Karl Rove Should Claim He Was Tripping on Ambien When He Talked to Cooper
Karl Rove, BOY GENIUS, has a plan to retain control of Congress: Drag everyone down with his boss. At least, that's what it reads like. Jim Rutenberg's Note-baiting must-read runs with a "Rove is done focusing on policy minutia and is running around the country personally winning every single congressional race" narrative, but the most instructive paragraph comes rather late in the game, when we learn this:
He has focused in particular on uniting them behind the administration's proposals to overhaul immigration, which include guest worker provisions that conservatives despise; the Iraq war, which has driven Mr. Bush's poll numbers sharply downward; and the Medicare prescription drug program, which the administration says will cost $872 billion from 2006 to 2014 and which Mr. Bush backed enthusiastically despite complaints from conservatives that it was a vast expansion of the social welfare state.
Ok, if Rovewasa campaign genius, wouldn't he be encouraging the ol' "denounce the Prez to retain your seat" trick, which is surely the go-to position for anyone with a seat on the line this year? Where is he finding Republicans dumb enough to unite behind Bush's least popular proposals? Hell, this guy just lost his primary, but we're pretty sure even he found Bush's immigration plan to be half-assed and pandering. Of course, what you're gonna get from a piece whose primary source is plainly Karl himself is self-serving spin. We just wonder if he'll remember talking to Rutenberg 2 1/2 years from now without the aid of an archived email.
The far more entertaining Rove article today is in thePost . It explains why he might be a little distracted -- there's this guy who keeps threatening to indict him! And all because he said something demonstrably false to a Grand Jury. Ain't no justice in this town.