In an article yesterday from the NYT, Karl Rove answered a few questions regarding a proposal he sent to the Nixon White House, way back in 1973. An energetic young defender of the faith, Rove had some ideas:
'Mr. Rove, then a 22-year-old aide on Capitol Hill, was planning a run to become chairman of the College Republicans, a position he would ultimately win twice. So he wrote to Anne Armstrong, then counselor to Nixon. Mrs. Armstrong had been co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, and therefore Mr. Rove’s ultimate boss the previous year when he was executive director of the college group.'
Some of this might sound familiar:
'In his memorandum, Mr. Rove offered suggestions, from having college Republican clubs show "nonpolitical films for fund-raising (e.g. John Wayne flicks, ‘Reefer Madness’)" to developing a "Student Guide to Lobbying" with a "forward by Bush/Nixon." That, of course, would be the elder George Bush, then chairman of the Republican National Committee, through whom Mr. Rove first met the current occupant of the White House.'
What is interesting though, is the final quote:
''Mr. Rove said he long ago lost his only copy of the campaign platform. But he said he was not surprised that the document had turned up in the Nixon files.''
"When you send something to a White House person," he said, " it tends to be collected and remain."
In some respects, I find it hard to believe he actually said that, given the difficulty this administration has in producing documents, even in the incresingly rare event they feel inclined to do so. Additionally, Mr Rove, the RNC, and the White House seem to have had difficulty even finding much of what was sent,and so it does not seem that " it tends to be collected and remain."
I could see someone asking Mr. Rove if he really meant what he said, or if, like many other things, it just doesn't apply to this administration.
I won't be holding my breath, but I did get a good chuckle out Rove's statement.
Is it a big slip? Not really, just a typical contradiction from the 'Bush oys'.Rove is confident, cocky, and sure that nobody is going to even ask him about his statement. It does seem a bit odd though, Bush Boys are usually not that sloppy when speaking on the record.
The piece is here.