Posted on 07/13/2005 7:16:19 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
As Texas' top political operative, Karl Rove honed an ability to damage an opponent without clear evidence that he was responsible.
The pattern exasperated Democrats but always served Mr. Rove well – until, perhaps, the case of Valerie Plame.
Despite early White House denials of his involvement, Mr. Rove has come under attack for his role in the unmasking of a covert CIA operative – an act that appeared aimed at punishing a Bush administration critic, Ms. Plame's husband.
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.
"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. "Karl is relentless in his pursuit of whatever his agenda is."
Political operatives in Texas have long seen a pattern they call "the Mark of Rove." Level an opponent, leave no evidence.
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.
The leak, and subsequent firestorm of publicity, damaged Ms. Guerrero, a railroad commissioner, and a Rove client defeated her.
In the 1986 governor's race in which he represented Republican Bill Clements, Mr. Rove announced he had found an electronic listening device in his office.
The controversy, coming on the eve of a key debate, helped Mr. Clements unseat incumbent Mark White.
Many Texas Democrats believe the episode was a political dirty trick. Mr. Rove denied he concocted the story.
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.
Four years later, when Mr. Rove directed Mr. Bush's first run for governor, a whisper campaign in East Texas targeted incumbent Ann Richards' appointment of gays in her administration. Mr. Rove said he was not involved, but analysts said the incident damaged Ms. Richards' re-election chances.
And in the 2000 presidential race, Mr. Bush faced a serious challenge in the Republican primary from Sen. John McCain. Bush allies questioned whether years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam had left Mr. McCain temperamentally ill-suited for the presidency.
Mr. Rove said he played no role in the attack on Mr. McCain. He also denied involvement in last year's successful attack by an independent group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, on Democrat John Kerry's service in Vietnam.
Much of the early money bankrolling the Swift Boat Veterans, though, came from a Houston homebuilder whom Mr. Rove recruited two decades ago to help bankroll the emerging Texas GOP.
The Kerry campaign was quick to see a pattern, even as Rove and Team Bush denied there was one.
"This town is built on myths," Mr. Rove told Fox News. "And I've become a convenient myth."
Perhaps the closest parallel to the current controversy over the outing of the CIA official occurred more than a decade ago.
In that political dustup, a newspaper columnist wrote a damaging piece in 1992 about Rove political rivals within the Texas Republican Party. Although Mr. Rove denied that he was the leaker, Republican leaders believed he was responsible and canceled his direct-mail contract with the Texas GOP.
The columnist in that episode, as in the Valerie Plame case, was Robert Novak.
Mark of Rove -- giving the left, MSM, et al., enough rope.............falling, falling, falling, WHOOPS!!
This editorial today... says it all. Funny how these lazy reporters from Dallas to Eleanor Clift can't take the time to find out what is fact from fiction.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006955
The leak, and subsequent firestorm of publicity, damaged Ms. Guerrero..."
No... the fact that she LIED ON HER RESUME damaged her... telling the truth is not a 'leak'
This is clear evidence the attack on Rove is failing. This as much as admits there's no case against Rove. Now they're reduced to flinging insults!
These folks certainly qualify for the Dumb & Dumber MVP award. Nuff said! Karl Rove is a bit smarter than they can comprehend.
ANY of these Rats who stick their heads up with this BS should be pounded down like whack-a-mole dummies.
Karl Rove's new war cry."Plame on"! In honor of the Fantastic Four of course!
You notice that when the could attribut things to Rove, it was that he was putting out facts that liberals were attempting to hide.
So basically these reporters are accusing him of doing their jobs for them and exposing the truth.
One the other hand, the liberals attack with lies, half truths, and quotes taken out of context, and the press supports their efforts.
Are these reporters really that stupid that they can't see how one sided they are? Do they really believe that they are trying to inform the public? Or are they really that amoral that they have no problem using lies to push their agenda on people they believe are too stupid to make good decisions if they were given the truth?
BUT NOOOOOO, they just keep flailing around.
A long time ago, back in 2000, I read a British article about how the President has some Scots blood. As a half-Scot myself, I will tell you that loyalty is ingrained in the heritage; despite my family's feuding on occasions over politics, we are remarkably close-knit and will defend each other from outsiders no matter what.
The President will NEVER turn on a friend. He would resign himself before he would do that.
President Bush needs to hire Zell Miller to be his Press Secretary and let Zell conduct White House Press Briefings :-)
I agree
Hey, how about a rotating press officer? One day Zell, the next day Ann Coulter, then Mark Levin, then Dennis Miller. By the time Scott had his turn in the rotation, I bet they would be a whole lot more polite to him!
"No mention, of course, of whether or not she did have the degree"
Of course not. It was a government secret and Rove had no business leaking it to a reporter. (sarcasm)
You're kidding, right? They actually had that as the crawl??? Hilarious!
These people are absolutely losing their minds.
All Bush needs to do is appoint say Miguel Estrada to the Supreme Court and all the Rove stuff will be wiped off the front page so the press can cover the libs spewing their venom.
Here's an idea.... The White House should record the daily Press briefing and simply play it over the sound system in the briefing room and instruct the reporters to submit any questions they might have in writing :-)
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