Evil Architect

Bush's "Turd Blossom" departs -- Picture courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
When White House Deputy Chief Karl Rove resigned last week, I was surprised. Rove has been at Bush's side since day one, and he's one of the few campaign strategists who had parlayed his role into White House Advisor. In fact Rove made up one third of the Evil Triumvirate -- Rove, Rumsfeld and Cheney. All three men wielded a huge influence on W Bush, and a toxic combination it was. Rumsfeld exited the stage one day after the 2006 midterm elections; his concept of "War Lite" had not played out well in Iraq. Cheney was thought to be the mastermind behind much of the post 9/11 strategy -- he oddly lost credibility not over his wrong strategies but rather the hunting accident where he shot his lawyer. The GOP Base may not understand the intricacies of Middle East policy, but by God they understand the rules of quail hunting.

Rove himself had predicted a long-standing Republican majority and came up short in the 2006 elections. His upcoming departure is not due to that however -- Rove will be helping the Bushes set up their library at SMU in Dallas. Strangely enough, Rove is a self-professed agnostic; that did not prevent him from playing to the evangelical GOP base in both the 2000 and 2004 elections. His method of political warfare could best be described as "scorched Earth" and "take no prisoners". He steered both elections to victory by fear-mongering and blatant divisiveness. He created false bogeymen out of the ashes of 9/11, and also did much the same with gays, feminists and ecologists. Much as I get angry with Rove, I have to realize he succeeded because of a large, gullible public that responds more to fear and insecurity than to anything else. Rove has described 2006 as a minor bump in the road; I can't help but wonder if he's right since the American mind works as it does.

As far back as his college days, Rove engaged in dirty tricks. He took stationery from an opponent's headquarters and printed invitations to a beer bust "orgy" to make him look bad. Roll forward to 2003, and Rove was implicated in the outing of a CIA operative. In most cases, he left no fingerprints but his Machiavellian techniques are well noted. I even said in 2004 that John Kerry should be so lucky as to get a Rove of his own -- at the very least someone who would fight fire with fire. Unfortunately, Kerry was determined to have his Swift Boat sunk once and for all by unscrupulous Republican operatives.

What can we say in conclusion about Rove? His impact was to give us arguably the worst President ever, an Iraq quagmire and a giant deficit. Worse than that, Rove helped to dramatically polarize our nation. We're probably more polarized than we have been at any time since the Civil War. Instead of "North/South" we define our allegiances as "Blue/Red". The ideas of moderation and reasoned compromise seem to have flown the coop. That Rove was a political "genius" no one will deny. That his total contribution was helpful to America's well-being is laughably wrong. Mr. Rove, just don't let the door hit you ....

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