McCain Embraces Rove

Karl Rove last week announced that he had given $2300 to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Asked over the weekend about the donation, McCain said he has "always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics," and specifically refused to condemn Rove's hyper-partisan campaign tactics (including his smears against McCain in the 2000 South Carolina race).

Watch it:

Transcript:

QUESTION: Are there other signs you see that are encouraging to you...

MCCAIN: Oh yeah. A lot of the fundraisers from other camps are coming on board. And yeah we're seeing that coming together really well. We're seeing it.

[Inaudible]

MCCAIN: Who?

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QUESTION: Karl Rove?

MCCAIN: Oh I, listen, he ah. Nobody denies he's one of the smartest political minds in America. I'd be glad to get his advice. I get advice from a lot of people. I'd be happy to have his advice.

QUESTION: I was wondering about that, right....

MCCAIN: He beat me. I certainly would be glad to get his advice. I don't think I'd want to revisit how he did it. And I mean that. Not about South Carolina. I mean I don't feel like reliving my defeat.

QUESTION: Are you worried about, he uses very aggressive tactics is that something that--

MCCAIN: I've always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics. I've always respected him. We never had any ill will after the initial South Carolina thing. After we had the meeting with President Bush we moved on. I've seen Karl Rove many times when I've been over at the White House. We've always had pleasant conversations.

QUESTION: His tactics don't, you don't disapprove of them? They don't make you nervous?

MCCAIN: It's not so much whether I approve of his tactics or not. It's that he has a very good, great political mind. Any information or advice and council he can give us, I'd be glad to have. I don't think anybody denies his talents. So I'd be glad to get any advice and council. We would obviously decide whether to accept it or not.

Comments

[pleeezzze]

Well, thats one way to sink the
little warmongering, Bush lover !!!

[joedirtfromaz]

If McCain were worthy of being president,
he'd punch Rove in the face instead of kissing his ass.
I don't want a president who will lie down and take it.
At least Obama and Clinton are starting to stand up to the smears.

[Voodude]

Pure and simply...McCain is Karl's new bitch.

[researcher]

even newsweek has karl rove writing for them. the whole system is corrupt. class war time.

[FlowerGirl]

I can never respect McCain for his ass kissing of Bush and company. And after the sliming he got from Bush and Rove in South Carolina, for him to say that he respects Rove is as low as he can go.
We have no need for a man who is so weak.

His tragedy is wanting too badly to be president. He sold his soul in the pursuit of that title. And that nnow makes ity obvious that he doesn't have the moral fiber necessary to do the job right.

[LVLefty]

Why everyone does not understand what even right-wing Republicans do--that John McCain is the biggest prostitute in American politics today--is mind-boggling. If this doesn't convince more people, nothing will.

[zull2]

The subtitle obviously is "How low do I have to go to make the right wing talking heads like me again?!?"

[jazzman]

"The sores in my rectum have healed since the days Bush and Rove had their way with me in South Carolina. So I forgive them and take my hat off to their brilliant political skills. I've explained it all to my adopted daughter. I told her that in politics one has no shame and will not defend their own family when it has been humiliated. I just hope she understands my straight talk." John McCain

[situationcritical]

Geez John, why don't you just stick your butt up in the air and part your cheeks with your hands. It would be a more subtle approach.

[serialcoma]

Buns up, kneeling in the gutter... John McCain wants your....uh... support (and maybe a little love).

[Bobbygoode]

McCain as whore to Rove? What a surprise! The press has given McCain a free ride as a "maverick" for an absurdly long time. He has back-pedaled on his thin "maverick" credentials (eg., voting against the '01 tax cuts because in his words they inordinantly favored the wealthy, but now wanting them to be permanent). And otherwise, despite the despicable slander of '00, has been a willing Bush tool, much like Colin Powell. As they did with Powell, the BushRoveCheney junta has used McCain's gravitas and teflon image (because of the Hanoi Hilton "heroics") and Johnny's been uber willing to cough it up, lapdog style. He gave the big speech at the '04 Convention to trash Michael Moore... he sponsored the anti-torture legislation, then let Bush get away with a signing statement to basically piss it away... and my God, could there be a bigger cheerleader for the Iraq invasion? Remember his bald propaganda with the carefree stroll through the Iraq market place, making like it was the Third Street Mall, (except for the bulletproof vests, a LOT of armed MPs and choppers and jets overhead)? I figured that was his Dukakis-in-a-tank moment, and we'd seen the last of him, his credibility completely destroyed. But Nooooooooooooooo.

[StillAmused]

In order to 'embrace' Karl, Johhny first had to peel his arms from around the torso of Junior, his tormenter in the last S.C. primary. Can you say, "Stockholm Syndrome"?

Really, how does Johnny expect to run with his tongue constantly stuck in the rear quarters of one war criminal or another?

"one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics"????

Welcome to Junior Bush, release 2.0.

[ErrinF]

Looking at Karl Rove's track record on the national scale, he can hardly be considered a smart political operative...

He barely won in 2000, barely won in 2002, barely won in 2004, then COMPLETELY lost any and all gains in 2006, handing both houses of Congress to his opposition. In 2002 and 2004, all you have is the Republicans winning a handful of seats (maybe four at the most, and that's counting both years). Come 2006, all those seats they won are lost and then some.

Karl Rove is a horrible political operative. He robbed Peter to pay Paul and always 'won' by the skin of his teeth. All he ever did was create a house of cards that came crashing down on him and the rest of the Republicans. Karl Rove and his politics have failed big time, cost his party just about all it's credibility, and empowered his opposition for at least a generation. Karl Rove will be remembered as an amazingly incompetent political strategist that took the historic gains of Reagan and Gingrich only to squander them all. It took the conservative movement decades to gain what it took Karl Rove only a few years to destroy. The myth of Karl Rove political genius is long dead.

[argent1]

How will McCaint and Rove counter the charge of McCaint's age or his cancer? The left side of his face is plastic underneath - odds of its return are greater than it staying away. Health trumps ideaology.

[swift goat pet for truth]

McCain: "That Rove knows how to divide the country and get trailer trash to vote against their own economic interests. Why wouldn't I want him?"

[lastams]

Jesus ...
Let the spin begin.

[rbe1]

People speak of McCain as some kind of military expert. But the fact is that he got shot down and spent time in a military prison. His personal story is one of survival, and from everything I've read, it's one of impressive personal strength. However, how this confers on the man the appellation of military expert escapes me. He was at the officer grunt level. He was not a graduate of the chain of promotions leading through the ranks of admiral. The only way he qualifies as a military expert is by reflection against the parade of cowards and draft dodgers in the Dubya/Darth administration.

[doneflyin]

McCain takes pandering and ass kissing to new levels. Or is it lows?
Next he will drag out the bug man, Tom Delay and ass kiss him and his great political mind for some advice


This poor old man is pitiful.