Rove Love Hits Rhetorical Peak

| Wed Aug. 15, 2007 7:32 AM PDT

Lots of Rove coverage on MoJoBlog the last few days, I know. But this had to be pointed out.

Laura blogged yesterday about Jay Rosen's very good and very complex take on why the national press slobbers over Karl Rove. Sometimes, though, it's simple: the writer is a party hack, Rove is the great god of party hacks, enough said. For the best example we're going to get in this post-resignation bubble, check out this take from Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard (via The Plank):

Rove is the greatest political mind of his generation and probably of any generation.

That sounds about right, Freddy boy. In reverse order, here are my top ten. See if you agree.

10. St. Thomas Aquinas
9. Karl Marx
8. Thomas Hobbes
7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
6. Plato
5. Machiavelli
4. Thomas Jefferson
3. John Locke
2. Aristotle
1. Karl Rove

Not making the list: John Rawls, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and Confucius.

But Karl Rove, definitely number one.

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Comments

Also, Gandhi. And George Bush would put Jesus first on that list.

Gandhi would definitely make my list too, Clara, as would Lao Tzu...

... and let's not forget Niccolò Machiavelli.

D'OH!

A case can be made for James Madison.

But did any of them manage to get an ignorant pampered rich boy with a strong cruel streak elected as president? So there.

OK, more like "sneaked in" than "elected", but it takes even more genius to be rejected twice at the polls and still get in each time.

J. Stein wrote: "A case can be made for James Madison."

Yes indeed. And a damned Strong case.
But when we talk about "greatest political mind of His Generation", we find Madison with some pretty stiff competition, what with Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Payne et al, numbered, more or less in his generation. (an amazing field, actually)
I'd have to go with Jefferson, myself, but I'd not care to dispute anyone who chooses any of the others.

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