Tea Party Patriots Apologize to Rove for Nazi Image

The Tea Party Patriots have apologized for an incendiary email containing a jolting, doctored image of Karl Rove dressed in a Nazi uniform.

“In an email sent under the banner of Tea Party Patriots, a manufactured image of Karl Rove was added to the email which Tea Party Patriots did not know about or approve,’’ said the group’s co-founder, Jenny Beth Martin.

“The image, which was added by an outside vendor, Active Engagement, was inappropriate, wrong, and we have ordered them to immediately cease further use of the image. We apologize to Mr. Rove.’’

The photo was accompanied by a pitch for donations that read: “Karl Rove believes he can raise hundreds of millions of dollars, crush the Tea Party movement and protect the big-government status quo in Washington from millions of freedom-loving Americans. Well, he’s wrong.”

Rove, a political analyst who was former President George W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff, has roiled the tea party with the creation of the Conservative Victory Project, a group in support of “electable’’ conservative candidates.

Martin said while her group has “strong disagreements’’ with Rove on the future of conservatism, “we want to be clear this imagery is absolutely unacceptable and are working to ensure this type of mistake doesn’t happen again.’’