Fox, GOP 'purging controversial' figures after 2012 loss

>>> time now for "politico."

>> let's check in with jim vandehei , executive editor down at "politico" for a look at the "playbook." jim, what's going on?

>> good. how you doing?

>> doing all right. we've got your behind-the-curtain report this morning. you're talking about the separation between the republican party , fox news, they've shed now dick morris to go along with governor palin. what's going on here inside the republican party ?

>> i think what's fascinating is you have these parallel purges. you have the republican party and you have fox news. both of which took a big hit in the 2012 elections. fox has seen its ratings dip particularly in january. republicans have obviously had a lot of problems with their brand post-election. so both sides are trying to get rid of the most toxic characters. on the one side, you have fox getting rid of palin. you have fox getting rid of dick morris . you have some of their bigger names advocating for a rethinking of immigration reform . on the official republican side , you have karl rove who's a fox contributor leading this effort to create a super pac to get rid of candidates like steve king in iowa or everyone remembers todd akin in missouri. these candidates that they think are not electable in general elections .

>> you know, it's interesting about fox, yesterday you guys, "politico" had -- and i just saw it as i was reading this. okay, seriously? how much worse can it get for conservatives? it's like kicking the elephant when it's down and dying here. i think dylan byers put up a poll that talked about the most trusted networks and the least trusted networks and talked about how fox's -- people's trust in fox has gone down. fox still, obviously, was well above a lot of other networks. but i thought the real kick in the teeth of conservatives was the most trusted network in america by almost a 2 - 1 margin while everybody else was upside down. did you read dylan's post? do you know what the answer to that is?

>> i don't know the answer to that. i must confess, i did not read it yet.

>> b.s. the network that conservatives like myself have been trying to defund, since 1994 , we've been trying to defund pbs . and you look at the poll. so fox is upside down now, and pbs is the most trusted network in america by a long shot. it really gets no worse for conservatives. this is not our season which, of course, means only one thing, willie . when things look this bad, i swear to god ish , it happened to republicans in '64. everyone said they're dad. they come back to win in '66. democrats were dead in '04. remember you said it's the most depressed democrats have ever been. they come back and win big in '06 and '08.

>> of course, it forces the hand.

>> everything is going so bad. pbs , the most trusted network in news, and this can only mean one thing. a republican landslide in a couple years. i mean, it's just so --

>> it's not funny because in reality, that is the only thing that moves the dime. in desperate times, you know, creates this. you are absolutely right.

>> donny, that is a great point. as you go back and you read history and you see what happened, because there's always this back and forth. it takes a gun to the head of the established interests, the republican consultants that have taken over this party in washington, d.c. it takes that sort of thing just like democrats. you lose 49 states to ronald reagan , you know what? steve, and you were part of it, you lose 49 states to ronald reagan , that's when democrats get together and say, okay, how do we fix this party ?

>> absolutely. but remember, it also took the democrats 12 years to fix the party after the 1980 election. they lost 1980 , '84, '88 and finally in '92 they came back, partly because of exactly what you're referring to, which is bill clinton pulling together the center of the democratic party . but if it weren't for ross perot , george h.w. bush would have won a second term.

>> i mean, fortunately for republicans, andrea , we probably aren't going to have to wait 12 years because our opponents are democrats.

>> there are always cycles. and it's interesting that marco rubio is going to give the response to the state of the union . we know from bobby jindal and others how difficult it is to have a venue. mitch daniels , needing people, it's very hard to go up against the president of the united states and the whole pomp and circumstance of the state of the union . but marco rubio , such a good speaker and giving this primetime opportunity by the republican party . and a question to you, what is the story out of miami about jeb bush trying to buy the marlins? is that for real?

>> i don't know.

>> oh. willie ?

>> we're going to talk about that in sports.

>> i'm sorry, i jumped the gun.

>> no, no, it's a good story.

>> just go ahead and kill hamlet in the first act.

>> sorry, willie .

>> no, that's a tease.

>> that's a great tease. that's what we call in the business a deep tease.

>> andrea knows how to tease. andrea mentioned governor jindal. he's at the forefront of this republican frustration. said we have to stop being the stupid party . you guys talked to him for this piece on "politico" today. he said we need serious changes in the way we talk and the way we act. what does that mean exactly? is that beginning to manifest itself in any way?

>> i don't know. i think it's too early. and i think that's the cautionary note you have to have to all these stories about republicans wanting to change the cast of the characters. at the end of the day , it is the policies that either win or lose elections. and you have a base of the republican party that karl rove says they're going to create this super pac to get more electable conservatives. look at the backlash in conservative media . look at the backlash among conservative act irvistivisactivists. they think karl rove is the problem, not todd akin . the results show me the base has more authority right now than the establishment. so the establishment might want change, and they could force some change. but if the grass roots of the republican party is opposed to that change, that tension is going to keep the party paralyzed. and that's why someone -- andrea was talking about marco rubio doing that speech. that's why someone like marco rubio can step forward and bridge the two sides. that's the key. you change this stuff with one or two big figures who take over the party who can move the party .

>> speaking of deep teases, we may see mr. rubio again in our "time" magazine unveiling coming up a little bit later. i'm just saying. perhaps. i don't know where it's going to be. inside, on the cover. who knows?

>> who knows?

>> we'll see.

>> interesting, the synergy that you weave the thread to bring the show together.

>> i follow andrea 's lead on tv and in life. jim vandehei with a look at the "politico playbook."

>>> coming up, andrea 's spoiler alert on jeb bush and the miami marlins ? keep it on " morning joe ." look at you,