It is often hard to gain sufficient perspective on the panoply of squalor and scandal that is the last months of BushCo, but it appears to me to be best understood through the metaphor of a massive immune system attack on a viral threat. For me, the unifying moment was the viewing the pudgy, arrogant face of Kyle Sampson, captured in a characteristic expression of pique in the NYT. We are not dealing with one man; we are dealing with a replicating structure intent on infiltrating the government of the United States and converting all of its agencies, arms, and departments into breeding grounds for Rovian Virus.
The metaphor of anti-viral immune system defense goes a long way toward explaining the surging resistance and increasingly concentrated attacks on Rove and everything he and his viral twins are attempting to "accomplish." Details follow.
Get to know the virus
The Rovian virus is slow-acting but virulent. It has taken the American body politic a long time to recognize it and mobilize defenses, but the tempo of those defenses is now accelerating, and the eradication of the virus may be possible. Here is what we know about the Rovian virus:
- It has a thick, polymorphic coat that hides its vulnerable mechanisms and allows it to pass into the organs of the political body. The coat can take the form of a cowboy (Bush), a holy man (Robertson), or a stern father (Cheney).
- The kernel of the virus is a set of primitive polical beliefs that were largely rejected by the American people in the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. Rovians believe that rule by a natural elite made up of the enconomically strongest, and their carefully selected servants, will best ensure the future prosperity and tranquility of the United States.
- The basic energy source of the virus is a network of wealthy individuals who wish to secure a permanently dominant role for the wealthy in the government of the United States. This network funds the RNC, the College Republicans, and numerous "opinion leader" front organizations. The virus can remain politically dormant for years sustained by this source.
- The penetration mechanism of the virus is incremental encroachment via the steady accretion of electoral victories secured by a combination of broadcast propaganda technology and "smash mouth" politics.
- The replication mechanism of the Rovian virus is the reconfiguration of all government entities penetrated by the virus to the hiring and advancement of viral agents. This is done by fiat, intimidation, bribery, rule changes, or whatever other means are practical. For example Forest Service employees can be compelled to become Rovians in order to receive promotions.
- The vulnerability of the virus is that it sheds its protective coating after it penetrates the host and can be detected operating destructively as it reprograms the machinery of government from efficient administration to patronage, corruption, and political leverage. Viral agents are vulnerable to attack by the protective mechanisms of the US government at this stage.
How America is fighting the Rovian Virus (RV)
Although close observers of politics have feared the consequences of an RV outbreak for many years, the 2006 election results were the first evidence of an immune system response. Here is how the immune system is mobilizing to destroy RV.
- The structure of the virus has been characterized. The pattern of manipulating every government function, no matter how minor, to advance the interests of Rovians is deeply encoded into RV, and is thus a reliable immune system target. A GSA chief who hosts RNC political luncheons or a Kyle Sampson plotting the removal of prosecutors easily tests as RV-positive.
- The communication pathways used by RV carriers have been traced and are beginning to be disrupted. RV carriers have been found to use extra-governmental communications channels that can increasingly be blocked and otherwise compromised.
- Multiple kill mechanisms are being directed at RV. The previous weak threats to RV, largely limited to blog muckraking and Democratic partisans, have been joined by significant numbers of traditional Republican office holders who perceive a threat to the foundations of the US Government. Many of these new anti-RV forces have considerable information on the vulnerabilities of RV and are positioned to destroy RV agents.
- Public information about RV is being rapidly disseminated as the Mainstream Media realize that the individual activity of Karl Rove is not the fundamental threat. As the public becomes aware of the scope and severity of the RV threat, the immune response will grow more powerful.
- When the RV host begins to destroy RV agents faster than they can be replaced, we will know that America is back on the way to health. It is too early to determine the prospects for full recovery, but the feverish state of our politics indicate that a masssive immune system attack on Rovian Virus is under way.