Karl Rove, We Hardly Knew Ye

http://blogs.southflorida.com/citylink_dansweeney/2007/08/karl_rove_we_hardly_knew_ye.html


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What can I say about Karl Rove that hasn't been said already? I could go the way of most on the left and say he forever coarsened political dialogue. I could say this with a hint of irony by adding that he's a steaming pile of shit and if his heart was on fire, I wouldn't piss down his throat to save his life.

All of this is true.

I could go the route of more-moderate voices and say what a genius the guy has been over his career.

This, however, is not true, and so I'll once again argue against it.

I pointed out right after the 2006 election that Karl Rove "will go down in history as a short-sighted, so-so campaigner." I stand by this assertion. After the bridge-burning Clinton impeachment years, instead of any attempt at reconciliation, Karl Rove's politics involved whipping up the base and ignoring centrist moderates. That worked for awhile, but in the long term, those centrists start to realize that the government is looking seriously demented, and they actually get off their asses and vote. By abandoning the center and instead milking the right for every vote it was worth, Karl Rove doomed the Republican Party to decades of minority status as a reactionary party populated entirely by the old, the stupid, the greedy and the insane — provided that the Democrats can stay away from scandal and get some things done after 2008.

Rove's failure as a political guru — after "winning" two questionable presidential campaigns and legitimately winning campaigns in conservative-friendly locales like Texas and Alabama — marks the final defeat of an entire lifetime whose hallmark has been ignominy. The simple fact that Rove became the Executive Director of the College Republicans but never actually graduated from college describes the man's entire biography. A history of doom and failure, with only political kingmaking to brighten it. And now, that one bright spot has gone dim.

The left should be on its knees thanking Karl Rove. In the end, his cutthroat politics destroyed the possibility of long-term GOP control of Washington.

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In other news in the things-I've-been-right-about-for-months-that-no-one-else-saw-coming department, Mike Huckabee came in second place to Mitt Romney in the Iowa straw poll over the weekend. Back in January, I called the general election race as being Huckabee v. Obama. And while that's still a long shot, and while the Iowa straw poll means little since McCain and Giuliani didn't participate, it is significant that Huckabee beat out all the second-tier candidates, and did so while spending a lot less money. Romney spent untold millions on the straw poll, while third-place Sam Brownback spent about twice what Huckabee did.

There's really only room for one Jesus freak in this race, and Huckabee's it. If Brownback drops out before the primary elections, Huckabee becomes a serious contender. Bank on it.

Who will be the new Rove?

http://themproject.blogspot.com/

Although if he put his mind to it, I bet Bill Clinton could do it. Easily, and with much less sleaze.

"Bill Clinton" and "much less sleaze." But hey, when you're comparing the Big Dog to Karl Rove, it's entirely accurate.