Karl Rove Is Not A Genius

It is widely held that Karl Rove is a political genius - even by the Democrats who loath him. After all, he is the architect that brought George W. Bush and the GOP to power and the man who perfected the use of evil but effective political tricks like push polling, divisive wedge issues, and cynical evangelical outreach. And you must be a genius to get so many blue collar workers to vote exactly counter to their own economic interests, right?

The truth is that Rove only looks brilliant in hindsight and only because Bush won in 2000 and 2004. But if you recall, Gore actually won the 2000 election's popular vote and it was eventually confirmed by independent sources that Gore also won more votes in Florida. And in 2004, Bush won the election by beating Kerry in Ohio by the smallest of margins and under controversial circumstances. That means Rove's cynical and deceptive tactics actually resulted in Bush losing in 2000 and barely winning in 2004.

Both elections broke Rove's way so he is seen as brilliant and his strategy vindicated. That is why the McCain campaign thinks the only way to win is embracing scorched earth Rovian tactics. McCain and his surrogates will spend the next month relentlessly attacking. Obama's patriotism will be questioned, they will suggest Obama is too foreign and different to be trusted, and they will try to trick Americans into thinking that a middle class, black nominee for President is actually an uppity, disrespectful elitist.

These shameful tactics scare Democrats more than anything because they believe that Rovian stunts are the only thing that could derail Obama. Don't believe the hype! These tactics did not work as well as people think in 2000 or 2004 and they won't work that well against Obama in 2008. The big secret is that Rove is not a genius, he is just a lucky bastard with shameful tactics. Now Obama is poised to prove you don't need to be a bastard to win an election.

Comments

[jbatch]

Rove is a brilliant tactician, but an incompetent strategist. His tactics won the White House twice. These same tactics caused him to fail at his stated strategic goal -- to make the Republicans the dominant Party in America for the foreseeable future. they are now -- thanks to the short term burning bridges tactics he employed -- a distinctly minority Party.

[onlinesavant]

Does'nt take a genius to be an amoral cheat. Remember? Bush lost in 200, and there is SIGNIFICANT evidence that Kerry won Ohio in 2004, thus winning the election in that year also.

[rbenjamin]

Not a genius, but he does have one enormous head. Fans of Gary Larson Cartoons may remember Roves resemblance to Palmer, who stepped into the jungle and headhunter folklore.

[veracity]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Don-Siegelman-Rove-Target-by-the-web-081006-891.html

I am Don Siegelman, a Democrat &I served as Alabama Governor until Karl Rove targeted me in a political prosecution. My story, described in CBS’s 60 Minutes just one example of how Karl Rove subverted our Constitution & corrupted the integrity of the Justice Department.

I was convicted of something that The New York Times said,”… has never been a crime.”

A former Republican Attorney General of Arizona said on CBS’s 60 Minutes, “they couldn’t beat Siegelman fair & square so they targeted him with this prosecutio­n.”

I was THE blue dot in a RED STATE that BECAME _KARL ROVE's_ TARGET.

My investigation was started by Karl Rove’s client, the Alabama Attorney General. I was brought to trial ONE MONTH BEFORE THE ELECTION by a US ttorney who was the wife of my Republican opponent’s campaign manager- a thirty year friend & political associate of Rove’s. After the trial, a Republican lawyer gave sworn testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that Karl Rove was directing the DOJ to prosecute me.

My sentence was enhanced for speaking out against the political nature of the prosecution. Handcuffed & shackled, I was immediately removed from the courtroom & taken to maximum security prison where I was put into solitary confinement.

Nine months later, I was released in an extraordinary ruling of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals saying there are “substantial questions of law and fact likely to result in reversal”.­....

[veracity]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Don-Siegelman-Rove-Target-by-the-web-081006-891.html

....Sorry for the minor editiing of Governor Siegelman's words to make the HuffPost 250 word cutoff.

For example, I deleted "the Governor of Alabama" to save one word, replacing it with "Alabama Governor." Apart from deleting one & two letter words like "a" or "is" the words are the former Governor's, the CAPS are mine.

NO ONE, anywhere, should comment on Karl Rove's disgraceful legacy these past dozens years, without reading Governor Siegelman's account of how the Bush-Cheney administration ABUSED their WAR TIME POWERS - with a GOP House & Senate majorities providing cover - to ABUSE citizen rights.

The partisan (can not use any other words here- ) LYNCH-MOB PROSECUTION of Gov. Siegelman the textbook example...

The Bush-Rove-Cheney GOP thought that they OWNED the Deep South... and they were perfectly willing to LYNCH a SITTING, ELECTED GOVERNOR to get a Republican back in the Governor's chair of that Deep South State.

Just as Republican SAXBY CHAMBLISS 2002 Campaign was perfectly willing to morph sitting Democratic Senator MAX CLELAND's photos between those of OSAMA bin LADEN and SADDAM HUSSEIN...­.. despite triple-amputee Senator Cleland HAVING LEFT THREE LIMBS in Vietnam during combat duty in the Vietnam war!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Don-Siegelman-Rove-Target-by-the-web-081006-891.html

[cobraxus]

Karl Rove claimed he was creating a permanent republican majority in congress,the white house and even state offices.As a result of his toxic policies not only has this not come to fruition but already appears to be backfiring­.In the end his boycrush GWB is going to be signing pardons like crazy his last days in office.

[realpolitic]

Karl Rove is only a genius at running the country into the gutter. Eight years of George Bush- trillion dollar deficits, economic collapse, lying to get us into an unnecessary war in Iraq, torture, Guantanamo, etc.

[veracity]

Actually, sad to say, EVERY Karl Rove and George W. Bush political 'success" is not marked so much by Rove or Bush or the GOP's inherent strength or abilities.­.. as by the WILTING passive retreat under fire of the Democrats.

#1. In 1992, Bill Clinton only won the White House because ROSS PEROT - NOT the Democrats - spent a fortune of his own money lecturing America on the BUSH DEFICITS run up by the S&L crisis ($500 billion in 1980s money)

#2. In 2000, Vice President Al Gore was too aloof and "DIGNIFIED" to SPEAK UP FOR poor & minority Texas school children TOSSED OFF pre-school, after-school, and health-care programs by then Texas Gov. George W. Bush's SIGNATURE "TAX CUTS FOR RICH, SLASH Social Programs" agenda.

It is a battle or war that even today - 8 years later - DC Democrats COWER from. Speaker Pelosi would rather hand a TRILLION taxpayer dollars to Paulson and Bush's cronies on Wall Street, than even hold basic hearings..­. Much less DEMAND THAT ALL THAT MONEY GO DIRECTLY to programs that help homeowners keep their houses.

Indeed, Nancy Pelosi _ALLOWS_ Karl Rove to run around America SPURNING a Congressional Subpoena, even though Congressman Wexler posted a letter from former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman outlining Karl Rove's INTIMATE ROLE in getting Siegelman CONVICTED in a prosecution by whose standards (putting one's supporters in government jobs) Bush, Cheney, and every president or governor would be in jail as well.

[GrainOSand]

Thus, I am not a Democrat. I am in the Today Party and I assess viability and credibility daily. The GOP could sway me if they were not so racist and so hypocritical. The Democrats at least have some planks in their platform with which I can agree. The Republicans lie, hate, divide, cheat, and steal, and then claim they are representative of pristine family values. The entire system of American politics is corrupt and/or broken, from the entire election process, to transparency in governance, but what is a grain of sand to do but go with the system we have versus the system we do not.

[Gidster]

Pelosi showed herself to be weak as water when she took impeachment off the table without looking at the cornucopia of crimes and malfeasance this administration promulgated on America!

Bad show Nancy!

[Jaybird248]

Even Karl Rove knows this is the end of Karl Rove. He's signed on as a Fox analyst and if you can imagine,.h­is comment is almost centrist. He's even predicting Barack would win if the election were held today (though that's likely to rouse the base more than anything else.)

America learned about Swift boating in 2004, knows Kerry is no coward or traitor, and won't fall for that crap again. Barack ain't no John Kerry when it comes to counterpunching, and John McCain has plenty in his past to talk about if that's where the discussion leads.

[BuckarooBanzai]

I agree...Ro­ve is not that good. The problem is that the Democrats are so bad. Whatever you say about the Republicans they do understand their voters and how to communicate with them. The Democrats can only guess.

[realpolitic]

Yes, the Republicans are better at campaigning, but at least the Democrats can govern. Republicans do not have a clue.

[karebarron]

BUCKAROO..­.You stand corrected, the Republicans USED to understand the voters--in fact, during the Rove Reign, they dictated what the voters should deem to be important, and the voters followed in lock step. (Anyone remember how 11 states had gay marriage initiatives on their ballots to draw the "hate" vote, which by the way, translated to votes for Bush in 2004?). They, the Rebulicans, are so out of touch with what the voters deem important, now, because they, the Republicans, have screwed the economy, environment, U.S. foreign relations, etc. up so badly they can't even use their old, tried and true antics, trot out the old TERRORIST, without flubbing it!!! Pathetic.

[Bluedog12]

Rove is a smart...as­s.

[RepugsOut08]

I agree completely. Rove's dirty tricks didn't win the popular vote in 2000. A year in which Americans were fat and happy and, foolishly we now know, contemplating a change from the Clinton years.
In 2004, with two wars raging and terrorism fears still fresh, Rove barely dragged his candidate across the finish line. Genius? Hardly. Shameless? You bet!
The only thing Rove and his cronies have this election, is the race factor. However, that advantage is falling away. People tend to become colorblind when they're drowning, and the guy with the life preserver just happens to be black.
I hope this election is a landslide for Obama, because that would help put a stop to the idea that shameless dirty campaigns win elections.

[kickbass]

Karl Rove is not a genius, but he is very likely as smart or smarter than the poster or anyone who has commented that I saw (the comments have disappeared!). He orchestrated two presidential election victories for a (quite) mediocre candidate. He has broken the law repeatedly, yet he has not been prosecuted. I watch him occasionally on FNC and he is their version of Chuck Todd and I find his analysis to be smart and useful with occasional questionable forays into partisanship (it is FSN after all). For example, recently, he freely acknowledges that the McCain campaign is blowing it and is able to intelligently explain how and why.

He is ruthless. I believe Gore won the vote in '00 and Kerry probably did in '04. If the dems are so smart (or alternatively, if Rove is dumb), how come the corrupt political machine run by Rove successfully out-smarted them (twice) enough to keep W in the WH for 8 years? Not knowing how to prevent or stop Rove is lamb-like (please don't hurt me!) naivete.

[GrainOSand]

Karl Rove is smart only to the dumb people who are moved, sheep-like by his obvious criminal intent. I love Karl Rove for he is part of that spark that lit the current fire.

Drill baby drill?

No! Burn baby burn!

Karl Rove is smart in knowing that many in America are dumb enough to fall for his tactics.

[RepugsOut08]

The answer to your question about the Dems intelligence level in the las two presidential elections, is that they ran two very weak campaigns. Gore admits it, and so does Kerry, and they just barely lost. Not because Rove is a "genius." Genius would imply that the Dems ran great campaigns that should have been winners, but Rove out maneuvered them.
Just barely beating two lame campaigners by muddying the field with lies is hardly genius. It's just luck. Imagine trying to run such a campaign against a hungry Bill Clinton, or look at the result of the same tactics having been used unsuccessfully by both Hillary and now McCain against a hungry Obama. Rove's "genius" label was bs, and his luck has run out.

[GrainOSand]

Excellent!

[kickbass]

Note that I wrote "Karl Rove is not a genius." I like Kerry. I think that the fact that W (who went AWOL and used connections to avoid service in Nam (while Kerry was successfully Swift-boated), was a drunk and cokehead, was beaten in every debate by Gore and Kerry, can't complete a sentence without a gramatic train-wreck, and still won is mostly testimony to how easy it is to sway many American voters for the "wrong" reasons. The media was certainly complicit in faciltating W's election by doing things like missing/un­derreporti­ng things like Dan Rather having his facts right, or that Corsi was full of it.

The fact is that Obama would be in a much tighter race, and it is likely that he would be behind and staring defeat in the face if the economy hadn't cratered..­.

because he is a very strong candidate and has been running a "great" campaign.

This is because Karl Rove is a genius!

[BethStuart]

I recall hearing Rove say he wanted to create a "durable republican majority" after the 2004 election. That durable majority survived just two years until the 2006 election. Now we are in 2008 looking at republicans going down to defeat everywhere. McCain's embrace of Rove's tactics tells us more about McCain than it does about Rove.

[GrainOSand]

What is wrong with America (a partial list)

People think Karl Rove, a liar, a cheat, and a criminal, is a genius.
People are popping pills to go to sleep, to wakeup, to get it up, etc…
The media is openly compromised partisan and corrupted by ambition and personal greed.
The government does not operate in the interest of the people but of its self.
Compassion, empathy, love, are seen as wimpy or bad words.
Consumption distracted to the point where Americans cannot discern they are in danger, they are being ripped off, and that it may be part of the master plan.
In 2008 with all that has happened in America’s history concerning race relations, large segments of the American population are still ignorant and racist.
You can graduate from college and still be stupid.
Certain members of law enforcement do not serve and protect but kill and steal.
Selfishness rules!
The system is tilted to reward certain people and punish others via the fulcrum of historical events.
Egotism or hubris leading to disastrous designs of world hegemony.
History often cited when it glorifies never when it indicts thus history has no meaning.
Hypocrisy from top to bottom.
Goal or end is considered more important than process or means, which brought us America, by discovery or theft -- a foundational problem that persists today.
Wholesale and widespread obfuscation or denial of blatant truth.
Far too many experts claiming they know when they were claiming something different just yesterday.

[dallashailee]

And that's it in a nutshell.

[GrainOSand]

It is an impartial list because I did not want to string multiple posts. I can produce a list of what I see as good about America. It might be equal in length or it might be shorter. The items it contains, if ever maximized or concentrated for full effect, would burn that other list or at least diminish its importance.

I come to this forum to reflect upon what I have seen and what I do see. I do not come as self-important expert, with the thought that I know. I simply reflect a life that has lived and that lives in terms of death. This latter consideration is a Taoist concept that made sense to me and thus I adopted it as my approach in life. I live in terms of death because in so doing I never take life for granted. The gullible take life for granted as if they have all the time in the world to get it right. Think about the term laissez-faire market. The market will eventually get it right if you just leave it alone. We see the error in that principle in glaring terms as I write this. The same is true for what we see in the populace. People have not done the regulatory work of being better individuals because their approach was one of laissez-faire mutual respect, concern, consideration, empathy, and unity. Thus, meltdown looms.

...shouts kill him at a Palin Rally? How sick we are...

[Centaur]

I couldn't have said it better! Somehow, if you run a campaign based on sleazy tactics, lies and deception, some people perceive that to be "genious like"! `Apparently, the last two presidential elections, especially the last one, was a result of a "gullible" segment of the population that clearly bought into this garbage and as a result we are in the situation that we find ourselves in now, saddled with an inept, "unfit for command" numbnut of a president that shouldn;t have been anywhere near the white house. So, here we are again with the "pukes" using the same tactics, hoping that the public will fall for this again. We'll see if the majority of americans will this time around. If it happens again, as I've said before, this country's finished.

[GrainOSand]

Finished is a distinct possibility. The gullible can afford to be gullible because they gamble with the idea that things cannot change for the dire, for the fatal...

I hope things get better for all people worldwide. But as they say, there is that hand with a wish in it and then there is that hand with something more concrete, more slimy to the touch, more foul to the smell. We are holding the concrete, slimy, and foul smelling substance that is our collective inability to get it right. I always blame me first, then I find in blaming others, I have no second thoughts or doubts for I have run the gamut of blame upon myself. If America is found to be inadequate, it is only because I have found myself to be inadequate. This is what separates me from many. In that, I refuse to lie to myself, which I could do, and live an entire lifetime in denying bliss. By every measure, I can be said to be successful. Yet success by the American standard is underperformance, and underachievement. Yes, we landed a man on the moon, and we have the Ipod, and paved roads, indoor plumbing, electricity… From and ivory tower with windows one can view suffering and drown in the tears that fill towers of ego. From the technological summit, the basement of human failure is visible. The hour draws near where change good or bad will come and we will never be the same.

[Jsens3]

Maybe you are correct. But old Karl sure makes some supposedly smart Democrats sweat. They are so terrified of him that they have taken to demonizing him, wanting him tried for and convicted of unspecified crimes and then safely jailed to keep him from working his evil spells. The terror is both sad and amusing to observe.

[Kiabell04]

I truly hope things continue to spiral out of control for McCain. I'm not getting lazy and assuming the election is over....an­ything can happen in 30 days...esp­ecially with a desperate GOP.