President Bush and his senior advisor Karl Rove (R) walk towards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington before departing for Texas August 13, 2007. REUTERS/Larry Downing
Posted on 08/13/2007 6:15:03 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
(AP) Karl Rove deserves as much credit for spoiling George W. Bush's presidency as he does for creating it _ which is to say he had a lot to do with both.
The strategist's political genius helped make Bush president.
His arrogance helped make Bush a lame duck.
"Rove is the model for all future presidential advisers _ disciplined, smart and personally tight with the commander in chief. With that power comes all of the negative baggage when policy and governing failures erupt out of control," said Republican consultant Scott Reed. "He has kept remarkably cool as the GOP has spiraled out of control the last 10 months."
Reed was pointing to the 2006 midterm elections that cost Republicans control of Congress and destroyed any chance that Rove would achieve his driving ambition _ create a governing coalition that would outlast the Bush presidency.
That goal was on Rove's horizon in 2000, when he helped Bush overcome long odds to defeat a sitting vice president. Democrat Al Gore won the popular vote, but Bush won Florida and the majority of the electoral votes when the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to end the state's recount.
In the first summer of the presidency, Rove's polling showed that Bush was adrift politically _ that is until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks galvanized the nation. It was Rove's idea to use 9/11 to sharpen the differences between Republicans and Democrats on national security, a hard-knuckled strategy that helped Republican gain seats in the 2002 elections despite a history of midterm losses by a president's party.
Rove stuck to his script in the 2004 re-election campaign, using the latest technologies to target and communicate with Republican-leaning voters who might otherwise stay home on Election Day or consider backing Democrats.
Bush, a disciplined candidate with a clear vision for his presidency, defeated Democrat John Kerry, a weak candidate with a fractious campaign.
In the days after the 2004 election, Rove laid claim to a durable Republican majority _ comparing the Bush-Kerry race to the elections of 1800, 1860, 1896 and 1932 when presidents leading during eras of great transition created new, lasting coalitions. Rove hoped to use Bush's policies on education, immigration, health care and Social Security to draw traditionally Democratic voters into the Republican fold.
Having already persuaded Congress to approve new education standards and expand the availability of health-savings accounts, Bush heeded Rove's advice and gambled second-term political capital on a plan to partially privatize Social Security.
It was a hugely unpopular idea that Rove kept pushing despite objections from Republicans in Congress _ a fierce display of the with-us-or-against-us mentality that the White House habitually deployed against friends and foes alike.
The fight over Social Security sapped Bush's political strength at a time when voters were growing sour on the Iraq war.
By now, Rove was both chief political strategist and deputy White House chief of staff in charge of both policy and politics, perhaps the most powerful White House aide ever.
"The problem for Karl was the art of campaigning required different talents than the art of governing," said Ken Duberstein, a Republican strategist who was President Reagan's last chief of staff.
"In the art of campaigning, it fundamentally has to do with defeating your opponent. The art of governing means you have to hold your opponent closely and continue to cultivate him or her for the next vote and the next vote and the next vote."
That was never Rove's style. His combative nature no doubt influenced what may have been Bush's biggest mistake _ using 9/11 to divide Democrats and Republicans rather than uniting the public behind a grand cause or shared sacrifice.
Rove's bullishness also guided his reaction to criticism leveled at Bush in the immediate aftermath of Hurrican Katrina in 2005. Rather than admit that the response was slow, Rove defended the federal government in dozens of e-mails fired off to lawmakers, fellow Republicans and journalists. "Get your ... down here and check it out yourself," read one, but with the vulgarity not deleted.
Younger aides fought against Rove to persuade Bush to accept more responsibility for Katrina and acknowledge obvious setbacks in Iraq. Bush's stubborn refusal undermined his credibility, which had been the core of his popularity.
Rove's own word came into doubt when a White House spokesman, after checking with him, denied that the strategist was involved in the leak of a CIA agent's identity. Turned out, Rove was one of the leakers.
Those who know him call Rove a great friend and family man who favors quiet acts of kindness over self-promotion _ a decent guy demonized by political enemies who, in many cases, had been demonized by Rove.
He was the perfect strategist for an imperfect era, when polarization and the pursuit of power often trumps common sense and decency.
President Bush and his senior advisor Karl Rove (R) walk towards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington before departing for Texas August 13, 2007. REUTERS/Larry Downing
The thing about Rove is his crazy hair. People with crazy hair are usually brilliant.
Rove’s own word came into doubt when a White House spokesman, after checking with him, denied that the strategist was involved in the leak of a CIA agent’s identity. Turned out, Rove was one of the leakers.
his driving ambition _ create a governing coalition that would outlast the Bush presidencyHe's a good guy, but he has a problem with the letter 'C'.
He focused too much on making Coalition, and too little on being Conservative.
Bush, a disciplined candidate with a clear vision for his presidency, defeated Democrat John Kerry, a weak candidate with a fractious campaign.In fact, under Rove's guidance, the Republicans pulled out a decent win from the jaws of a landslide. They should have trounced that mealy-mouthed medal-faker, but they didn't. They squeaked by in a single show-down state: Ohio. And they might have even lost to the flip-flopping traitor if it wasn't for the Swift Boat Vets. When I think of 2004, I don't think overly generous thoughts about Karl Rove.
...but he’s still a magnificent b@st@rd in my book.
What a crock of Fournier! The division occurred when the Democrats focus-grouped their strategy to depict Bush as an evil, traitorous liar.
Turned out, Rove was one of the leakers.Oh, really? It turned out that way? Where did it turn out that way? On the planet Zanklon? Because here on earth, it turned out to be a State Department leak.
Poser.
Before any so-called “journalist” accuses Rove of playing rough, they should ask themselves WWAD? What Would Atwater Do?
But even Atwater had nothing on the DNC and their MSM, who for 40 years have smeared and ruined lives, reputations, and livelihoods with impunity.
None of these inside-the-Beltway clowns get it yet. Rove’s, and Bush’s and the RINO’s downfall was the arrogant jihad for amnesty and open borders that was totally out of touch with the will of the vast majority of the American people.
This liberal clown, Ron Fournier of the AP, like the rest of the left wing MSM, are themselves so into amnesty and open borders to increase Dem voters and the welfare state that they also can’t see that their pet cause was Bush’s and Rove’s demise. So they look for Social Security or Iraq.
This is bi-partisan stupidity by these elites. Neither of them deserves to be in charge. We are governed by morons.
evilcrats... every one of them!
LLS
LOL! Thanks for the laugh.
Yeah fournier, we should care what you think about the President and Rove, why? If a democrat was in office on 9/11 we’d probably be celebrating ramadan and payin’ jizya by now.
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