Rove a Genius? Please
| Mon Aug. 13, 2007 2:40 PM PDT
In light of the big retirement announcement, the media has spent the day gushing over Karl Rove. But it's worth asking some tough questions. Besides the fact that he got an intellectual lightweight with no particular qualifications for the office elected to the presidency, what has Karl Rove done? That is, what will he be remembered for post-2000? Andrew Sullivan takes a crack:
The man's legacy is a conservative movement largely discredited and disunited, a president with lower consistent approval ratings than any in modern history, a generational shift to the Democrats, a resurgent al Qaeda, an endless catastrophe in Iraq, a long hard struggle in Afghanistan, a fiscal legacy that means bankrupting America within a decade, and the poisoning of American religion with politics and vice-versa.
Too much blame? One could argue that Rove always got too much credit, and this is simply the flip side of the coin. Regardless, there's no way to spin this man's legacy as a success. Sullivan's not done. "Rove is one of the worst political strategists in recent times," he writes. "He took a chance to realign the country and to unite it in a war — and threw it away in a binge of hate-filled niche campaigning, polarization and short-term expediency." Conservatism is not entrenched in the American identity, as Rove had intended. It is a dying breed in many parts of the country, and increasingly unpopular even in its former strongholds.
Dan Froomkin of the Post agrees, writing that Rove "leaves his party in worse shape than he found it, with his boss profoundly discredited in the eyes of the American people." Froomkin also writes that part of the blame for this failed administration will "accrue to Rove for choosing to use national security as a wedge issue."
And that's the key point. Rove, a campaigner, was handed the keys to the White House car in every instance. Remember when faith-based initiatives czar John DiIulio resigned in disgust and said, "What you've got is everything and I mean everything being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis"? When you actually govern with the exclusive aim of building partisan advantage, you are inevitably headed for disaster. The United States of America's priorities are not the same as the GOP's priorities, and while the goal of the presidency is to further the former, this administration was always interested in the latter. Throw in hubris, incompetency, and an obstinate unwillingness to hear outside views, and you've got one of the worst presidencies in the history of the Republic. Quite a genius, that Karl.
Photo courtesy of Time, where they've captured Rove through the ages.
Late update: Not surprisingly, Harold Meyerson agrees with me.
[Rove] and Bush overlooked the epochal growth of economic insecurity in America. They refused to see that the very economic changes they celebrated had made Americans understandably nervous and pessimistic to an unprecedented extent about the nation's long-term economic prospects. And so, as employers were abandoning their provision of retirement benefits to employees, Bush and Rove called for abandoning the government's commitment as well. At a time when ordinary Americans' incomes were stagnating, and when growing numbers of Americans understood that they were in some nebulous competition with millions of lower-paid workers in other lands that the government seemed powerless to mitigate, Bush and Rove proposed legalizing the undocumented immigrants who had flowed across the border.
Could there have been a more profound misreading of the American temper?
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Comments
If Bush is an idiot, then 50% of the American peasants are idiots too. So, they got what they deserved. The socialists keep calling the fascists "idiots" but they've been winning the ideology race for the last 30+ years. And, if the fascists ARE "idiots", what does that make the socialists (progressives, leftists, liberals) who can't even figure out WHAT to call themselves?
Rove was a "genius" for what he was able to accomplish; a "genius" at getting peasants to vote for the people who then kicked them in the ass ? and not ONCE, but twice. You might not like Rove, but THAT takes genius. And, in my opinion, the white-middle-trash are still ready to take it in the ass again, as long as the "future Rove" convinces them that: "we'll help you get even with those-people".
There ain't a socialist in `merica with a story the white-middle-trash are more desperate to believe than THAT one.
If Bush is an idiot, then 50% of the American peasants are idiots too. So, they got what they deserved. The socialists keep calling the fascists "idiots" but they've been winning the ideology race for the last 30+ years. And, if the fascists ARE "idiots", what does that make the socialists (progressives, leftists, liberals) who can't even figure out WHAT to call themselves?
Rove was a "genius" for what he was able to accomplish; a "genius" at getting peasants to vote for the people who then kicked them in the ass ? and not ONCE, but twice. You might not like Rove, but THAT takes genius. And, in my opinion, the white-middle-trash are still ready to take it in the ass again, as long as the "future Rove" convinces them that: "we'll help you get even with those-people".
There ain't a socialist in `merica with a story the white-middle-trash are more desperate to believe than THAT one.
Submitted by EvilPoet (not verified) on Mon Aug. 13, 2007 3:41 PM PDT.
"I don't think you ever kill any political party. Political parties kill themselves, or are killed, not by the other political party but by their failure to adapt to new circumstances." -Karl Rove, May 12, 2003
Rove might have a brilliant political mind of sorts, and although I care not a whit about his reputation……only how well on balance our country is doing……in the end, he wasted whatever talent he brings to the table on the wrong person. He could never have manipulated someone with a razor sharp mind as he’s done, to the severe detriment of this nation. Karl Rove is an unlikeable and dangerous fellow, and I can confidently predict that history will not judge him kindl
The timing is fascinating ... GWB can't get re-relected, or probably any other GOP hopeful, so he's surplus to requirements.
But one of GWB's best pals is Australian PM John Howard, who is hosting the APEC summit next month, and Honest John is in the fight of his life to hang on, and currently trails badly in the polls; he could use Karl Rove!
GWB: "here's the dog i promised you. good hound if you feed him raw socialists"
JH: "aww thanks George!"
John Howard getting help from Rove? Anyone who thinks that is going to happen has no idea of politics in this part of the world.
Howard could not be seen to have any American - let alone Rove - be an adviser. It would be political suicide.
Look at the body language of Brown, another close ally, on his recent White House visit - a man giving the impression of someone who would rather be anywhere else but has no choice in the matter. Anyone not holding Bush, the Republican party, the religious right or the United States at arms length would not find favour with voters.
The question that no one seems to have the balls to take to the administration is: Are you not guility of taking the country into a war which will concern us for a generation under self serving, false pretenses?
Moreover the Congress has delegitimized itself by not filing articles of impeachment for these actions and others.
It would appear the "business as usual" is far more compelling than taking these zealots to task. Now the door is open for future "monarchies".
George Bush is a fool with obvious mental issues. Rove/ Cheney and others are truly criminals.
To call Rove a failure is to misunderstand his agenda. The goal was to banrupt the government and get us into endless war. That's how Haliburton and Blackwater and Big Oil make their money. Maybe he doesn't give a damn about the future of the Republicans.
If he is a criminal, and I think thats true, then he's a very successful one. He got a president whose agenda is counter to the interests of the American people fradulently elected twice. AND NONE OF THEM ARE IN JAIL. The fact that he can walk the streets and cash in his stock-options whenever he wants makes him a pretty SUCCESSFUL CROOK, which is what he is.
Submitted by Dee Lightly (not verified) on Tue Aug. 14, 2007 4:29 PM PDT.
You can't do wrong overestimating the impact he can still potentially have. Rove successfully sold the nation on Bush twice; someone like that shouldn't be ignored so easily.
Rove is something of a genius, but that happened to be offset by the fact that Bush is a colossal idiot. The result was the most transparently corrupt administration in recent history, a revelation that this country didn't act upon until it was too late.
Getting Karl Rove out of American politics is like getting that old person smell out of your grandfather's recliner. try as hard as you want, the stench is going to stick around.
If Bush is an idiot, then 50% of the American peasants are idiots too. So, they got what they deserved. The socialists keep calling the fascists "idiots" but they've been winning the ideology race for the last 30+ years. And, if the fascists ARE "idiots", what does that make the socialists (progressives, leftists, liberals) who can't even figure out WHAT to call themselves?
Rove was a "genius" for what he was able to accomplish; a "genius" at getting peasants to vote for the people who then kicked them in the ass and not ONCE, but twice. You might not like Rove, but THAT takes genius. And, in my opinion, the white-middle-trash are still ready to take it in the ass again, as long as the "future Rove" convinces them that: "we'll help you get even with those-people".
There ain't a socialist in `merica with a story the white-middle-trash are more desperate to believe than THAT one.
Any group you forgot to insult there, John?
Maybe you should say something bad about stupid messageboard users who sit on their asses, slinging their opinions of others around, instead of actually doing something useful.
Like you..., and me.
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