Posted on 09/26/2010 1:37:29 PM PDT by no dems
In 2004, the Republican master strategist Karl Rove led weekly sessions at his Washington residence where he planned the re-election of President George W. Bush.
In April, Mr. Rove summoned several of the important players behind Mr. Bushs ascendance to his home once again, this time to draw up plans to push a Republican resurgence.
The landscape has changed, with Mr. Rove at times clashing with potent new Tea Party-style activists, some of whom view him as a face of the old party establishment they want to upend.
Already a prominent presence as an analyst on Fox News Channel and a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rove is also playing a leading role in building what amounts to a shadow Republican Party, a network of donors and operatives that is among the most aggressive in the Republican effort to capture control of the House and the Senate.
He has had a major hand in helping to summon the old coalition of millionaires and billionaires who supported Mr. Bush and have huge financial stakes in regulatory and tax policy, like Harold C. Simmons, a Texas billionaire; Carl H. Lindner Jr., a Cincinnati businessman; and Robert B. Rowling, whose TRT Holdings owns Omni Hotels and Golds Gym.
With $32 million and counting, they are now filling the void created by the diminished condition of the Republican National Committee, which has faced fund-raising difficulties under its embattled chairman, Michael Steele.
A lot of what were doing would normally be done with the R.N.C., said Ms. Cheney, who is part of a group, the Alliance for Americas Future, that is working with the organizations Mr. Rove helped start on encouraging early voting in House races this fall. Theres no money there.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

Tokyo Rove will become a detriment now and in the future...
Too bad RINOs don’t yet understand, but I’m sure they will by 2012...
I’m outraged. I don’t know what I’m outraged about, though. Did Rove call O’Donnell unelectable?
With apologies to the Beastie Boys...
Oh good, he’s going to campaign for O’Donnell, to help make sure we get a majority in the eSeante.
Chuckle.
From your lips. This guy is not a master strategist. Far from it.
Rove be gone!
Thank God the calvery is here. What would we ever do without these geniuses to save the day.
He pretty much ranks up there with Carville (who was a master strategist), as a strategist . . . if you don’t think so, then you’re not looking at it rationally.
I think you’re the first to name the original source.
The GOP needs to rid itself of brain-dead Open Borders, Liberal Globalists like Rove.
It is obvious Rove is no conservative....and only a fool would give Rove any credence.
My unstudied opinion is that under both Presidents there are lots of vultures feeding on the crumbling body of the US and consequently making great profits out of our chaos. This is what has to be stopped. Ultimately, the cost may be very high to reestablish the Constitution as our ruling document.
The US has to be reestablished as the preeminent economic power in the World. From this will flow a strong scientific base. The combination of military and scientific strength will lead to a revived US.
All of this has to be combined with a spiritual revival which eliminates the neo-paganism which has subverted this country.
Maybe Michael Steele has had to endure some of this back-room meddling.
The GOP *heavy weights* need to get their act cleaned up or cleaned out.
Tae your RINOs and go to hell Rove!
Exactly. The Rove’s of the world think the key to electoral success is being just a bit to the right of the Democrat and to seem reasonable.
What he doesn’t understand is that he may win a battle but they win the war.
A lotta freepers think Karl’s the only one with fresh rhymes.
You know, to be fair, his mindset was probably valid before the age of the internet when the story by the Leftist press was the only story. Now, in today’s world of the internet and the Tea Party, the Republican Party doesn’t have to seem reasonable to the press in order for the American people to think it’s reasonable.
This guy is not a master strategist. Far from it.
You are spot on. Rove never managed a winning campaign in all his years and attempts.
This is going to be such a BIG flop, and it will be proved in November, or at least PHASE ONE of it will.
NO amount of money, no high-profile fundraising, and no amount of publicity it generates is going to have ONE IOTA of effect on the next big upcoming vote.
The Rove Team, and all its adherents and acolytes will finally, and transparently JOIN THE DEMOCRATS, and THAT , even though they’d never express it as such, is where the New Majority will come from.....a finding of common cause with the Left, who will only ‘moderate’ and move about two degrees to the “right”, where they will find Rove and his
Ruling CLass Elites, still calling themselves “Republicans”.
When you consider how weak Gore and Kerry were as candidates, those elections shouldn’t have been even close to close. Lee Atwater was a master strategist. Rove is not in his league.
The Republican Party as Rove knows it is dead. By 2012, the GOP will be begging the Tea Party for help.
I’m afraid that you subscribe to an alternate reality. Gore was the VP to a “successful” President, and Kerry and the press played it, well, the best they could.
I don’t get the mythos surrounding Rove. What great political strategy did he ever formulate? The concept that Republicans he doesn’t like (read O’Donnell) should be attacked more harshly than Rove ever attacked a Dem in his life? That doesn’t make sense on any level.
Rove was blessed with weak opponents, and didn’t even make the most of that situation. He had the idea Amnesty would be a winning idea, too. How’s that working out for you, Rove? As popular as ever, I see.
Thanks for the insult. I found it unconvincing.
They’re putting more work into squashing the real conservative candidates and getting the old guard power back. I do believe that is now the agenda.
Oops! Sorry.
The first was posted at 6:53 this morning; just didn’t see it.
No problem, I’m sure that your portfolio is full of candidates that could’ve beaten Gore in ‘00 and Kerry in ‘04.
He pretty much ranks up there with Carville (who was a master strategist), as a strategist . . . if you dont think so, then youre not looking at it rationally.
I see it that way too. When Karl Rove stands before the nation via whatever pulpit he has wedged himself into, and says:
"I am for the drastic reduction of a corrupted federal government's control over the responsible taxpaying individuals of this nation and their associated communities. One profound way to do this is simply cut the money and regulatory power flowing into that central government's coffers and its arbitrary political parties; another way is to systematically replace corrupted establishment politicians; and thirdly and most important, is to stand up for our responsible self reliant citizens and protect them from the irresponsible."
Then, I'll believe Karl Rove is worth a HS graduate. As you say, at the Institute we never recognized him as anything other than a party marionette.
On the other hand this article by the NYT is simply an opportunistic dig at the Republican Party.
Johnny Suntrade
No reason for you to be sorry at all. It doesn’t show up in search! I am on the other thread and I started to answer on yours and I thought “huh?” LOL.
As I said you are spot on. Rove never had a winning campaign for any of his candidates in all his years of managing campaigns.
Look who Obie's been hanging with...the Chicago thugs and Bubba.
It’s just a pet peeve of mine, sorry . . . the guy is paid to get his boss elected. Too simple for some to understand, I suppose.
Yeah, sure. Rove was so stupid that he developed the doctrine of going after an opposing candidate’s strongest points, which was a direct break from Carville.
I did not know that about Rove and his record. That’s one thing I love about FR: it’s teeming with well informed people, and I learn new things all the time.
I’ll tell you the exact day I formed my most lasting impression of Rove. He was on FOX, talking in awestruck tones about some illegal immigrant who had graduated at the top of her high school class. He said he was going to start keeping a data base of similar amazing illegals, as an argument for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
I was screaming at the TV: ‘Keep a list of all the illegals who murder, maim, rape and rob us, while you’re at it!!!’
If he had heard me shouting, it wouldn’t have affected him one scintilla. He doesn’t care what the ‘little people’ think. He is smarter than we are, you see. Or so he thinks, and so too, evidently, do his supporters.
Ah, yes . . . the fictitious Rove interview. Always works.
If anyone takes the time to read Rove’s book Courage and Consequence, they could dispel some of their wrong thinking about him. His vocation is going to work for a candidate, playing up his strengths and courting votes. Rove has a great analytical mind, imo. That doesn’t mean he is infallible as in his “reaction” to O’Donnell’s win.
I don’t want the old money, the old players, or Rove, get lost to all of them ...
I’ve used this term before . . . he is, literally, a “hired gun.” You pay him to do stuff. You don’t pay him so that some acolytes can approve of him later.
What’s the matter, Ron Paul still polling below 1%?
Rove's problem is thinking too much short term and not enough long term, with the 2004 election the perfect example. He did a great job defining Kerry, but when the election was won -- what then? Nothing. No platform, no mandate, no direction = two disastrous backlash elections.
Ref. your Post #41: Well, that’s a moot point now. The Primaries are over and the Establishment would never support a Dem over a Pubbie. They might not help the Pubbie, but they won’t help the Dem.
Bush was the problem. He did not reduce the size of government. It’s that simple.
He’d be the ultimate GOP strategist. “If you vote for Coons over O’Donnell, I am going to put both of my feet straight up your ass! Dumbass!”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.