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

[Meggie]

actually, I thought rove may have been describing 007. martini, tux, beautiful date and all. all stuff that rove continues to have to pay for - including the beautiful date. jealousy is SO unattractive, carl.

[matilda2]

Actually Rove hasn't had to pay for it ever since Senator Craig told him which airport bathrooms got the most action.

[Syco]

ouch

[MissT]

Yikes!

[loisinthepink]

I can't figure out why the media still pays him any attention. Perhaps they are as snakey as he is.

[Syco]

so he stops calling them every two minutes

[RememberTheAlamo]

Hi All . . . Now this is a thread!

But I don't get it . . . why all the focus on Rove?

Is he really that iconic?

All my liberal friends know who he is, but few of my conservative friends knew anything about him . . . until he was on cable.

Absolutely amazing how this one fellow could turn y'all so nuclear . . . amazing!

Do you all talk about your conservative friends this way (you do have friends?) . . . If you treat them all the same . . . then I can understand.

anyway . . . Go Fox News!

[hectorgvr]

Looks like Rove's got a thing for Michelle. 'Beautiful date and all. Wow all his fears and desires are in this one.

[SmootyBooty]

OMG it's the leather flight jacket, charisma laden candidate all over again for Karl...

[openhand]

Ewww... Is Karls crush on Barack or Michelle?

[Incredulous]

Karl Rove is about as relevant now as Ann Coulter, but not as erudite. (sic)

[MissKaren]

Rove probably spent a lot of time in country club that folks like Obama could not possibly join and might not even be allowed to wait tables.

[Prakosh]

Why haven't the House Democrats arrested Rove and imprisoned him in the basement of the House for ignoring their subpoena. When even the judge handling the case is perplexed by their unwillingness to take this action, is it any wonder that the rest of us are equally frustrated with this inaction on the part of the House Dems. I cannot understand what the expect to accomplish by this kind of idiocy. Rove should have been hung out to dry a long time ago.

[caseyblab]

Someone ask Karl if he can spell "p-r-o-j-e-c-t-i-o-n" and then book him an appointment with a good shrink.

[JonStewart4President]

Well my only hope that they haven't arrested Rove yet is because he would be pardoned by Dubya. I just hope that if Obama is elected, that is when criminal charges can be brought against him, and the turdblossom can find himself clutching his soap somewhere.

[joeyp404]

It's nice ot see the Obama campaign taking on the big issues of this country and getting their message out there. Dealing with Karl Rove, preempting slur campaigns, placating Muslims, Telecoms, appealing to the evangelical youth, raising money...

What's their message?

[rabprevent]

WHY ISN'T THIS JACKASS IN PRISON, HAS HE NOT COMMITTED ENOUGH CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY?

[Ramirez]

Because first he needs to be charged with a crime, and then arrested and convicted.

[4wehttam]

Someone's got a crush on Obama..........................and I'm not talking about Obama Girl!!!!!

[ohmercy]

LOL
My thought exactly.
Sounds like projection grounded in jealousy with a touch of longing thrown in.

[Economike]

Pop and Fresh

[lvdragonlady]

hehehehehe

[kl836]

It's just political manovering, no need to argue the content, just manovering. The neocon strategists have it down to a tee: creating supposed realities that are in fact exactly the opposite of what is generally seen by people more grounded in reality as the truth, just by saying something often enough. Obama comes from a simple, hardworking background, grew up biracially in a time when that was not as acceptable as it is perhaps now. Many people are cruel and I'm certain he experienced hostility and racism, being black living in a white household. He exudes integrity, sincerity and empathy for the common man's struggle. Yeah he has the country club, smug and arrogant style: only if you say it often enough that the blind sheep may believe it.
The pitiful part of it is that it has worked so well in the past. I'm betting (or is it more like praying) it won't work for them this time around. This Rove dude is despicable.

[igmond50]

You definitely got it man...it's like selling soap...take you product's greatest wekness and offer it up as its greatest strength.

[sawdustinhershoes]

If Rove is speaking, he is lying. I, unfortunately, cannot get anything but AM radio. I listen to these guys. I mean they're all the same, Rove, Rush, Hannity, Beck,...,ad naseum. They all basically lie about Obama or democrats. They literally make stuff up and then go on about it for hours and hours. I don't understand. Aren't there laws about truth in broadcasting?

I sit there listening to these guys and wonder why no one makes them at least be truthful.

[JavaCityGal]

Rove's case of projection is so obvious that it's funny. Rove has described himself to at "T", well except for the beautiful woman date, I think Rove swings in the other direction if you know what I mean.

[metogamekun]

Don't think any self-respecting gay hunkly would have him.