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Young Rove's Dreams Became Everyone Else's Nightmare
The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | Saturday November 6, 2004 | Dr. Brian Moench

Posted on 11/06/2004 3:52:30 PM PST by republicanbred

The year was 1968. The Vietnam War and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were shaping history. Little did I know that walking next to me in the halls of Olympus High School that year was a friend who would shape history in 2004 as profoundly as these events did in 1968, the year Karl Rove and I were 17. Karl started out with every social disadvantage. He was the new kid, physically still pre-pubescent, the classic nerd, with Coke-bottle glasses, pants too short, belt too tight and, to make it even worse, he was non-Mormon. Yet at a very clique-ish high school, he managed to break into the social elite by understanding who was in charge and how to appeal to them. He had an energetic but not a charismatic personality. He was intelligent, but not a genius; he was well-read, but tried a little too hard to let you know that.

Karl Rove Junior at Olympus High School, 1968.

Karl became my friend and political counterpart. I was the student body president; he was president-elect of the student senate. We conducted political conventions at our high school. He organized the Republicans. I organized the Democrats. But when the convention was over, the rest of us went back to worrying about our next zit, our next date, making the team. Some thought about college, the SATs, the war and occasionally "What does it all mean?" Karl remained consumed by politics; not the ideology, the principles or the social ramifications of politics, but the infrastructure, the wheeling and dealing, the game and, most of all, the winning. Most of our friends were academically focused with goals of becoming doctors, lawyers, professors and scientists. But with typical youthful idealism we also dreamed about our future romances, our families and making the world a better place. Karl was the only 17-year-old I'd ever met whose dreams were limited to being a political operative, period. One mutual friend said, "Karl would stare at a sunset and see only the political implications of it." I never remember Karl talking about making the world a better place. His next milestone: At age 22 he conducted a conference for young Republicans on the art of dirty-tricks politics. Thirty years later he has accumulated a remarkable winning streak at political gamesmanship, but with the Machiavellian mantra of the end always justifies the means. The means have been astonishingly brutal. When Rove decided to reach for the top he found the only presidential candidate who lacked everything he could provide. The symbiosis of Bush and Rove has steamrolled through the political landscape like the Terminator

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wearing an Alfred E. Newman mask and a cowboy hat. On the outside there is Bush, with his "aw shucks" down-home-guy act who says he's on a mission from God. On the inside is Rove, the scorched-earth killing machine whose mission is to destroy every political opponent in its path. On the outside there is Bush, who brags about not reading newspapers or anything else. On the inside there is Rove who reads everything and has unmatched attention to detail. On the outside is Bush, who seems to truly believe in Bible literalism and creationism and who admits to allowing his foreign policy to be shaped by an apocalyptic view of the imminent second coming of Jesus. On the inside is Rove, who thinks of the Second Coming as the re-elect-Jesus campaign. For Karl, winning is the only goal and the tactics used have no ethical, moral, factual or even legal restraint. The latest edition of Rove's smear campaigns came in the form of the Swift Boat Veterans' now totally discredited version of John Kerry's Vietnam service. It did what smear campaigns always do. It diverted attention away from what really matters. I can't say that in 1968 I saw all the seeds of what Karl Rove would become. I am surprised more people haven't been willing to stand in his way. But a person that relentless, that single-minded, that focused loses peripheral vision, and that's where someone more introspective might see the collateral damage of their obsession. If Karl the Terminator would pause long enough to turn his head a little to either side he would notice that in the movie of real life the victims scattered all over the highway are not just the Democrats but democracy itself. An electorate distracted by dirty tricks is less able to vote to protect the public interest, which is the whole purpose of democracy. A distracted, deceived and fearful electorate is the precursor of fascism. Far better than any of his old friends, Karl truly has achieved his dream job. Unfortunately for the rest of us it's become our nightmare.

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TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: barkingmoonbat; bush; goswiftees; nightmare; rove; symbiosis
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Love how much they hate Karl Rove!
1 posted on 11/06/2004 3:52:31 PM PST by republicanbred
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To: republicanbred

Welcome to my nightmare!


2 posted on 11/06/2004 3:53:36 PM PST by Freepdonia (Victory is Ours! (I told you so :-))
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To: republicanbred

They hate him but they wish he was on their side. They also greatly fear him.


3 posted on 11/06/2004 3:54:30 PM PST by Moconservative
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To: republicanbred
Love how much they hate Karl Rove! heh heh
4 posted on 11/06/2004 3:54:37 PM PST by Freepdonia (Victory is Ours! (I told you so :-))
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Another lefty Moonbat heard from......its the evil Karl Rove set to take over the WORLD!!!!


5 posted on 11/06/2004 3:54:53 PM PST by Dog
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To: Freepdonia

Sweet dreams, Dims...Muah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!


6 posted on 11/06/2004 3:56:33 PM PST by WestVirginiaRebel ("We are entering a new season of hope."-George W. Bush, Nov. 3rd, 2004)
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To: republicanbred
Evil Genius Karl RoveTM, please.
7 posted on 11/06/2004 3:57:03 PM PST by FredZarguna (Ready now thy pajamas. For the Dark Queen begins to gather all evil things unto herself.)
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To: republicanbred

Revenge of the Karl!


8 posted on 11/06/2004 3:57:23 PM PST by bikepacker67 ("This is the best election night in history." -- DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe 11/2/04 8pm)
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To: republicanbred
When Rove's tenure as GWB's "architect" is over it will be very interesting to see who his next "building" will be.
9 posted on 11/06/2004 3:58:48 PM PST by COUNTrecount
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To: republicanbred

AWwwwwwww, cry me a freakin' river. He hates Rove. Booo freakin' HOO.

I smell the sharp tang of Prep-Nerd conflict. It is entirely possible that this man is frozen in fear, his illusions of liberal superiority forever smashed by the meteoric rise of Nerdly Mastermind, Karl Rove...

Woe and despair - the nerds have taken over! God save us all for they shall scorch the earth with their superiour intellect and evil dreams of domination!!

Um, yeah.


10 posted on 11/06/2004 3:59:01 PM PST by dandelion (http://johnkerryquestionfairy.blogspot.com/)
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To: republicanbred
Geez, what drivel. People who would deify James Carville paint Rove as ruthless, deceitful, and venomous...THAT's denial.
11 posted on 11/06/2004 3:59:24 PM PST by atomicpossum (They pelted us with rocks and garbage.)
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To: republicanbred
Feel the love. Endless character assassination is the stock in trade of those those heirs to the Nazi Party, the 'rats. That, and ceaseless coordinated violent assaults on God-fearing Republican patriot citizens and their campaign headquarters.

Carl Rove by my estimation has personally saved the United States twice. In my mind, the Hand of the Almighty acts through Mr. Rove. I literally pray for this wonderful man every night. So what does that make Mr. Rove's enemies?

12 posted on 11/06/2004 4:00:08 PM PST by FormerACLUmember (Free Republic is 21st Century Samizdat)
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To: WestVirginiaRebel

LOL


13 posted on 11/06/2004 4:01:00 PM PST by Freepdonia (Victory is Ours! (I told you so :-))
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To: republicanbred

Yet, if not for Rove, this flaccid little piece by Dr. Moench would never have been printed.


14 posted on 11/06/2004 4:01:22 PM PST by WestTexasWend
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To: republicanbred

Hurray for the ARCHITECT!!!!


15 posted on 11/06/2004 4:01:49 PM PST by The_Republican
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To: republicanbred
On the outside is Bush... who admits to allowing his foreign policy to be shaped by an apocalyptic view of the imminent second coming of Jesus.

'scuse me? when did Dubya ever say this?

The latest edition of Rove's smear campaigns came in the form of the Swift Boat Veterans' now totally discredited version of John Kerry's Vietnam service.

'scuse me??? since when have the Swifties been AT ALL discredited?

16 posted on 11/06/2004 4:02:17 PM PST by King Prout ("We've found more WMDs in Iraq than we've found disenfranchised blacks in Florida." - Ann Coulter)
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To: republicanbred

 

De Nile.


17 posted on 11/06/2004 4:02:50 PM PST by Fintan (I wanted more Bush...I GOT MORE BUSH!!!!!)
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To: FormerACLUmember

Carl Rove = Karl Rove


18 posted on 11/06/2004 4:02:58 PM PST by FormerACLUmember (Free Republic is 21st Century Samizdat)
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To: republicanbred
The latest edition of Rove's smear campaigns came in the form of the Swift Boat Veterans' now totally discredited version of John Kerry's Vietnam service

Yep: moonbat. He doesn't know squat, but he's going to tell the rest of us how it was. He has no clue what motivated the Swift Vets. No clue at all.


19 posted on 11/06/2004 4:03:08 PM PST by Nick Danger (Hasta la vista, Baby)
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To: republicanbred

BTTT


20 posted on 11/06/2004 4:04:01 PM PST by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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