I don’t know if this was a failed attempt at wit or if Rove is just massively patronizing and paternalistic, but apparently he ran into Donna Brazile, a well-known black Democratic strategist, at a hedge fund conference in May and said this:
The event also provided a platform for Karl Rove, the Republican political consultant, to tell Donna Brazile, a black political strategist: “I did you a great favour bringing you into politics in the 1860 campaign and this is how you repay me? We’re happy you got the right to vote but it wasn’t your current party that was responsible for it.”
Some exculpatory context may be missing from the story. If not, then the only possible explanation is that Karl Rover is immortal, and Rip Van Winkled his way through the early and mid-20th centuries. Perhaps he slept in a coffin.