for Primetime and by attacking the character of Romney rather than his policies and record was particularly toxic. And then there was the Herman Cain sideshow act. Not a good way to develop a winner, especially when up against messiah and his loyal court eunuchs in the media. On the other hand, mitt improved dramatically as a debater thanks to all the chaos of primary season. Romney also shares some of the blame for slipping on the kid gloves during the second and third presidential debates.

There´s a lot of "groupthink" these days. 1. My feeling is Rove did an ok job. and 2. Romney´s 47% comments and this one this time about "gifts" were supposed to be private. Inner circle, tight group, and secure. 3. Someone´s a RAT!

Limit campaigns to one yr prior to the election, primaries and all...2 debates and that´s it!

Rove, in the name of God, go.

Karl--take the next 15 years as a full time job getting "hair plugs"! We know it will take that long for the plugs to take as the "fertilizer" under your chrome dome is nothing but B S.

The party elites and their groupies will find their reasons for loss by looking in a mirror.

I´ve had enough Karl Rove to last me quite a while, thanks...

I was right in the thick of things here in Florida, and if Romney had campaigned against Obama the way he did against Gingrich, we would be calling him President-elect Romney today.
Where did Romney´s "fight" go once he got the nomination?

You can bet that Rove will be back. In 2016. With Jeb Bush.

Assuming that we still have a country left by then.

Also in Florida.... and I agree with #18. Rightly or wrongly, Romney´s campaign waged a scorched earth diatribe against fellow Republicans but I saw none of that against Obama. Curious.

Romney´s lies and slanders against fellow Republicans during the primary is what convinced me he was not worth voting for.

#18 Romney follows Reagan´s Golden Rule --- except Romney modifies it to "not speak ill of fellow Democrats."

Go away Rove. Experts like you have been forcing "moderate" candidates and failed elections on us for far too long.
Maybe you could retire and write a book nobody will read.

I´m another had more than enough of Rove.

We need more Lee Atwater and less Karl Rove.

It took a lot longer than I thought for someone to get around to blaming this on Sarah. Oh, I knew it would happen- just didn´t think it would be here.

Rove, Mitt and his super pacs MADE it butt ugly. They attacked Newt long before Newt ever attacked them. This is all Roves fault, Mitt´s fault, and Mitts super pacs fault.

For any of you Mitt drones too retarded to remember history, go check it out. Facts are stubborn things.

Rove is right. But this was largely his own fault.

Who let George Stephanopolous into the debates? Who chose the number of debates? Who decided to go negative on every candidate? Team Romney did, that’s who. From the get go we were told that it was Romney, or else! And it was team Romney and his surrogates, Coulter, Rubin and Sununu that assassinated all the other candidates. I have to admit, I would have preferred “else” to Romney.

At the end of the primary, Romney won, but he emerged much weaker than when he went in and our strongest advocates for the Republican Party - who could have been there to articulate positive and effective messages - were left too wounded and discredited to help him out.

Santorum made some very effective arguments about the positive economic impacts of social conservatism. But Santorum was an idiot! Right? Bye Rick.

Gingrich has always made excellent arguments about the economic benefits of smaller government, and he implemented them when he was in congress. But Gingrich is an arrogant adulterer! Right? (Like democrats care about these things.) Bye Newt.

Cain may not have been a good President, but destroying him meant that he was no longer available to reach out to the minority community. He could have done that. Mr. electable could have used some help there. Bye Herman.

Perry blew it. Too bad that one.

In the end, Mr. Electable stood alone, and he didn’t get elected - because he left himself looking butt ugly.

Good Bye, Karl, oh Great Master of Hindsight.

The election was lost during the Primary..Canabilation never works.

There is no "I" in "Team." We preach this to our children from early youth. These folks never got the word. So smart they are dumb!

The individual were willing to lose the election and country rather than bow out gracefully! In the end we all lost!

Rove has to blame somebody - and it´s always those pesky conservatives, purists, Sarah, etc.! The slurs flying fast and ugly from the heart of the party establishment. Conservatives fell for this junk for the last time. Expect another loss if his next brilliant idea is a Bush for 2016.

Hey! Reply 2.Redneck In NY. ´Single issue (Repub) voters will continue to kill any hope of a true conservative candidate...´

Would one of those single issues be the MASSACRE of the unborn?

Abortion on demand is not an ISSUE, it is cold blooded MURDER. A ´true conservative candidate´ would NEVER be a baby killer.

´Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.´

If Newt or Santorum had gotten the nomination, we would have lost the House, too. Newt is the worst sort of hypocrite and Santorum is a fanatic.

I wouldn´t vote for Santorum - he hates free trade and I don´t think I could take four years of gooey treacle over that handicapped kid. Newt or Cain were the ones I liked best - both of them besmirched themselves however, so let´s look for a Newt without the baggage.

According to a minority voter today, it was that 47% comment. My response was about the people that enjoy being poor with perks.

It´s numbers and if you think they outnumber us today, think what it will be in four years after another floodgate opens.

Karl Rove would prefer that the establishment pick be selected by secret ballot and signaled with white smoke. Please go away Mr. sour grapes loser, we told you your establishment RINO guy would lose. The debates were great. Why should Republicans be afraid to have more opportunities to communicate, unless they aren´t really interested in communicating with potential voters? Herman Cain would have made a great candidate, too bad he got railroaded. Ron Paul was fantastic. Gingrich was great. The only ones who bombed were Perry and the assistant Sunday School preacher from Pennsylvania.