On today's edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, Fox contributor Karl Rove attempted to excuse Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker of responsibility for the deficit he faced during his time as Milwaukee County executive by claiming it was “inherited from his predecessor”:

ROVE: Remember, Walker's coming from this experience. He was the county executive in Milwaukee County with a huge budget shortfall that he inherited from his predecessor, and the only way he could deal with it is to ask the unions for concessions. They refused to give him any and told him that he would have to fire people or raise taxes. He didn't raise taxes, and he had to fire 20 percent of the county workforce. And he vowed if ever put in a position to do something about, it he would give local governments and school districts tools to avoid this.

Rove's eagerness to blame Walker's predecessor for the “huge budget shortfall” Walker “inherited,” however, runs counter to the many times he and his conservative media cohorts excoriated the Obama administration for “blam[ing] all of its problems on its predecessor.”

On the December 9, 2009, edition of Fox & Friends, Rove suggested that Obama was responsible for the entire deficit for the 2009 fiscal year. He said:

ROVE: You know, look. The purpose of this [the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)] was to stabilize the financial sector, which it did. And then, the intention was that any unspent monies or any money that was returned to the taxpayers would go to deficit reduction. Since President Obama came to office, the federal deficit has grown by $1.46 trillion. That is 1,460 billions of dollars.

Of course, the reality of the situation is that $1.2 trillion of that shortfall, or 82 percent, was projected by the Congressional Budget Office before Obama even took office.

Then, in an appearance on the May 24, 2009, edition of Fox News Sunday, Rove criticized the administration for making a claim similar to that uttered today by Rove -- that Obama inherited serious challenges -- saying “we have an unprecedented effort by the current administration to blame all of its problems on its predecessor.”

Further, in a January 21, 2010, Wall Street Journal column, Rove blamed Obama for all of the federal debt accumulated since the day he took office:

[Obama adviser David] Axelrod wrote that no one is entitled to his own facts, even as he argued that George W. Bush is responsible for Barack Obama's deficits. He argued that Mr. Bush forced the hand of this administration by leaving office in the midst of a sharp recession.

That argument won't fly for two reasons. First, at some point this administration has to take responsibility for itself. It's also not even close to accurate. Consider that from Jan. 20, 2001, to Jan. 20, 2009, the debt held by the public grew $3 trillion under Mr. Bush -- to $6.3 trillion from $3.3 trillion at a time when the national economy grew as well.

By comparison, from the day Mr. Obama took office last year to the end of the current fiscal year, according to the Office of Management and Budget, the debt held by the public will grow by $3.3 trillion. In 20 months, Mr. Obama will add as much debt as Mr. Bush ran up in eight years.

Of course, Rove isn't alone on the right when he criticizes Obama for pointing out something perfectly accurate -- that he, his administration, and the 111th Congress are not responsible for the deficit that was set into motion prior to them taking office.

In Rove's world, it seems that a newly elected Democrat who takes office is wholly saddled with the sins of predecessors, while a newly elected Republican is being forced by the evil, greedy unions to lay off workers. Or something like that.