"Karl Rove is a political genius"
- how many times have you heard that spoken as fact?? I am tired of hearing this spoken as if it were Gospel. I am tired of this being used to spook Democrats from doing the right thing, such as filibustering Alito, because somehow, someway, Karl Rove will use it against them.
Karl Rove is NOT a genius. Karl Rove is a man who got lucky in 2000, perhaps messed with the voting in 2004 and is steering the Republican party and this president into the rocky shore at breakneck speed.
Let me tell you why I think Karl Rove is actually an Idiot.
Rove got lucky in 2000; his guy LOST the election, if not for the graces of the much-praised (blech!) Sandra Day O'Connor's vote in Bush v. Gore. If O'Connor had voted the constitutional way, Rove and his love, Bush, would have headed back to Crawford, never to be seen or heard from again.
Rove has succeeded in firing up the religious right and the fundamentalists, but the cost is mounting up. The Schiavo affair was the first dink in the armor - and whose bright idea was it to get Bush to come back to DC for the Schiavo signing?? Good move, Karl, now everyone sees the religious right, and your guy, Bush, as extremists who want to have their hands on all aspects of Americans' lives.
And where was Karl in the lead up and the first few days after Karrina (excuse me, Katrina, the way Laura Bush said it was just so contagious!!) Karl was not around during Katrina, but surely he could have called Georgie and said, "Hey, Georgie, don't strum that guitar or share a cake with McCain today - try to act like you are paying attention!" But, no, once again, Karl and the Bushies missed their opportunity, and had Bush cast as the out-of-touch nobility that he is.
Plamegate - Karl just hasn't been able to spin this away.
The Iraq War - 2/3 of Americans want our troops home. Need I say more??
NSA spying - I think yesterday's hearings were a disaster for the administration, starting with the refusal to swear in Gonzalez, ending with his complete absurdity in regard to many of his statements (constitution is very complicated, hard to understand what is meant, George Washington and wiretaps - HA!!!)
And today - today, the final cherry on top of the ice cream sundae of this incompetent, out-of-touch, arrogant, hubristic administration - the 2007 budget. Cuts to Medicare. Cuts to childrens' hospitals. Cuts to college loans. Tax cuts for the wealthy. Lots and lots of Pentagon money. I am truly stunned. How could we have ever thought that Rove was a genius?? Because in my view, this budget means one of two things: either RoveBushCompany are so out of touch that they think Americans will be clambering for tax cuts for the wealthiest, while Grandma's Medicare is cut, or they know the gig is over and will try to get the most for their cronies while they still have a chance.
There is no other explanation. Arlen Specter, for godsakes, called the budget, "Scandalous." Not one Republican called a press conference yesterday to talk up the budget and the tax cuts (from NPR this AM.) Not one. Man-on-Dog Santorum - your president needs you, where are you??? Nope, not Ricky. Coburn?? We gave you your anti-abortion SCOTUS, talk up Georgies' budget! Nope, not over there. Anyone?? Orin "We love the Hispanics" Hatch??? DO you love the cuts for programs for those in need?? Orin?? Orin??
Karl Rove is not a Genius. I think Karl Rove is a tone-deaf ignorant man blinded by hubris and his relationship with Bush. Got to believing his press. And is now going to try to use fear one last time. It has worked before. And it might work now. But that is the last play in their book and it is up to all of us to point out, to everyone we speak to, that the reason Osama bin Laden is still threathening us is that this administration, which has screwed up every single thing they have done, have screwed up national security as well. Their words are all they have - empty words.