Dallas Morning News blows it again with Karl Rove smear piece

Stingray ^ | July 13 2005 | Michael McCullough

[DallasMike]

The Dallas Morning News has once again resorted to publishing partisan opinion pieces under the guise of journalism with the story "'Mark of Rove':  Attack, leave no trail."

I'll show not only that the article is based on conjecture, but that the writer, Wayne Slater, is co-author of a smear book and movie on Karl Rove and played a big role in pushing to prominence the man behind the phony Dan Rather memos, the loony former Texas Army National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett.

Take this paragraph for starters:

It's not the first time that President Bush's most-trusted political adviser has been accused of political hardball or dirty tricks. But usually, there are no fingerprints.

"No fingerprints" -- that sums up the evidence for this opinion column masquerading as a news article. The author, Wayne Slater, serves up plenty of evidence to indicate that there's really no evidence of wrongdoing by Karl Rove no matter how much some would like there to be.

As Texas' top political operative, Karl Rove honed an ability to damage an opponent without clear evidence that he was responsible.
...
"I don't think anybody who has ever been on the other side of a campaign from Karl Rove could ever be surprised by the allegations, whether well-founded or not," said Austin political consultant Chuck McDonald.
...
Political operatives in Texas have long seen a pattern they call "the Mark of Rove." Level an opponent, leave no evidence.

And here's an interesting case: Rove once leaked the truth to a reporter that a candidate running for a seat on the powerful Texas Railroad Commission had heavily doctored her resume:

A decade ago, Mr. McDonald was advising Democrat Lena Guerrero, a rising political star, when Mr. Rove leaked word to a reporter that Ms. Guerrero, whose resume claimed she was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas, didn't even have a degree.

There we have it: a Democrat was caught red-handed doing something very wrong yet Wayne Slater twists things to make Karl Rove look like the bad guy. That's not the only time, though:

In 1990, Mr. Rove recruited a little-known West Texas legislator named Rick Perry to challenge Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. Stories leaked to newspapers questioned ethical practices within Mr. Hightower's agency, prompting an FBI investigation.

Two Agriculture Department officials went to prison, and Mr. Hightower, who was not charged with wrongdoing, lost the election.

Once again, Democrats are caught in wrongdoing and are even convicted of crimes and sent to jail, but Karl Rove is the bad guy because he was the one who exposed them.

As a Wall Street Journal editorial put it today -- Karl Rove is a whistleblower. He's the good guy.

So just who is Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne Slater? Is he a paradigm of journalistic excellence who feeds us just the facts?

No, he isn't. Wayne Slater is the co-author of "Bush's Brain," a Michael Moore-type expose on how Rove is the evil genius behind the simpleton George W. Bush's rise to power. It was also made into a Fahrenheit 9/11-style movie. If you decide to read the book or see the movie, you'll find tons and tons of evidence scrupulously detailed by the authors. Unfortunately, virtually all of it is circumstantial. It's a book with an agenda, similar to some of the more bizarre Clinton-is-Antichrist publications that came out during the 1990s. The only difference is that it's respectable to make any claim at all about Bush, no matter how far-fetched they are. Here's what a Amazon.com reviewer had to say about the book:

I gave this book only two stars because it roams around aimlessly in the beginning and stinks of partisanship. It got those stars for the section that is closest to actual non-fictional reporting. Be careful though, even during this section the snide comments appear.

Be mindful as you read this that all of the Democrats listed by the authors are "rising stars" and "brilliant" and beautiful people as to their Republican counterparts whom happen to have "horn rimmed glasses" and "portly" and out of touch with the people of Texas. The authors never miss an opportunity to bash the President as well. Some far-fetched stories appear against this man too!

Further, Free Republic afficionados may remember my campaign against Wayne Slater because of his role in almost singlehandedly pushing Bill Burkett to prominence. Burkett was the guy who provided Dan Rather with the infamous forged memos. I showed anybody who would -- or wouldn't -- listen at the Dallas Morning News the lack of credibility of Burkett beginning on February 13th, 2004. It fell on deaf ears though because the Dallas Morning News was engaged in agenda journalism.

As a matter of fact, Wayne Slater's story shows that the Dallas Morning News is still engaged in partisan, agenda-driven journalism. They just never learn.

[Darkwolf377]

Wayne Slater...played a big role in pushing to prominence the man behind the phony Dan Rather memos

AH HA!

A smoking gun emerges...

[Southack]

Right now, all of the faithful Democratic operators are following orders to get as much negative publicity for Rove as possible...their short-term goal being to turn Rove into a Chandra-Levy style self-perpetuating Summer news story.

But the beauty for Republicans is that it doesn't even matter if the Dems get their short-term goal...because the Dems are spending political capital and long-term credibility in a fight against a non-politician. Rove isn't running for office.

Moreover, this isn't even an election year.

So we on the Right can simply bide our time. The Grand Jury finishes up in October, meaning that the TRUTH will then be made public.

If, as expected, Rove is innocent of anything more serious than whistle-blowing, then the Dems will face backlash (especially if partisans are caught up in grand jury charges). If Rove goes down, the political equation won't even change for us...because Rove holds no political Office on our behalf.

We can't lose, yet the Dems are spending their political capital anyway. Their time, money, and credibility must all end up being wasted on this endeavor REGARDLESS of the outcome.

It's a thing of beauty.

[DallasMike]

Thanks. Check out the e-mail that I sent to a co-worker of Wayne Slater's after the two of them authored this piece on Bill Burkett in February of 2004. Wayne Slater was responsible for bringing Burkett to prominence and for giving him credibility. I sent various versions of that e-mail to Wayne and to virtually every editor at the Dallas Morning News. I even posted it twice (in 2 different contexts) on Free Republic.

[Darkwolf377]

Good work. Funny, I thought that was the kind of thing the press was supposed to do. They don't; it's not 'sexy' enough, not nearly as much fun as slapping around the White House press spokesman.

We are seeing a Democrat-party-wide attack on the President of the US which is just one part of an ongoing attempt to undermine his power. You would think the "objective" media would be interested in that.

[lowbridge]

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