Rove weighs in on Zeke Emanuel

Former Bush aide Karl Rove dispensed some advice to his successors on Monday, suggesting that the White House would benefit from barring Ezekiel Emanuel from television appearances.

{mosads}“I hope they keep putting Dr. Emanuel on television, but if they really do want to engage in P.R. campaign, my advice would be stop letting him go on television and [being] the face of the program because it ain’t a very attractive face and voice,” Rove told Fox News on Monday.

Emanuel, the brother of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a special advisor to the Office of Management and Budget on ObamaCare, came under fire over the weekend for comments he made defending the program.

During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Emanuel was pressed about the president’s repeated promise that “if you like your doctor, you can keep you doctor.”

Some individuals who have lost their plans because of requirements under the law have found that their new insurance options do not include the same physician networks. Other plans have been altered to offset the cost of minimum requirements under the law by reducing the provider networks.

On Sunday, Emanuel said that Obama “didn’t say you could have unlimited choice.”

“If you want to pay more for an insurance company that covers your doctor, you can do that,” he continued. “This is a matter of choice.”

Pressed by host Chris Wallace about whether that meant an increased premium for a broader network of doctors, Emanuel said “no one guaranteed you that your premiums wouldn’t increase.”

“If you want to, you can pay for it,” he added.

Republicans sized on the exchange to criticize the White House. In an email Monday morning, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brad Dayspring said Emanuel had “exposed another enormous lie that Democrats told to their constituents.”

“Funny, we don’t recall that being the sales pitch, which is probably because it wasn’t,” Dayspring said.