Karl Rove, in the WSJ:
Over the past month, House Republicans have used the stimulus bill to redefine their party, present ideas on how to revive the economy, and force congressional Democrats and the president to take ownership of the spending programs soon to be signed into law.
***House Republicans had the wisdom to continue to talk to the Obama White House. This made them look gracious, even as the president edged toward a “my way or the highway” attitude.
Hrmm. Gracious. About that:
I guess, at this point, it would be cruel to remind everyone that Karl Rove thought the Republican behavior during the Schiavo affair was good politics.
*** Update ***
Also in the WSJ, this nonsense in which the editors decry the fact that Obama pre-selected questioners at the press conference (not questions, but questioners, a common practice, but Glenzilla has already done the honors.
I suppose it would just be overkill to mention other press tricks of the Bush administration, including Armstrong Williams, Jeff Gannon, and my personal favorite, the staged FEMA press conference.
I see that Republicans have seamlessly transitioned from eight years of DWTFTW to just flat out making shit up.
Ken guffnagle
Well, gosh, I thought I was pretty clear on the events of the last few weeks. Looked like the Republicans had to be dragged kicking and screaming to work with the Democrats. But now I am not sure…the waters are muddied…so vague…maybe the whole issue is "controversial"…I’d better tune in Fox News for clarification.
Mark-NC
For further understanding of what a bunch of brazen liars Rove and his minions are, here is a piece detailing how Republicans ran the House for 12 years.
From Oct. 2006 Rolling Stone Mag.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_ever/print
joe from Lowell
Karl Rove is one of those Republicans who thinks like the Bush staffer who coined the phrase "reality-based community" as a derogatory term for liberals.
When he writes things, he isn’t trying to describe the world as he perceives it to be. Being accurate isn’t the point.
He’s trying to use his words in a way that changes the political reality, not describes it. Being factually accurate or rational was never his point.
SLKRR
This must be more of Rove’s special math that worked so well in 2006 and 2008.
dmsilev
I urge the Republicans to continue to listen to Rove, Rush Limbaugh, et al.
And Sarah Palin would be the strongest possible candidate to run in 2012.
Really.
After the collapse, maybe we can restart the Whig Party.
-dms
Robin G.
These polls are very heartening, but unfortunately, if none of our lawmakers listen to them, we’re going to stay on the same trajectory.
Media Browski
Karl was the perfect perverse creature for the bizarre jingoistic/reactionary freakout AMerica experienced after 9/11. He was the sociopath ready to sweep in and say whatever it took to destroy his political opponents, especially painting them as the enemy, claiming day was night, and trying to install his boyfriend in the WH press corps.
As sanity and self-reflection once again rises in the American electorate, they are faced with monsters like him and Blago that have been sociopaths the whole time, and they aren’t liking it.
Comrade javafascist
Karl Rove crawled out from under his rock and declared this was excellent news for Republicans. Jonah wept, the world laughed and Karl climbed back under his rock to repeat the feat next week. (Perhaps Groundhog Day really is a conservative movie!)
cleek
@joe from Lowell: is exactly right.
Rove’s still playing that great old GOP game : Repeat The Lie Until It Becomes Reality, Or People Walk Away In Frustration.
Stuck
And Gallup has overall support for the stimulus at 59% support.
Rove keeps shoveling it for his pony. What else can he do with the Sheriff on his trail.
The war on irony marches on.
Seitz
These guys make the Iraqi information minister look sincere. Tommy Flanagan thinks they’r starting to go a little overboard.
TheFountainHead
Shorter Karl Rove: "I am too relevant, goddamnit!"
Dave L
Hey, keep it up, Karl.
It’s probably going to take two more electoral drubbings to get the Republicans to re-think. In the meantime, putting Rove on the DNC payroll turns out to have been the smartest move Howard Dean ever made.
Napoleon
I would be willing to bet anyone $100 that Rove was the one who gave Ron Suskind that quote (it was an anonomous quote he used).
Rove may be the single most over rated person in Washington (and that is saying something). He damn near lost an election for Bush (well OK, he did loose it, Scalia rescued him) and may be as responsible for running the US into the ground as anyone else outside of Dubbya and Dick.
Blow Riley
Karl’s writings only resonate with the deluded, but hey, it’s a living. My greatest fear is that the republicans will stop listening to him.
Palin/Giuliani ’12!
joe from Lowell
It was only a run of luck that caused Karl Rove to have the reputation as a smart political thinker.
Look at me, I can get the conservative son of a Texas Senator-turned-President elected in Texas!
Look at me, I can lose to Al Gore by half a million votes with a candidate draining votes from his left!
Look at me, I can make a President popular after a massive attack on our country!
Look at me, I can get an incumbent wartime president re-elected. But just barely!
Looking back, I can’t believe this guy was held up as a political genius.
Incertus
Speaking of clown shoes, I love that the ad at the top of the page right now (for me) is for Joe the Plumber’s "book." Pure awesome.
joe from Lowell
Palin/Giuliani ‘12!
No no – Palin/Romney.
Blow Riley
No no – Palin/Romney.
Nah, that wouldn’t have half the entertainment value of Palin/Giuliani. But let me think a little bigger….imagine the first all-female ticket:
Palin/Bachman(n?) ’12!
cleek
Rove’s tactics were probably brutally effective in local elections where people don’t pay as much attention and the political talent is strictly bush-league anyway. as long as he could stay in the shadows and pull his pranks, things would work out. but once he made the national scene, too many people noticed him, researched him, and figured out that he was a person worth watching. so everyone learned his moves – to document, to emulate, or to defend against – and he eventually became predictable. and now we can look at him and say "There he goes again."
Dave
John, tell me you haven’t forgotten this interview from so long ago…
Rove is just continuing what he, and the rest of the Bushies, always did. Reality is irrelevant because they are just creating new ones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html?_r=1&ex=buzzflash
cervantes
I see that Sam the Plumber’s Assistant’s book is advertised at the top of the page. Everybody should go over there and write a review!
low-tech cyclist
Wasn’t it part of Rove’s basic political gamesmanship toolkit to accuse the other guy of the very thing his guy was doing?
It worked, for awhile. Now, not so much.
To paraphrase Elvis Costello, we used to be disgusted, now we can afford to be amused.
Libby
You can tell when the GOPers are freaking out. They shout really loud about how successful they are and what a failure Barack is because geez, it’s been three whole weeks and he hasn’t solved everything yet. You’ll notice they’ve become much more shrill since Obama hit the road.
Oh, and the dream ticket for 2012, is clearly Palin/Joe the Plumber. Their intellect complements each other so very well and teh base lurves them so much.
Jason
PA State voters support Obama plan [even though they think it won’t help them. At all]
Maxwel
I really do think that these are the End Times for the GOP. The Democrats and GOP moderates many of whom constitute the Money Party, will morph into two new parties.
TheFountainHead
Oh yeah, and Ed Rollins is an intellectually vapid douchebag.
That is all.
Oy Vey
Why is Karl Rove treated like an authoritative expert on anything? That’s like taking Red State seriously.
SGEW
Palin/Wurzelbacher 2012!
Slogan: "Fuck it! Why Not?!"
. . .
I think it’s high time that the G.O.P. should replace their elephant logo with a stylized version of this.
Sleeper
I’d really like to find a news story telling me how Joe had a little run-in with some of the fuckin’ hard-workin’ union delegates from the fuckin’ AFSCME local in wherever the fuck he’s from, and after muttering the word "socialism" they took him behind the bar and knocked his dick in the dirt. Is that too much to ask? Come on, universe.
Zifnab
This is completely totally 100% OT and I hope you forgive me for it. But fuck Ticketmaster.
whinger
I think it’s reached the level of "open secret" in Washington that it was Rove that said that.
Xenos
@dmsilev: If no Whig party, lets revive the mugwumps. It would be nice to see Collins, Snowe, and Spector fully go mugwump, but they would not be the kind of Democrats we need more of.
Joshua Norton
Every time the words "republican" and "wisdom" appear in the same sentence, an angel farts.
Captain Goto
John:
"Transitioned" to "making shit up???" Point out for me, pray tell, exactly what else the GOOPers included in the campaign, besides "making shit up." I don’t recall any such thing.
And zifnab:
Ticketmaster is a bunch of thieves. NPR had a story about them pulling the same shit with Springsteen tickets, a week ago.
Evinfuilt
Its a very simple rule to follow.
Whatever the Republicans are complaining about is what they are actually doing. Its never failed me to explain what they’re talking about.
Original Lee
After reading about the fuss about the stimulus bill for what seems like a geological age, I was reminded of a scene in "The Cheyenne Social Club," with Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda:
John O’Hanlan: How much money do you want, Harley?
Harley Sullivan: Fifteen or twenty dollars ought to do me.
John O’Hanlan: What do you need it for?
Harley Sullivan: Things.
John O’Hanlan: Well, what kind of things?
Harley Sullivan: Just-just things. You know, like a drink of whiskey if I wanted it, or a new shirt or something.
John O’Hanlan: You already have two shirts. You don’t want to wear but one of them at a time unless it’s winter.
Harley Sullivan: There you go thinking like a Republican again.
John O’Hanlan: Well, you don’t bring up politics while you’re borrowing money, Harley. It ain’t seemly!
*Sigh.*
TenguPhule
Corrected.
Never did testify, did he?
TenguPhule
Corrected.
Never did testify, did he?
Michael
John, why do you hate the troops and want the terrorists to destroy America?
BDeevDad
You left out the fake TV news stories that ran on local TV stations around the country.
Libby
I have to admit, that I didn’t read Rove’s piece because I refuse to give WSJ the traffic on principle, but I’ve been cruising the reactions and just found this quote:
Karl sez: "The bill he signs will create a raft of new programs and be the biggest peacetime spending increase in American history."
Did they end the forever war on terror and not tell me?
Jason
What does "DWTFTW" mean? I googled it and everything, with no luck…
Calouste
I realized that Rove was misheard two and a half years ago when everyone thought he said "I have the math". What he actually said was "I have the meth". And it shows.
TenguPhule
Doing Whatever The Fuck They Want.
SixStringFanatic
@Jason: DWTFTW=Do Whatever The F#@& They Want
After we drown in the sea of acronyms we have created, our bodies will be found washed ashore, with capital letters leaking out of various orifices.
Janet Strange
@Jason: Do whatever the fuck they want . . .
Catsy
Truth, and truth.
Rove’s genius, if you will, his defining talent, is a complete lack of humanity. No conscience. No compassion. No regard for laws or common decency. But most of all, the willingness to use all of that to wage unlimited asymmetric warfare, with no rules of engagement whatsoever.
That’s it. In terms of actual political savvy, Rove is above-average, possibly even talented. He has an excellent grasp of how the machinery of politics works behind the scenes, and a devious mind. What fueled his rise to prominence and his effectiveness during the Bush years was his willingness to transcend all boundaries of decency and humanity in order to win.
This was pretty effective against opponents who obeyed all the traditional rules of politics. And obviously, it was extremely effective against Democrats cowed by a war president after the country had been attacked.
But the world has changed, and like the rest of the GOP, Rove is faced with the choice of going quietly into the night, reinventing himself as a "sane" Republican, or doubling down on the last eight years and hoping that if he continues asserting that up is down, people will start to believe it again.
I don’t think Rove’s stupid. I think he sees the writing on the wall, and he knows that the country and the mood of the electorate have changed in a way that is simply not as receptive to the same old games. But this is all he’s got. His only chance to remain relevant is to keep playing the same old instrument that’s now badly out of tune with the country.
Mike G
Karl sez: "The bill he signs will create a raft of new programs and be the biggest peacetime spending increase in American history."
Did they end the forever war on terror and not tell me?
KKKarl is basically admitting what most of us realized from the get-go, that ginning up ‘war’ status was a political ploy to maximize and retain power and facilitate the looting of taxpayer money.
Crawford Mussolini was all too happy to play along for the go buzz. "I’m a WAR preznit". "I’m Commander-in-Chief!" (thumps chest like a three-year-old proud he pooped in the potty). "We’re at war".
And the red state dumbfucks who treat everything like a war lapped it up. KKKarl knows his audience.
Now that Chimp has slunk off to Texass to drink himself silly, the pretense is dropped and it’s time to demand peacetime courtesy and deference and to clutch their pearls in mock outrage. These people are shameless scum.
Chris Andersen
Rove is engaging in pre-spin. If the stimulus starts to have any positive effect the Republicans will just say that it was going to happen anyway but it would have happened faster if Obama hadn’t interfered.
At this point the real question we should be asking is why anyone is paying any attention to what Karl Rove has to say?
Mike in NC
With talent like Rove, my greatest fear is that the Wall Street Journal will put The Daily Show out of business. Have they hired Kristol yet? How about a weekly column from Joe the
PlumberJournalist?Chris Johnson
Who wrote it?
Zuzu's Petals
@Catsy:
Don’t forget that Rove was actually fired by the GHW Bush ’92 campaign for being too sleazy. This from folks who were thrilled with his mentor Lee Atwater.
Stuck
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Rove’s genius is one half of a two part puzzle. The other is George Bush and his complete surrender of ego and self to part two Rove.
Rove does have the predators instinct to recognize weakness in it’s quarry and focus on that for the best line of attack. And in his mind, it’s not only the democrats who were the target, but the American people as well, or enough of the gullible ones to get to 51%. In this case he used the 9-11 attacks and American fear and shock as a tool to promote his proteges public mojo. The 2000 election wasn’t lost but was close enough to be stolen due to a terrible dem candidate and Clinton scandal fatigue, as well as predictable American delusion that the good times were permanent no matter who was presnit.
George Bush’s genius was the ability to totally submit to Roves direction and to religiously stay on message. A partnership from Hell, as things turned out.
And by 2006, reality had taken hold and the charade no longer worked, even for most gullible Americans, and the rest is history.
cosanostradamus
.
The Repukes are driving an old Caddy off a cliff. It’s the Gingrich Congress train-wreck all over again. See you guys in 2010, yeah?
The sad thing is, it’s the tax-sucking Red(neck) States that REALLY NEED more Federal spending. I mean, if they CARE about their high infant mortality rates.
.
ImJohnGalt
@Zifnab:
It gets better:
From The Globe And Mail
Like Pearl Jam or not, at least they were way out in front of this shit years ago.
rolo