Rove: MSNBC Should Have Publicly Reprimanded Bashir

Martin Bashir's remarks about Sarah Palin were so offensive, MSNBC should have publicly rebuked the host rather than allowing him to look like it was his own idea to leave the network, says Karl Rove.

Everybody makes mistakes and says things in the heat of the moment that they later regret, Rove said Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," but "this was a deliberate attempt to engage in the most foul and disgusting kind of commentary on a political opponent."

Bashir on Nov. 15 called the tea party favorite a "world-class idiot" then suggested she receive the same inhumane treatment described in a slave owner's diary. He resigned on Wednesday. 

MSNBC perhaps could have saved Bashir's job if they had condemned him and suspended him without pay, Rove said.

"Instead, the network was silent. They let him go off and have his pre-arranged holiday, and then they came back and let him sound like it was his idea, and expressed regret at his departure from the network and wished him well. This was beyond the pale."

While it is expected that people will make comments about their political opponents, Bashir's words were "disgusting and vile and highly personal," Rove said.

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