No More Mr. Rove
13 August 2007 9:00 am by Taylor Marsh
We won’t have Karl Rove to kick around anymore. He’s leaving on his own terms,
some will say. He’s leaving just in time will be the cry of others. Not soon
enough will also be the charge. But leave he is.
Anyone who says he didn’t fill Lee Atwater’s shoes just as his mentor planned
doesn’t understand how Karl Rove manipulated the media and utilized right-wing
radio to get out the vote in a way that made history. Scaring evangelicals into
voting against gays is one of his fundamental legacies. It’s not a proud one,
unless you believe winning is all, but it sure worked. No one helped stir up
the anti gay vote more than Mr. Rove in 2004.
Is there a lesson for Democras in Rove’s machinations? Absolutely. No matter the issue, the argument that wins is emotion. That’s what Rove and the Republicans know and utilize better than anyone. We got ahold of some of that in 2006 with the Iraq war, but Rove knew how to repeat it again and again. He also had a lot of help from his wingnut radio lieutenants.
Going back further, remember all those flown in and bussed in Republicans down
in Florida? Let’s just call it quintessential Rove.
Mr. Rove’s political influence has been historic, notwithstanding the rout
of 2006. His crucial insight in 2000 was recognizing that Mr. Bush had to
be both an alternative to Bill Clinton’s scandalous behavior and “a different
kind of Republican.” In 2002, the president’s party gained seats in both
the House and Senate in a first midterm election for the first time since
1934.And in 2004, for only the second time in history, a president won re-election
while helping his party gain seats in both houses of Congress; the other time
was 1936. Much has been made of John Kerry’s ineptitude, but the senator won
some eight million more votes than Al Gore did in 2000, and Mr. Rove claims
Democrats outspent Republicans by $148 million thanks to billionaire donations
to “527″ committees. Yet amid a difficult war, Mr. Bush won by increasing
his own vote by nearly 25% over 2000, winning 81% of U.S. counties. The Rove-Ken
Mehlman turnout effort was a spectacular achievement. If it did nothing else,
that 2004 victory put John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.A big debate among Republicans these days is who bears more blame for 2006
— Messrs. Bush and Rove, or the behavior of the GOP Congress. Mr. Rove has
no doubt. “The sense of entitlement was there” among Republicans,
he says, “and people smelled it.” Yet even with a unified Democratic
Party and the war, he argues, it was “a really close election.”
The GOP lost the Senate by its 3,562 vote margin of defeat in Montana, and
in the House the combined margin in the 15 seats that cost control was 85,000
votes. … ..‘The Mark
of Rove’
By PAUL A. GIGOT
By 2006, however, the blush had gone off turdblossom. Maybe
will even come back to haunt him. Who knows?
However, one thing about Rove was that he used everything at his disposal to
get his man Dubya elected, then re-elected. He tightened the evangelicals around
Mr. Bush through Terry Schiavo, the very people holding Bush up right now, showing the depths of strategy depravity he’d
go to in order to keep his boss safe and his base close. But after South Carolina we
should have known he’d stoop as low as he needed to go; anything in the cause of Bush’s causes.
I see a video in my mind when I think of Rove. From his friends in Texas, to
his wingnut radio pals and beyond, Rove revving up the machine to do one deed
he’ll be remembered above all: the swiftboating of a Democratic veteran in a
hot presidential race, making sure not even a military man would succeed against
The Boss. Sure, the candidate was sometimes his own worst enemy, but that was his problem. Rove intended to take away the heroism, the medals, the myth of the man, whatever it
took, even presenting a little Osama – 9/11 mixture right before the vote to nail the election lid on. South Carolina, the sequel, that’s Rove’s greatest achievement, from McCain to Kerry, two vets down, The Boss stays in the saddle. It also
revealed what Republicans really think of veterans, especially those who don’t
follow the right talking points. Not even a war hero is off limits to Rove and the Bush machine.
Never forget.
And what about Jeb Bush in 2012? Mr. Rove first says with a tone of skepticism,
“Ask Jeb.” Then he adds, “You better get a younger man. My
wife would kill me.”
Good riddance. Your wife can have you.
Ah, but one final swipe.
In the interview, Mr. Rove said he expects Democrats to give the 2008 presidential nomination to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he described as “a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate.” He also said Republicans have “a very good chance” to hold onto the White House in next year’s elections.
Even as Rove resigns, he can’t stop slinging mud. Lee Atwater must be so proud.
But no more Mr. Rove? He’ll likely be back.
