The reax to Karl Rove’s announced departure has been swift and certain. As usual, Connecticut’s own Denis Horgan goes over-the-top, while Gawker does likewise. It’s still early, but if this is an exmaple of the kind of thoughfulness coming out of the BDS crowd, I might as well stop reading now (they blame everything on him, you know).
On the right, Michelle Malkin surprises me by arguing that Rove hung on for too long. I agree. He should have left a year ago when he foolishly predicted the GOP would retain control of Congress.
But you know how it is with this administration. The most controversial characters (Rummy, Gonzales) hang on for too long so that when they resign later, it won’t look like anyone was pushing GWB around.
I don’t know whether Rove really wants to spend more time with his family (SMTWF) or not. I recall (in 1994, if memory serves) when, after less than four years in office, Tom Lord resigned as headmaster of Berkshire School. Yep, the school announced in a press release that he wanted to SMTWF. Sure, I thought … until I learned more about the circumstances. In that case, it made sense. Maybe it does for Rove, too.
22 responses so far ↓
1 Geoff Brown // Aug 13, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Karl Rove is a really smart guy. Unprincipled, but really, really smart.
Honestly, I can’t believe that the people he works for are going to let him sit on his butt and make nice with his family. There are too many other agendas out there for him to pursue in their behalf.
IMHO this next few months will be a great time to track Rove’s travels and associations. Connecting the dots will be a fascinating exercise in figuring out who wants what to happen in this country really, really badly and is willing to spend huge amounts of money to make it so.
2 Marshall Miles // Aug 14, 2007 at 5:58 am
The major problem with Rove is that he was working for the Republicans….not the Democrats!
If you want to place blame, Bush, Chaney, and the American people.
3 Terry // Aug 14, 2007 at 11:22 am
Marshall,
The Dems all demonize Rove, but if they had someone who could do what he does (win elections year after year — even with his tactics), they would be thrilled. The Dems are jealous that Rove isn’t on their side. I think that’s what it boils down to.
4 Geoff Brown // Aug 14, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Marshall, I would dispute your point that Rove was working for the Republicans. I know plenty of Republicans who view the man with as much distaste as I do or more.
I do think the people for whom Rove works have been successful in co-opting the party of Lincoln, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan to advance their own ends — with Rove’s expert assistance.
5 Marshall Miles // Aug 14, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Terry. right on! Geoff, the Republicans that hate him, only hate him now! It’s what have you done for me latly!
If Bill Clinton could hire Dick Morris, Hilly would hire Rove!
BY the way gangm I have a new nickname! I won’t reveal who gave it to me, but several people have told me, that I am now known as “pompus” Marshall Miles in some political circles!
Marshall (Pompus) Miles
6 Tom Cowgill // Aug 14, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Marshall, you are wrong about Republicans only hating him now. In the first term a congressman, after meeting with Bush and Rove and feeling insulted by Rove, said “The Bush White House was tone-deaf to the normal courtesies of the office.” The congressman was Dick Armey, the House Republican majority leader. He later said of Rove’s inability to get his favored legislation passed, “You can’t call her ugly all year and expect her to go to the prom with you.”
7 Terry // Aug 14, 2007 at 11:19 pm
That doesn’t sound like hate coming from Armey — just amazement. I still think Republicans would have stuck by their Rove if he had delivered in the 2006 midterm elections. Nothing breeds tolerance like success.
Dems would love to have Rove on their side. Bob Schrum is no Karl Rove.
8 Tom Cowgill // Aug 15, 2007 at 11:16 am
I withdraw the word hate. I only used it in reference to Marshall’s comment. I think you are equally wrong with amazement. That does not catch the flavor of Armey’s statements. Can we settle on disgust? Remember that Armey’s comments were well before 2006. Everyone that I know agrees that Rove was good at winning elections. He was not so good at the art of governing. We will never know about Schrum, will we?
9 Terry // Aug 15, 2007 at 11:28 am
Au contraire. We know all about Shrum. Ever heard of the Shrum Curse?
10 Tom Cowgill // Aug 15, 2007 at 11:38 am
I meant that we will never know about his skills at governing.
11 Terry // Aug 15, 2007 at 1:03 pm
You’re right, we will never know about Shrum’s skills at governing b’c his clients never win elections.
12 Tom Cowgill // Aug 15, 2007 at 2:51 pm
That was my point!
13 Peter Halle // Aug 15, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Terry, Shrum’s presidential clients never won. He had a brilliant record in statewide elections, winning thirty Senate races and ten governorships. That record is presumably why he was in such demand for the big races, rather than for his charming personality.
As for Rove, shrewd gamesmanship for the Republicans’ benefit is fair in the campaign, but once you are in the WH, it has to be the nation’s work.
14 Terry // Aug 15, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Peter,
Right you are. And as Shrum and dozens of other presidential campaign managers have discovered, what sells locally doesn’t necessarily play nationally.
However, the definition of “nation’s work” is largely subjective. To most Republicans, a strong conservative agenda is “the nation’s work” (and perhaps even God’s work as well), while I’m sure someone like Kucinich would argue that ending for-profit healthcare is morally correct, would benefit the nation as a whole and (therefore) is also the nation’s work.
I’m sure Rove thinks Bush’s policy’s are best for the nation. In fact, I’d stake my life on it.
15 Peter Halle // Aug 15, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Please don’t stake your life on the convictions of a politician! The last point I was making is that campaign-mode (ie, politicizing the federal govt) while in office is ignoble, no matter what party you belong to.
16 Tom Cowgill // Aug 15, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Don’t focus too much on the conservative/liberal thing. My main point was that Rove infuriated most of the conservative GOP leadership in the House by his imperial ways. They wanted him to win elections and then leave the legislating to more experienced hands. He had other plans.
17 Terrence McCarthy // Aug 15, 2007 at 7:54 pm
People seem to have overlooked the fact that Rove spelled backwards is evor. And if one rearranges the letters in his name, the results include: vore, and over.
Over. Like ” The end of the world. ” !!!!
The more people like Horgan write about this guy, the more power the guy gets. My points are absurd, and I meant them to be.
He’s just another cog in the wheel. He’s not, nor has he ever been, the wheel. He’s off to spend MTWHF. Forgedaboud him.
Get O-V-E-R it already.
18 STEVE CLARK // Aug 17, 2007 at 10:10 pm
If Rowe has any morals or conscience or belief in God, he will immediately begin making the rounds, apologizing Atwater style, to the hundreds of people whose lives he ruthlessly ruined in his take-no-prisoners, win-at-any-cost political strategy.
And what did his ruthlessness win? A government that has caused literally hundreds of thousands of deaths in a bungled war against terror. A government that has stretched thin and almost ruined our military. A government that has increased immensely in size and has spent us to the brink of catastrophe. A government that has widened the gap between rich and poor. A divisive government that has pit neighbor against neighbor. A government that worked superbly for the tidal wave victims overseas, but for some reason would not work for and had no sympathy for its own citizens/victims of Katrina. A government that rejoiced in sending thousands of businesses overseas while it railed against providing money or benefits for its own unemployed or for health insurance for its uninsured. A government that will go down in history for its fraud, waste, and graft.
What he fought so hard for was a government the Devil would envy. He should not sleep well.
19 Tom Cowgill // Aug 18, 2007 at 8:13 am
Welcome, Steve, where ya been?
20 STEVE CLARK // Aug 18, 2007 at 10:42 am
It appears the black polluting cloud of despotism is beginning to lift a little. “Normal” citizens may now be able to breathe a little and speak a little without the fear of political or employer retribution.
21 Terry // Aug 18, 2007 at 1:47 pm
As a “normal” citizen,” not for one minute do I believe most of the howls of moral outrage coming from the left about Rove. The Dems would love to have someone on their side with Rove’s record of winning elections (so would I if I were running), notwithstanding his shameless use of wedge issues.
Despotism? That sounds like so much hyperventilation. GWB is constitutionally barred from seeking another term and, even if he could, he would be soundly defeated.
True despots (e.g. Hussein, Castro, Somoza, Marcos) never lose elections. They can only be defeated with the barrel of a tank staring them in the face.
22 STEVE CLARK // Aug 18, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Spoken like a true cynic. But there have been really no people quite like Atwater or Rove on the Democratic side, at least in my lifetime(am going on 53). I would rather lose than have a person like either of them doing dirty work for me. In that sense, my hat is off to Gore and Kerry for thinking of their country first, themselves second, when both of them conceded.
The Websters Ninth defines a despot as “a person exercising power abusively, oppressively, or tyrannically”. I think this correctly describes Bush and his administration.
Did you ever notice how Bush has always yelled his messages down to us poor, ignorant citizens when he tells us what he is going to do to others or to us. McCain tried to mimic this in a desparate attempt to revive his campaign, but the public no longer accepts this demeaning behavior, and it went over like a lead balloon. Bush still does it, which is embarrassing because he just doesn’t get it - that the American public is much, much smarter than he or his cronies ever suspected.
Leave a Comment