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Karl Rove only cares about winning
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This is not a parable:
A high school teacher once suggested to a favorite student that he should run for class president. The student loved studying history and he wore a pocket protector. His opponent had a square jaw, and he had blonde hair. The students filed into the gymnasium to hear the candidates give their speeches. Mr. Popular went first and blandly went through the motions before his expected coronation. Then, the geek took his turn. He entered the gym perched on the back of a convertible, with a beautiful girl on each arm. And Karl Rove won the election.
Karl Rove is not a Svengali. Karl Rove is not the Dark Prince of Politics. Karl Rove is a smart and affable man who, in his professional life cares about one thing: Winning.
For what appears to be a perfectly random reason, Karl Rove aligned himself with the Republican Party at the preposterously young age of nine. After the decision was made there was no looking back and he dedicated himself to mastering the machinations necessary to ensure victory for his team. Whether it was distributing fliers reading "Free food, Free booze," to hippie communes and homeless shelters for an opponent's event, bugging his own office in an attempt to gain sympathy for his candidate, or engaging in a bit of dumpster diving to gather information, Rove was never short on creative tactics that would gain an edge.
In a 1996 race for Associate Justice of the Alabma Supreme Court, Rove had fliers sent out that attacked his own candidate, forcing the opponent to deny the smear campaign. This invoked one of the greatest of all political fables. It has been said that Lyndon B. Johnson instructed his aides to spread the word that his opponent enjoyed sexual liaisons with barn animals. His aides were incredulous. Nobody would believe the lie. Johnson said, "Make the bastards deny it." Even though the story is not true, it should be noted that Rove did not invent the game, he only rode on top of it for a while.
Rove is not simply a master of dirty tricks. He is extremely well-read and a human computer when it comes to ingesting and regurgitating data, such as the stats regarding off-year elections going back to World War II. He is an expert on the presidential election of 1896, even using William McKinley's strategies when he introduced George W. Bush to the American public. His keen sense of history led to the Bush administration's strategy of rolling out big speeches and policies on dates that corresponded to important events in America's past.
Despite never earning his degree, Karl fought his way to the chairmanship of the College Republicans. It was at this time that he caught the attention of one George H.W. Bush. 41 sent Rove to deliver a set of car keys to George W. Bush and when they met, they altered the course of the United States and the world. Their powers meshed perfectly. This time, the nerd and the jock were on the same team.
Rove spent two decades as the main strategist for Republican candidates at all levels in all regions of the country. He built up an impressive record, winning 34 of 41 elections. Karl even lent his savvy advice to clients in Sweden. He holds the strange distinction of being fired from two different George H.W. Bush campaigns. The first time was in 1988, and again in 1992, both times for leaking unsavory information to the press.
Rove set his sights on grooming George W. Bush to take on the popular governor of Texas, Ann Richards. Texas was a solid Democratic state before Karl Rove rode into town. By the time he was through, it was a foregone conclusion that Texas would turn red come election time. When Bush ran against Richards, a push poll was conducted, asking potential voters how they felt about Richards employing numerous lesbians in her campaign. Push polls, designed to influence rather than record public opinion, are a highly effective and a favorite card to play in Rove's deck.
Karl Rove did not transform a dolt into the most powerful man in the world. The direct mail specialist used a combination of instincts and data, then threw in the right wrecking balls at exactly the right times. His political maneuverings were akin to the athletic endeavors of Dennis Rodman. Both were highly valued as teammates and despised as opponents. The problem was that Rove had political friends everywhere, including Al Gore's campaign manager. Democrats publicly lamented the lack of a Dick Cheney on their team, but were too prideful to do the same for someone who had stung them as much as Rove.
The man who George W. Bush deemed "The Architect" of his campaigns was not afraid of delving into the netherworld of the soul. When Bush was on the ropes during the 2000 primaries, Rove summoned his darkest powers in order to crush the momentum of the high-flying McCain "Straight Talk Express." Push polls appeared that asked voters in South Carolina if they would vote for McCain if they knew that he had fathered an illegitimate black child. The child was a girl that John and CIndy McCain had adopted from a Mother Teresa orphange in Bangladesh. Stories appeared that Cindy McCain was addicted to prescription drugs, and that John was mentally unstable from his experiences in Vietnam. Bush upended McCain in South Carolina and went on to secure the nomination.
The team that orchestrated such coldblooded attacks created "Compassionate Conservatism." The moniker was a calculated effort to mitigate the large amount of pandering done by Bush to delve into the big pockets of the far-right and to religious groups. Rove was by no means an idealologue nor religious. He simply knew how to raise large amounts of money and to motivate the base. His push for tort reform both energized reliable Republican voters, and depressed the flow of money from trial lawyers to Democrats.
Attacking the strengths of opponents, and an uncanny sense for the issues that would inflame voters raised Rove's stature to an unprecedented level amongst those who hold political influence. Bush created no less than three offices for Karl to occupy during his time in the White House. The blending of policy with politics was nothing new, but had never been done with such precision and effect.
Rove's lowest schemes have never borne his fingerprints, but all those who were closely involved either winked or turned blue in the face with the knowledge that Rove was the man behind the curtain. His arsenal of outrageous tricks now seem cliche, but it was Rove who brought political chicanery into the Space Age.
The 2004 election brought well-timed warnings of impending terrorist attacks, and the triumph of a fringe group that questioned John Kerry's heroics in Vietnam. Fishy connections between e-mail servers and voting machines raised eyebrows in Ohio, the state where Bush ultimately secured his second term.
Rove also got caught in the middle of the outing of a covert CIA operative, but managed to escape punishment. He is still being called on the carpet for the firing of several of U.S. Attorneys that were motivated by political reasons. It is ironic that so many politicians find themselves under scrutiny for being politically motivated.
A wise professor in the Midwest described Rove as a polemicist and conjured up images of Rasputin. One writer declared Rove to be the Joseph Goebbels of the United States. Should Rove be loathed for his lack of a moral compass when it comes to matters of competition? Should he be awed and feared for his quest for, and use of, power? What about the fact that Rove is just a human being?
Rove embarassed himself with his steadfast insistence that the Republicans would retain both houses in 2006. This ignomimious defeat marked the beginning of the end of Mr. Rove's reign over Washington. His dream of establishing a permanent Republican majority were ruined. Rove exited before the end of Bush's second term.
Rove enjoys a producitve post-White House career writing for Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. His work has earned accolades from across the political spectrum. Rove's imploring of Republicans to embrace Barack Obama when he is in the right has come across as genuine, and has helped humanize the monster. Rove is also busy laying the groundwork for an eventual Republican ressurection. Do not count out the nerd, especially if he finds another cool customer to guide to the summit.
Coming up next: An Interlude: George W. Bush and his use of the English language
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