To be clear, I am NOT at all defending Rove in this - but since he did keep it alive, that makes it imperative that we do not get tarred with Akin. Akin was his own problem. He is an idiot. Yes, he believes the right things, but he's arrogant and an idiot and enriched his own family with his campaign funds - and he was played by the McCaskill team for a sucker long before he made his inarticulate statements. Rove is right that Akin was a problem. Rove is wrong that Akin is Tea Party. Very important we make this distinction, to keep our cred and to further weaken Roves' cred.
Whatever it takes to justify doing exactly what Rove wants you to do I guess. I’m not playing that game.
In practice there is. ;-)