JAMES BYRD'S DAUGHTER: "So when Governor George W. Bush refused to support hate- crime legislation, it was like my father was killed all over again."
Posted on 06/05/2003 6:35:28 PM PDT by HighWheeler
Karl Rove was expected in town this Friday to help raise money for Ohio Republicans.
Although the appearance was postponed, there should be no doubt that, when it's rescheduled, Rove will receive a reception that reflects his revered status within the party.
Even outside GOP circles, he's the most discussed and sought-after political strategist in the nation. For his work on behalf of George W. Bush, Rove is talked about not just as a kingmaker but as someone who could deliver to Republicans nothing less than a national, multi-generational political dynasty.
Even some moderate political commentators write about him that way. Rove's treated with awe, as though he's a one-man political genome project who understands, as no one before, the secrets of America's electoral DNA.
Similar things once were said about Michael Deaver, and the "Morning in America" magic he worked for Ronald Reagan, and about Newt Gingrich, after his surprise "Contract with America" sweep.
Rove has topped both. A genuflectory political establishment is at his feet. Countless literary accounts of his legend (including two full-blown biographies and a New Yorker profile) are under his belt.
For people other than rabid partisans and political junkies, though, what really is there is to respect in Rove, much less revere?
Sure, Rove is smart and driven and, as political consultants go, highly accomplished. No doubt he's a savant in matters of political analysis and arcana.
But from everything I've read and heard, Rove's political methods are as ordinary as they've been successful. Much about them is an old-fashioned mix of prodigious effort and unrelenting discipline. That's how hard-fought elections are won, fair and square. Which is respectable, no matter what your politics. More than respectable.
But the Rove phenomenon is not about fair and square. Ask former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam. Rove's hand-picked candidate campaigned against Cleland last fall with ads branding him unpatriotic and picturing him with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
Or ask Sen. John McCain, who, when running against George W. Bush in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary, was smeared with claims he was mentally unstable, that he received preferential treatment from the Viet Cong when he was a prisoner of war, that he fathered an illegitimate child, and that his wife abused prescription drugs she had stolen from a charity.
Then there's former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, who, during George W. Bush's run for that office, was whispered to be a lesbian.
Much of Rove's record, in other words, is dark. It's about how politics' lowest arts are used to mislead and attack and destroy and thus leave nothing to chance.
And in this, Rove bears an uncanny resemblance to his mentor, Lee Atwater, the first President Bush's irrepressible political "genius" of near identical ambition.
Brutally negative campaigns defined Atwater's reputation for daring political success. Most notorious was his exploiting, if not originating, the racist "Willie Horton" TV ads run against Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election.
But Atwater's career is instructive in other ways--especially to those who would cheer Rove here.
Lee Atwater died of brain cancer in 1991. He was 40 years old. As he faced a slow and horrible death, he reconsidered political methods for which he was celebrated then, just as Rove is celebrated now.
Atwater's final campaign was one of contrition. He apologized to Dukakis for sounding racist themes and for what he called "naked cruelty." He engaged in a letter-writing effort that sought the forgiveness of others.
One was a South Carolina lawyer whose teenage treatment for depression Atwater publicly mocked and exploited in a political campaign.
So, when would-be kinder, gentler, compassionate conservatives convene here to raise a glass to Karl Rove, they would do well to remember Atwater, too--and contemplate his regret and scramble for redemption.
Eddie Roth is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News. His telephone number is 225-2383; his e-mail address is eroth@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Could it be that Bush is a good candidate and that people like and trust him and they like what he says he is going to do and they like it when he keeps his word? Nah! It is just that Svengali, Rove, behind the scenes destroying his enemies. Yep, that's the ticket.
And by the way, Mr. Reporter, it was Al Gore and gang who thought up the Willie Horton thing when Gore was running against Dukakis in the Democrat primary.
You are a typical liberal in that you employ the politics of personal destruction to bemoan the politics of personal destruction.
I believe this is the single most obnoxious advice attempt I have ever read.
It's people like this who make me really smile at the thought of absolutely and completely wiping the floor with dems. in '04.
And Carvile was all sweetness and light...no politics of personal destruction...no scorched-earth policy.
1)Max Cleland deserved defeating. He never paid any attention to what his constitutents wanted, voted the straight party line (which doesn't fly well in Georgia). He took the Dem line that there was no need for a war in Iraq, and he's now a former senator.
2)John McCain's wife did abuse prescription drugs, which she did steal from a charity she worked for.
3)I know nothing about Ann Richards' sex life, but wouldn't be surprised.
4)Lee Atwater did not originate or exploit the Willie Horton ads.
5)Lee Atwater did not die of cancer - his brain tumor was benign, although fatal. His search for redemption, IMHO, was overblown in the lib media and by his political opponents in SC. He was too successful as a political consultant, beat the pants off the SC Dems every time at bat, and they could not wait to gloat about his sickness and death. To me, that was a cheaper shot than anything Lee Atwater ever thought about doing.
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