Kos asks on the mainpage today if Rove is on vacation, seeking an explanation of all the bum moves coming from the GOP lately.
Rove has never run a Lame Duck before. I think that's all there is to it. He knows how to game things for the next election, but there is no next election.
He is in unexplored territory with a tin ear. Even worse, the Congressmen he needs to do his bidding ALL have a next election. Soon. He's already got all the Southern senators he can expect to get. Where is the room to grow? I seriously doubt he'll pick up places like Vermont. So, how does he motivate them? More after the jump.
Power comes from the ability to punish or reward. How does His Royal Quackness punish or reward people after 1/20/09? He can't, and they know it. They just need to wait around long enough and he's gone.
For 2008 Presidential candidates, even if he is a brilliant strategist, hiring him will be too emasculating because he is so close with Bush.
Bush the elder did the same thing with the Reagan crew- it was REAL IMPORTANT to be seen as his own man, not just Reagan's 3rd term. Frist will likely want his own Tennessee crew. Haley Barbour RAN the GOP. Why would he take orders from Rove?
Quack Quack.