Don't expect his resignation to be the end of Karl Rove. If you live to hate him, expect a long and rage-filled life.
I wonder if Karl Rove's son Andrew's pledge name in his fraternity at Trinity University is 'Turd Blossom Junior', or maybe he played it smart and enrolled under a false name. It can't be easy on a liberal college campus when you're the son of the most hated man in America. You've got to give Karl Rove his due. For a nerdy, awkward and superficially harmless looking kid who was abandoned by his father, whose mother committed suicide and who then dropped out of three different colleges, it's quite an achievement by the age of 57 to be more hated than Osama bin Laden, Kim Jong Il and Robert Mugabe rolled into one. You have to wonder what kind of debilitating mental disease his wife Darby suffers from that she would be so unwise as to marry such a monster.…
Article comments
26 - buddhanarchist
"not actually doing anything wrong" in the Plame case? Are you kidding? It was verified that he was the one who outed Plame first-- despite the fact that he covered his tracks well, this is not "not actually doing something wrong". What a softball piece. The very admission that his goal was to create One Party that would last 100 years is reminiscent of Hitler's promise os a "Thousand Year single rule". How is a goal of using the American political system, to create one monolithic and all powerful party anything but completely un-American and totalitarian? The author seemingly does not fathom that Evil can be done without breaking the law. that ethics and morality can be transgressed through adroitly tip-toeing through legal loopholes and ass covering. Anything but a completely damning condemnation of the Pattern that emerges from Roves behavior is to disavow a responsibility to defend the essence of the Constitution and Democracy. Shame.
27 - Dave Nalle
"not actually doing anything wrong" in the Plame case? Are you kidding? It was verified that he was the one who outed Plame first
Verified by who? Not by Patrick Fitzgerald. In fact, Richard Armitage was the primary leak.
What a softball piece.
Actually, it's a balanced piece. I covered the positive and negative aspects of the story. If you prefer something more partisan there are at least 4 other left-slanted Rove articles on the site.
The very admission that his goal was to create One Party that would last 100 years is reminiscent of Hitler's promise os a "Thousand Year single rule".
Oh come on, that kind of thing is just hype which every politician says to motivate the followers about how great the party is going to do in the election.
Anything but a completely damning condemnation of the Pattern that emerges from Roves behavior is to disavow a responsibility to defend the essence of the Constitution and Democracy. Shame.
Rove would say that promoting the republican party IS the best way to defend the essence of the constition because the democrats have no interest in doing so.
Dave
28 - Egbert Sousé
"Karl Rove is the political genius of our time."
With all both have been through and accomplished, I would give the slight edge to Bill Clinton over Rove. Much tougher to be on the front line than hiding in the back. If Rove helps get the next guy elected Pres, he will pull into the lead, but if Hillary wins, Bill is a lock for the title as he undoubtedly will have had a role in her victory.
29 - Dave Nalle
But if that happens will we care, living in the new socialist America, deprived of most of our rights and with most of our income seized by the state?
Dave
30 - Nancy
Dave, Hitler said that promoting the Nazi party was the best way of defending the Aryan race & German culture/lifestyle. That didn't make his policies or actions any less vile, that he believed it was true. So with Rove.
31 - handyguy
But if that happens will we care, living in the new socialist America, deprived of most of our rights and with most of our income seized by the state? [referring to an HRC presidency]
That's right, Dave. Hillary, Barack and me are all commies and we're comin' to get ya.
The next time you're about to accuse another blogger of writing 'inflammatory claptrap,' please remember that you write sentences like that one, often, when you talk about Democrats.
32 - Baronius
"the more mainstream media isn't nearly as negative about Rove as the blogosphere and some of the TV/cable commentators are"
Dang it, Nalle, that leave a tough choice. Either the MSM completely missed the story, or bloggers are overreacting. I don't know which is more common.
33 - troll
...and here I always considered Ivins pretty lefty educated mainstream in a loud Texas kinda way - she'd undoubtedly be spinning like a dervish in that ol' cramped box in response to such apologist claptrap
btw - I hear that Rove had the KGB poison her
34 - moonraven
The Bush Gang is waxing sloppy sentimental over the exit boogie of Porgy Pig Rove, but a critical mass of reprobation had accumulated in the past year and the point now is to figure out a way--short of declaring martial law--of keeping Republicans in the Oval Office--so Porky had to go.
He will be postcarding from exotic spots like the Channel Islands, the Caymans, and Midland, Texas....
Watch this space.
35 - Lum.py
Nice to see something at least somewhat balancedl on rove with all the rage that's been circulating this week.
36 - Nancy
Actually, Dave, check out a summary website of all the national editorial cartoons. I would say they're pretty much in the same groove as us bloggers regarding their assessment of Rove & his actions. Start with Dave Cagle's website, www.cagle.com. It should start to clue you in that, outside of the BushCo apologist news media you obviously resort to, no one else has a kind thing or good word to say, think, or draw about him. From there, go on to the most recent editorial comments in all - ALL, not just the right-wing - national newspapers. Not very kind, either. Maybe you're just a tad out of touch, Davie boy? Out of step with 99.9999% of the rest of the nation, perhaps?
37 - Clavos
I'm in the .0000000001% who don't care...
There'll be another Rove along, bye 'n bye.
There always is.
Yaaawwnn.
38 - Baronius
Actually, Clavos, that's an interesting question. There's a lord of the underworld in every pantheon. With Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Libby, and Rove gone, will all the hatred be heaped on Cheney, or will there be a new Satan for liberals? Do you bother writing in a new villain for the last few chapters?
39 - Matthew T. Sussman
Trix : Rabbit :: Rove : everyone
40 - Victor Plenty
Mr. Sussman, you lost me. "Silly everyone -- Rove is for kids!" Is that what you're saying?
Oh! Maybe... I think it's starting to dawn on me now. You're saying everyone never gets Rove, just like the rabbit never gets Trix. Except where it's literal with the rabbit, with us it's figurative. We just don't "get" Rove. In other words, we fail to understand the core of his soul. We fail to perceive the sensitive artistic temperament that really drives all his action.
Or wait. Maybe you're saying we'll never get Rove in the long arm of the law sense. "You'll never get me alive, copper!" Is that it?
Help me out here, Mr. Sussman. Explain the joke. Dissect the frog, that we may all gain enlightenment from its destruction.
Or, you know, not.
41 - Dave Nalle
Nancy, as a group cartoonists seem to lean pretty far left. I'm not surprised they hit heavy on Rove.
As for the rest of the MSM, the New York Times ran only one editorial bashing rove - that's about 3 less than we ran here on BC. The post was a lot more focused on DC and ran 3, but they weren't nearly as negative. On the whole the TONE of the MSM is not as hostile. They may not like Rove, but they seem to undertand and accept what he is.
Dave
42 - Matthew T. Sussman
SAT analogies are a portal into your own soul, Victor. Look within.
43 - moonraven
Latest dogmatic drivel from Dave: As a group cartoonists seem to lean pretty far left.
Like the Tower of Pisa?
From which angle of vision?
Dumb, really dumb, Dave.
44 - moonraven
For the GOOD news now:
Garrison Keilor said it best in his piece "Good Riddance Turd Blossom", reprinted today on the CommonDreams site.
45 - Nancy
Thanx for the reference, MR. Interesting website. Even more interesting are the comments on the various commentaries.
"...cartoonists lean to the left...." ?! Jesus, Dave - you are really reaching. Oh well: none so blind as those determined not to see.
46 - Hate Politics
What is so funny about this article is that no comparison was made as to the SCORCHED EARTH POLICY used by the CLINTONS and Carville, this was far worse then anything ever done by ROVE. Just to bad the left wing nuts keep denying the truth....They hate ROVE because he is so much smarter then all of then put together, which don't take much to be smarter then a SOCIALIST. Rove actually stood up the the SOCIALIST DEMS. To bad they cannot see the the truth but that usually takes Liberals at least 40 years to see they have been used and abused by there own party
47 - TOO BAD
PLAME was a lame witch that was never truly "OUTED" by anyone. Armitage was the one that leaked her name, but she was NOT COVERT IN ANY WAY, and she got her low-life lying husband the job to go drink tea in Africa and lie about NIGER and the yellow cake........But then again why would LIBERALS BELIEVE THE TRUTH. IT's all available in the 9/11 report and clearly shows Him Lying
48 - Nancy
It would seem from a casual glance at the mannerisms, that #46 & 47 are actually the same writer, under two different names.
Stick to one name, you spineless sneaking moron. Stand behind your views instead of trying to create multiple personalities.
49 - Dave Nalle
I'm so sure you're right Nancy that I'm not even going to bother to check the IP addresses.
As for his views, it's nice to see someone standing up for Rove, even if he's some sort of lunatic with an identity problem.
Dave
50 - barbarabow
No matter what your political persuasion, all of us should be concerned with Rove's efforts to politicize all levels of government, (in violation of the Hatch Act) and disenfranchise voters, particularly minorities through vote cadging. These are one party rule, Stalinist type tactics.
Please ask yourself, if these actions can be taken in service to one political party, would I willingly give the same tools/powers to the party I oppose? It reminds me of how eager some conservatives were to support Frist's so called "Nuclear Option" to end the filibuster until the Democrats became the majority. Please don't be so short-sighted that you can't see that the system of checks and balances serves all of us! Rove's attempts to create a single party state is what I most deplore and I would deplore those actions if taken by any politician, no matter which political party they claim.
51 - Christopher Rose
Nancy, well spotted #46/47 did indeed come from the same computer.
52 - moonraven
Too bad Chris doesn't notice that when Nalle posts under his multiple clones.
Different strokes....
53 - Christopher Rose
Too bad moonraven can't tell the difference between reality and her fevered imaginings!
54 - Nancy
The M.O./style was as plain as the nose on Ringo Starr's face; no particular sleuthing required, I would have had to be blind not to notice. But thanks, anyway. I do wish Eric would make & enforce a One ID rule....
55 - moonraven
Obviously, he won't--or he would have busted Vox Populi Nalle and a few other of his pet cloners.
This bird wrote the book on reality, pimple brit.
Being in touch with reality is when you don't work for free to put profits in somebody else's pocket just to satisfy your napoleon complex.
Have a great day at Waterloo.
56 - Captain America
I think this was a well expressed and thought out article; however, I disagree w/ the premise that one who plays dirty tricks should not be subject to the wrath of his own game. I also resent the notion that it is the only "liberals" and "democrats" who have gone out of their way to demonize rove. I despise hillary clinton and the democratic party as much as I despise the bush administration and the republicans. I don't distinguish between the two parties and I consider hillary to be nothing but dubya in drag (two families running the country for 24 consecutive years is un-American by definition, IMO), but I personally will not be happy until the rove suffers on a personal level. His resignation means little to me because the damage he did to our nation is already done. And I do take that personally. Maybe now that he's no longer officially in the employ of the White House, Bill Maher will finally step up and out the guy, which I believe will cause him no end of personal suffering. Of course, this is not because there is anything wrong with being gay, but because there is something wrong with intentionally living a lie so you can properly pander to your homophobic political base. I believe rove hates himself because his mother killed herself after his stepfather (whom, by the way, karl was raised to believe was his biological father) came out of the closet and divorced her. This self-loathing nature has manifested itself in his deceitful and abhorrent political tactics, which, in turn, have made this country significantly weaker than it was before he got his man (rove, in the 70s, has gushed about how handsome he thought dubya was) in the White House. And he has protected the bushes' interests w/ the saudi royals and bin laden family who attacked us on 9/11, which makes him, IMO, an enemy of the American people. It was dubya himself who proclaimed that "You're either with us or agin' us in the war on terror." Well, if dubya is going to literally hold these guys' hands, then I'd have to say that he and his allies are against America. For as much as I hate rove and the bush administration, I still hate them less than I hate the bin ladens. The bin ladens attacked us directly; the bush administration let them get away with it.
57 - Dave Nalle
On the one hand you're saying that Rove just did whatever he was told by Bush, but on the other hand you're trying to hold him personally responsible for those actions.
My argument would be that Rove is just a very good tool and that you should target the tool weilder rather than the tool for your primary criticism.
Dave
58 - Zedd
Dave,
Best article yet. You "Nalled" it!
His success will unfortunately encourage politicians to seek out others like him. I predict that the Dems will make the attempt and it will be much too late to try and implement Rovian tactics. The public will be all the wiser and weary of the maneuvering, and it will backfire. As usual, they wont be able to pull it off.
Lets face it, his biography would suite any diabolical, muwaaahahaha cackling villain, in any B-movie.
59 - Dave Nalle
The Dems have their Rovians waiting in the wings, or they can always hire the totally amoral and non-partisan Dick Morris again.
Dave
60 - Zedd
Dick Morris is no Rove. While he has proved to be a formidable Svengali, he lacks the "creep lurking in the shadows" factor which puts Rove in a distinct category so far.
I suppose what makes Rove so adventurous is that has nothing to loose. He's just happy to be invited to the party. Whom I fear are his children. Imagine the snooty factor combined with that pedigree. YIKES, danger Will Robinson!! Poor things, if they happened to turn out normal, they will forever bare the burden of their father's image
Morris is a product of public schools, he attended the best in NY then went to Columbia, he's a columnist. Not creepy by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe slimy though...
Seriously, I get both of their pragmatic approach. I totally get their ability to remove themselves from the message or the messenger and simply focus on the goal. They have to be highly practical people, born intuitive/perceptive types. I admire their ability to zero in. That quality is lacking in our culture. I admire their ability to create, and I get it. Just as many of us in our youth admired the shrewed and laser precise Machiavelli and got him, they along with Kissinger (Lord Vader) have become his reincarnation.
We naively expect the warm and fuzzy from politics yet what it is and has been for quite some time is a maneuvering of images. Lincoln as you know didn't grow up in that little log cabin. We also are offended by the game, when the qualification criteria of the person holding the post involves the ability to get things done by convincing people to do what you want with as little upheaval as possible. In other words politicians have to be political in order to be good politicians.
What is icky is when a person who is not really political, tries to be, a la Hillary. She is an idealist who wants badly to win and has sold her sold to the devil, the same was true for Kerry.... Bill on the other hand is born for the post.
61 - Egbert Sousé
"not actually doing anything wrong" in the Plame case? Are you kidding? It was verified that he was the one who outed Plame first
Verified by who?
By Matt Williams of Time this morning on MTP:
"Look, Karl Rove told me about Valerie Plame’s identity on July 11th, 2003. I called him because Ambassador Wilson was in the news that week. I didn’t know Ambassador Wilson even had a wife until I talked to Karl Rove and he said that she worked at the agency and she worked on WMD."
Novak's column came out on the 14th. Three days later. On MTP last month, Novak also stated that Rove confirmed it after Armitage told him, which while not illegal certainly shouldn't have been done.
So it's either two reporters on different ends of the political spectrum lying or Rove.
62 - Dave Nalle
Morris is a product of public schools, he attended the best in NY then went to Columbia, he's a columnist. Not creepy by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe slimy though...
He's a columnist now, but he has been a strategist and could be one again. In fact, in the last couple of years he's consulted on campaigns for several foreign politicians and is working on the campaign of a Kentucky gubernatorial candidate for 2008.
As for creepy, how can you beat lying in bed with a hooker while talking to the president on the phone while he's getting oral satisfaction?
I think it beats Rove that when he was consulting on Clinton's reelection campaign Clinton didn't even tell his own staff he had hired Morris because he was afraid they'd be outraged.
Dave
63 - Dave Nalle
Egbert. I believe that if you check the records, Rove did not in fact tell Williams that "Valerie Plame" worked at the CIA. He said that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Not the same thing. And he did so in the context of explaining why Wilson was picked to go to Niger. The prosecution's determination in the case was that this was not any kind of intentional revelation of Plame's covert status because she was both not referred to by name and also not discussed in any context outside of the Wilson mission.
Dave
64 - bliffle
Now we have the resignation of AG Gonzalez, claiming that his worst day was better than his dads best day. I assume he's talking finances, since it's hard to believe his hard-working dad was any more venal.
Well, after all, money is the most important.