Tag Archives: Karl Rove

Some Idle Thoughts on the National Election

1. Barack Hussein Obama, the ‘Community Organizer’.

Remember the ridicule from the Rethugs on this meme? Like he was some two-bit operator pocketing suspect government contracts? Well, Obama effectively organized by far the best grassroots organization ever, and he and his political team have effectively trained hundreds of brilliant community organizers who will be running insurgent campaigns for the foreseeable future. And doing great work outside of the field of politics. BTW, many of these brilliant and idealistic organizers will also populate ballots themselves for the next twenty years or so. Guess what? He is a great community organizer, only the community is the entire country. Or, at least, every tiny community in every swing battleground state in the country.

2. Obama Benefited from Rethug Racism.

I was shocked by how many of the R surrogates and talk show buffoons continued to perpetuate racial stereotypes, most notable John Sununu’s claim after the first debate that Obama was stupid and lazy. There can be little doubt that they really believed that Obama somehow is inferior based on their long-held racial beliefs. The delicious irony, of course, is that Obama turned it to his advantage, much like the protagonist in Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man”. I honestly believe that this unrelenting racism is one of the key reasons why RWNJ’s are so shocked today. I’ve got news for them: During his presidential campaigns, Obama was always the smartest guy in the room. As my daughters would say, “Deal with it”.

3. Rachel Is God(dess).

I’m usually a channel switcher on election nights. Gotta have the latest. Gotta, gotta, gotta. But Rachel Maddow was a force of nature last night, and I never switched. I am in awe. She so easily wove so many threads and instantaneously cut to the latest key new piece of information.  She was as animated and sharp at 1:30 in the morning as she was at 6 p.m. I loved the MSNBC panel, and was especially impressed with Lawrence O’Donnell. But Rachel Maddow established herself as by far the best TV journalist (and election night anchor) working today. I love her.

4. Karl Rove Crying All the Way to the Bank.

I didn’t come up with this idea. But suppose, just suppose, that Karl Rove’s intent with Citizens United was never to elect a whole host of Rovians (although I’m sure he wouldn’t have minded), but to line his pockets with tens of millions of dollars. He has accomplished that mission, and I congratulate him. Especially since the people being ‘ripped off’ were shadowy Rethug types trying to launder their campaign contributions.

More to come as I think of it…

The Party That Cried Wolf

So I read this today…

American Crossroads and its affiliate Crossroads GPS are going up today with their biggest paid media push so far in the 2012 cycle, with a $16 million one-week buy on TV and radio in eight presidential battlegrounds and four Senate contests, POLITICO has learned.

On the presidential level, American Crossroads will spend $11 million on a spot called “Actually Happened,” which focuses on the impact that President Obama said the stimulus would have on the unemployment rate. The spot features a man using charts and graphics to show where the president said unemployment would be around now, under 5.5 percent, compared to where it is, at 8.1 percent.

And, after reading the article, all I can manage is a shrug.  Four years ago I would have been blogging furiously about this. ( I would also gleefully be pointing out that the graph in this ad showing unemployment figures was moving downward.)  I would have been calling everyone to arms.  And while I’m not advocating for complacency – because GOTV efforts and countering these ads is critically, vitally important – I will point out that after the last four years of Republican hysteria over everything Obama I’m kinda numb to it.  And I’m starting to think the American people are as well.

For four years we’ve heard Republicans screaming hysterically about how the ACA would create Death Panels and Kill Grandmom.  We’ve heard from the Birthers (and are still hearing from them) and watched as they launched investigations and went to court trying to oust the Kenyan Usurper.  We listened as Reverend Wright morphed into “foreign” and “not American” to “Food Stamp President” to a thousand more ways to make Obama the scary “other.”  We have heard lies about Obama raising taxes; lies about ending work requirements for welfare, lies about giving black people cell phones.  We’ve even heard that Obama’s father isn’t his real father.  There are many more examples, but I don’t have all year to write this post!

And it’s these lies combined with a unprecedented level of sustained hysteria that has me feeling numb.  No one can take this constant outrage seriously.  There’s simply too much.  If everything is an outrage, then nothing is.  And that’s a problem.  When you cry wolf all the flippin’ time people stop listening… They also stop believing you.

Seriously?

You can read Rove’s editorial, “Obama’s Campaign Will Take The Low Road” at the Wall Street Journal if you want. Some lowlights are:

He will distort beyond recognition his opponent’s arguments.

[snip]

No honest differences are possible with Mr. Obama. He will impugn the motives of any who disagree with him.

[snip]

Mr. Obama will build entire edifices on top of one fake premise, all dressed up in one big phony assumption.

You get the picture.

Is Karl Rove Setting Up a “Shadow RNC”?

This story has apparently been bouncing around for a few weeks, but has just recently come to my attention. It’s no secret that many old guard, big money Republicans have been less than thrilled with the leadership ability shown by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. And while many big donors have been avoiding or threatening to avoid the RNC, Steele’s unique qualification (i.e., he’s black) seems to make him unfireable. So, what’s a big time, power-hungry GOPer to do if he doesn’t want to work with the RNC? Start your own!

Well, that seems to be pretty much what Karl Rove, Mike Duncan (Steele’s predecessor as RNC head), Ed Gillespie (another former RNC Chairman and Bush White House Counselor), and Steve Laws (former general counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) have done. TPM reports:

There is growing worry that a mysterious new Republican political action committee formed by Bush-era heavyweights including Karl Rove could harm the Republican National Committee down the line. As we’ve been reporting about the RNC’s woes and chairman Michael Steele’s tenure, more and more GOPers tell me that Rove’s new “American Crossroads” group spells trouble.

“That is very destructive to the party,” a former very high-ranking RNC official told me in an interview today. The official said the group, which already has $30 million in donor pledges but does not seem to have an active Web site, will have broad implications for the RNC if it is successful during this election cycle.

The former official told me that my story about Steele sparring with Rove and his allies offers a glimpse at where the new group is headed. “They are gathering the sinews of power and drawing off RNC resources. If they have the power, the party will have to turn back to them for leadership,” he said.

Another TPM story delves into some of the backstory on the split, namely that many Bush-era Republicans are upset at how Steele cleaned them out of the RNC when he took over.

As I was putting this post together, the thought occurred to me, “So what?” We’re all aware that the GOP is being pulled in different directions, with various groups vying for the soul of the Party. I think the most interesting part of this story is how quickly the disgraced Bushies have returned to reclaim their control of the party. They’re the reason the GOP is in such disarray. Now, with Obama-reaction Michael Steele driving the party even deeper into the hole, Rove and his merry band of Bushies are back, mounting credible competition to the “party establishment” after only two years. Did anyone else expect to see someone like Rove back so soon?