Obama Camp Responds To Rove: He Has 'Cornered The Market On Arrogance'

Yesterday, Karl Rove, somehow convinced he'd become a hero to the common man as opposed to the architect of a presidency rejected by three-fourths of the U.S. population, said of Barack Obama, "Even if you never met him, you know this guy...He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by." Mind you, he said this whilst in attendance at the Capitol Hill Club, a haven for GOP-types where a ban on tipping the help is enforced in the rules (but where the prices for high-end dining staples are actually quite reasonable, perhaps owing to the fact that there are about twenty restaurants in the vicinity that can cook a better sirloin).

Well, Obama communications director Robert Gibbs came on Morning Joe this morning and he wasn't having it. Asked about Rove's remarks, Gibbs offered that he was "willing to bet you that Karl Rove hung out in...a country club a lot more often than Barack Obama," adding that after eight years in Washington, Rove "might have cornered the market on arrogance."

Also, classic Robert Gibbs: "His president right now, his approval ratings hover somewhere around the national drinking age." Uhm, zing!

[WATCH.]

GEIST: I want to ask you, Pat Buchanan coined the term faculty lounge, he's got the patches on his sleeves, smoking a pipe. Karl Rove has a different way of describing it. He says this. This is reported by Jake Tapper from ABC yesterday. At a breakfast with Republican insiders at the Capitol Hill Club this morning, former White House senior aide Karl Rove referred to Barack Obama as quote, "coolly arrogant...Even if you never met him, you know this guy. The guy at the country club with the beautiful date holding a martini and a cigarette, that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by." That sounds like your candidate?

GIBBS: I would be willing to bet you that Karl Rove hung out in the lounge of a country club a lot more often than Barack Obama has. I would think a guy who came to Washington eight years ago and talked about how his version of the Republican party would take over the country for years and years to come, might have cornered the market on arrogance to a degree that not many people have seen before. His president right now, his approval ratings hover somewhere around the national drinking age. So I think it's convenient from a lot of people in Washington to take political advice from Karl Rove. I think if people look at the arc of the Bush presidency and where this thing has ended up, we have had a disastrous foreign policy, our economy is in shambles, our debt and our deficit have skyrocketed. It's really hard to list one or two things that Karl Rove did right over eight years. So, you know, I'll let him do his lecture circuits and coin little phrases, but, it seems like a silly thing.

BRZEZINSKI: Touche.

GEIST: So for the record, Barack Obama does not hold martinis or stand against walls. Is that what you are saying?

BRZEZINSKI: Making snide comments.

GIBBS: The last time I saw him, he was drinking a beer.

Comments

[SantaFeStars]

After reading an article in Vanity Fair on Rove, I would be inclined to agree with an earlier post that Rove swings in another direction! The Repugs are not know for their compassion towards this particular group.

[midknightryder13]

Oh, PLEASE no! As a gay man of color -- and I think I speak for the collective -- WE don't want him. (And believe me, I know some guys who are into SERIOUS demeaning role-play.­)

[schicklett3]

Karl Rove is such a joke....
BTW - Obama has a 15 point lead over John McCain - get ready for the biggest attacks yet on his intregrity. The republicans will stop at nothing. Nothing.

[NOLAMoCity]

And nor should we

[Kim445588]

Right, because to do so you would have to scrape whats left of your souls to try to find some integrity or humanity.

Not gonna happen. It's also why this will be a landslide.

[4wehttam]

How do you sleep at night knowing you have no morals?

[ebanks84]

Karl don't even know Obama at all, as you can tell. He only wishes Obama was as he said. Poor poor Karl. He's totally lost it against a man who is a complete mystery to HIS arrogance. Who in Washington has shown more arrogance than Rove? No one.

If that's the worse he can say, then Obama surely has him in a whirlwind.

[takeamericanback08]

Rove is an extraterre­strial...e­normous head, diluted intelligence, and devoid of a conscience.

[RFBorjal]

Hey, extraterrestials are extremely intelligent beings.

[Tropiholic]

looks like doughboy has met his match! envy is so unbecoming karl, lust is even worse.

[DrFitz]

LMAO, he certainly does seem to be reeling from both. Poor guy, he's sitting there watching a guy more talented than Regan ever was....pla­ying for the other team. ;)

[peter777]

Rove is incompetent, and most of the press does not recognize it. Rove, more than anyone except perhaps Cheney, was the architect of failed Bush strategies and policies. Rove was almost totally responsible for the slash and burn politics practiced by the administration. This resulted in a Congress that got nothing done during Bush's tenure, an administration that has acted like a dictatorship, and Americans as a whole being simply ripped off because of the endless war and sorry policies supporting the moneyed elite of the World. Why anyone pays any attention to him is dumbfounding! Rove should be retired to Texas or wherever he came from.

[MetryJen]

Hey, now, I like martinis and cigarettes and make fun of people. Course, I've never stepped foot in a country club. Phew. Not an elitist after all.

[lthuedk 1]

Pinky is the most overrated "intellectual" alive today, his mind being flaccid and programmed like the typical brown-shirted Young Republican of the 70's, he comes off perpetually ill-prepared and scared s_itless of the light. He is afraid to risk leaving the bubble. The only reason he won't come forward and be a guest on a real intellectual's forum is his penchant for self-sabotage.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/congratulations.html

Tricking the Evangelicals can only work so long.

[bonjac]

Okay, this is a simple one......l­ook at chubby Karl Rove....he was probably doing nothing more than getting himself pumped up for a five finger massage...­...for later in the little boys room. I am sure he left the table, hard on and breathing hard......­everyboyd has a right to get it on.....if it takes visualizing Obama being a Mack Dad, cool and debonair to get him there.....­.don't hold it against him. And, since he is watching him so hard and having these random thoughts about him....he might learn something and become a better person. I know the kids beat him up on the playground for his lunch money; but, he needs to get over it. When he is man enough to say that to Obama face, then and only then will he grow up and get over his anger.

[AdobePhsyko]

I'll bet Karl Rove "Has A Wide Stance" and Isn't Gay

[coolkraft]

you can see why he and bushie get along so well...the phillippine remark about dinner at the white house...bu­sh....and rove...wel­l he is just beyond belief

[haydude]

you say martini, I say fooey.
you say country club, I say looney
let's call the GOP off.

[GalaxieGal]

I was lucky enough to meet Obama about a year ago. Even luckier to have a candid moment and share a giggle with him. Rove couldn't be more wrong. He was very genuine.

[haydude]

you say martini, i say fooey. the gop's lack of any achievements and understanding of the real world is sure to make senator mccain's quest even more looney. let the gloves come off.

[gladys46]

Geez, Rove ought to be more concerned with collecting enough $$$ from FoxNo for his own "team" of defense counsellors! He may need them.

[gbht12]

Karl Rove does have a set on him! Who the hell cares what he says. He is jealous that he dosen't have a hot date must be. Who the hell would marry him let alone date him or worse yet have sex with him. ugg.....

[WFV]

Oh stop. I just had dinner....