Former Bush adviser Karl Rove was verbally accosted Thursday evening by an ex-chief of staff to former Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.).

Rove was quietly having dinner at the tony restaurant Charlie Palmer Steak on Capitol Hill when he was aggressively approached by Jason Roe, the former Feeney staffer. Roe, now of Federal Strategy Group, was "loud and boisterous" toward Rove. He was apparently (still) upset over the following comments Rove made on Fox News, the day after the election, in which Feeney — along with many other Republicans — went down in flames.

From FNC:

Rove: "It was a big night, no doubt about it, but look, the people who got defeated last night were people who had not done their homework and hadn't gotten ready for a tough race.

"You know, like this guy Feeney in Florida."

Colmes: "Tom Feeney, yes."

Rove: "Tom Feeney, who — who had a bunch of ethical issues raised and then voted against the rescue package. You know, voting against the rescue package was supposed to be a sure thing to get you elected in some quarters."

Shortly thereafter, Roe had to be escorted away from the table. Charlie Palmer Steak management remained typically mum and wouldn't even confirm Rove's appearance to Shenanigans, but when asked if there was a fight, the reply was, "Noooooo, this is a quiet family establishment."

Rove, when contacted, had "no comment."

Roe, when contacted, also had "no comment."

UPDATE: According to people familiar with the back and forth, we hear this was the conversation between Roe and Rove:

Roe walked over to the table, "I'm Jason Roe."

Rove: "Oh, the famous Jason Roe."

Roe: "I don't know that I'm famous, but I'm Tom Feeney's former chief of staff, and I'm offended by your comments on Fox about Tom. You guys wouldn't be in the White House without Tom. And you made these really degrading comments about him that offended a lot of people."

(Sidenote: Tom Feeney was the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives during the whole Bush/Gore 2000 recount.)

Rove: "Well, I have a file on the things Tom Feeney said about George Bush."

Roe: "That says more about you than me that you kept a file on Tom Feeney. This guy was so restrained in his desire to criticize the president — even against this staff's advice."



Rove: "I have a file."

Roe: "I'm right here. Tell me to my face what's in that file."

Rove: "I'll send you the file."

Roe: "Well, I hope the file is the beginning of the conversation and not the end. I would love to disabuse you of whatever you think of Tom Feeney's loyalty from this file."

Rove: "If you keep talking over me, this conversation's going to end right now."

Then a lady came over to fill up Rove's water glass, breaking up Roe and Rove, and Roe returned to the bar. Rumor has it Rove was waiting to have dinner with former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.

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