One of the primary laws of Karma says, in essence, “as you sow, so shall you reap.” In other words, do good, get rewarded; do bad, and watch out.
It seems that the “bad” that Rove has done may be catching up with him and that the negative Karma he’s earned may be coming to the front.
Last week, I wrote “Seeds of Destruction,” about some of the bad - the documented bad rather than the anecdotal bad - but there’s plenty of the anecdotal as well. Yet, I’m not going to go there because it’s important that people understand that exposing Rove for what he is is not a political maneuver but instead a wake up call of “hey, do we really want people like this helping run our government and form its policies?”
Yes, Rove is an incredibly astute political operative: since 1986, in races he has orchestrated for statewide or national office or Congress, his candidate has won 34 times and lost only 7 times.
And it seems that a good portion of his success rests on his ability to orchestrate whisper campaigns, wherein members of the campaign staff or their associates start rumors that build like wildfire – solely for the purpose of smearing the opponent.
A few such examples follow:
Ann Richards: In 1994, during the Texas gubernatorial campaign, when Rove was George Bush’s campaign manager, he “worked through Republican operatives in East Texas” to discredit Richards as a lesbian, citing her unmarried status and willingness to appoint a few gay people to state boards.
John McCain: According to David Broder, during the 2000 presidential primaries, when Rove was chief strategist for Bush’s campaign, there “was an underground campaign in South Carolina that was thoroughly ugly.” This had to do with a whisper campaign that implied John McCain had sought preferential treatment as a POW which Broder, having read much about McCain’s experiences, found erroneous and offensive. In addition, there were whispers that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock.
Then of course, there’s John Kerry and the Swiftboat people…
But most despicable perhaps is the 1994 whisper campaign designed to destroy incumbent Democratic Alabama Supreme Court judge Mark Kennedy. Kennedy had served as president of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect and there were pictures of him holding hands with the kids. Someone (and Rove was the campaign manager for Harold See, the opposition candidate) began a rumor that Kennedy was a pedophile, creating an untenable situation for Kennedy and his family. (See the lengthy Atlantic Monthly piece that outlines even more this.)
Does Rove do it all himself? Did he intentionally leak Plame’s name? Does it really matter?
If Rove is able to create and implement political strategies – based on lies that hurt others – then he is bad. And the fact that he is under such scrutiny now (and should remain so no matter who Bush nominates tonight for the Supreme Court) is his Karma coming home to roost.
---Written in conjunction with Jennifer Hicks