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Breaking News
Rove Email Leaks: Ideological War Opens in GOP
An info dump sent after GOP candidate nominated.
(Page 8 of 8)
You can’t get much more Establishment Republican than being Mitch McConnell.
This entire episode is inviting trouble.
One remembers in the long ago when the Bush 41 White House was quietly discussing breaking 41’s no new taxes pledge. The Bush White House sent the signal that they saw the President as politically invincible.
Untouchable.
The President who once had a popularity rating hovering around 90% so infuriated the conservative base he wound up with 37% of the vote as he lost to an underdog Bill Clinton in 1992.
Lesson?
No one is untouchable in politics.
No one.
Not the Establishment Republican elite.
Not Senator McConnell.
And not Karl Rove.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (131) | Leave a comment
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Robbins Mitchell| 2.12.13 @ 6:31AM
The longer Tokyo Rove sticks around,the more I grow to despise him....all he is trying to do is stay relevant nearly 10 yrs after he actually ran a winning campaign....ideology?...he doesn't have one...only overweening self interest
Gary B| 2.12.13 @ 8:04AM
Like I've said, the Republican Party is a decades-long, false flag operation.
Quartermaster| 2.13.13 @ 12:52PM
It' has been that way since the GOP was founded. It's first president, Lincoln, was a man of low political cunning and a consumate crony capitalist. Most GOP presidents look back to that slug with nostalgia.
Paul A'Barge | 2.13.13 @ 2:49PM
Really, dude. With an attitude like that you belong, ... well, somewhere else. Isn't there some place else on the planet you could bugger off to?
Larry E| 2.12.13 @ 1:30PM
Larry E| 2.12.13 @ 9:07AM
That movement conservatives tend to be philosophical conservatives, animated by transcendent principles escapes both Establishment Republicans and those "conservatives" who regularly, though inaccurately, call for adherence to the "Buckley Rule".
Because principle, rather than a grasping need for power motivates movement Conservatives we cannot long countenance voting for candidates whose speeches, legislative record and general worldview are anything but conservative.
We simply cannot continue engaging in a behavior so fundamentally at odds with our core beliefs. Cognitive dissonance has increasingly found its cure among philosophical conservatives through the action of inaction. Avoiding the voting booth.
There are those who advise us to adapt our philosophy to a changing electorate (though offering little evidence that the conservative message is actually irrelevant ... running a moderate who sometimes makes conservative noises as he feints to the right does not a conservative make) in order to win elections.
Toward what end? If the proposition 2+2=6 is untrue, they seem content to offer instead the proposition that 2+2=5. While it is true that 5 is an answer nearer to correct, it's still wrong. All wrong.
This provides for the "ratcheting effect" Thatcher observed decades ago. Though the speed at which we plunge over the cliff's edge has slowed, the direction remains unchanged.
Larry E| 2.12.13 @ 1:30PM
Power is not our aim. A Constitutional Renaissance is. That will be encouraged by a passionate devotion to the principles of liberty framed by the Constitution and explored within the Federalist Papers.
darcy| 2.13.13 @ 2:15PM
Good for you, Larry E; perfectly stated. And I agree with Gary B that the Republican Party is running a Stalinist false-flag operation, pretending conservatism while plotting statism.
As for the Bushes, Mr. Lord, I'm afraid they're not the naifs -- vis a vis the progressive/liberal agenda -- that you portray them as. The statist agenda is not promoted by "nice" people; it's promoted by ruling class megalomaniacs who will rob us of our liberty to achieve their aims.
Paul A'Barge | 2.13.13 @ 2:51PM
When a guy starts yammering on and on and ends up with the old 2+2 thing and it's not 4 I'm sorry but I just have to turn away. Mustn't look at the horror.
7-08| 2.12.13 @ 7:00AM
Thank you Mr. Lord, it is refreshing to actually wake up in the morning and read something that is not boiler plate. Maybe your truths will set us free from the establishment minions such as Rove.
fmm| 2.12.13 @ 11:42AM
The feature writer I most look forward to on this site is Mr. Lord. Would that the others do as much research for their articles.
Jack in Wi| 2.12.13 @ 7:05AM
Pretty good work Jeff. The Bush-Rove McConnell gang has to be shown the door. It hasn't got the answers to America's problems. We need a real opposition party, not more of the same. Conservatism used to have some intellectual heft. It has been highjacked by technocrats, crooks, and lightweights.
Larry E| 2.12.13 @ 7:21AM
This piece provides information essential to an understanding of the GOP (at present) which penetrates the fog so cleverly created by those whose grasping makes them brothers to the Left.
Thank you Mr. Lord for such meticulously researched and substantive intelligence briefings so critical to conservatives during this necessary war against creeping tyranny. Against those whose personal ambitions place at risk our individual liberties.
Please, keep up the good and ... watch your back.
Pecos Pete| 2.12.13 @ 7:35AM
Rove and McConnell are part of the Ruling Class. They are protecting their status and power ... and flow of riches. They need to be consigned to the dust bin of history, the sooner the better.
Joellen| 2.12.13 @ 7:58AM
Thank you Mr. Lord, you are truly the lone voice that needs to be heard.
Rove = wolf in sheep's clothing. Be alert all, deception surrounds us.
Stevet| 2.12.13 @ 8:44AM
No, Joellen, notwithstanding Mr Lord's great work, Mark Levin has also been exposing Rove's perfidy and mendacity.
Woodrow| 2.12.13 @ 10:38AM
SteveT - Appreciate your point but Jeffrey Lord is the credible voice speaking out against Rove. If Mark Levin could make his points without sounding like a maniac, he would considered credible as well.
loulou| 2.12.13 @ 11:05AM
Mark Levin is an extremely effective communicator.
There's nothing maniacal about Levin. I prefer him to a mealymouth.
Woodrow| 2.12.13 @ 11:41AM
Fair enough, loulou. "Maniac" was too strong a word. Let me put it this way: for me, Mark Levin is good to read, but hard to listen to.
Joellen| 2.12.13 @ 1:30PM
I humbly stand corrected Stevet - Mark Levin is a GREAT American whose ability to castrate the liberals in his educational way is awe inspiring.
darcy| 2.13.13 @ 2:18PM
You got that right, Joellen.
Von Mises Jr| 2.12.13 @ 10:29AM
Americans for Prosperity several years ago led a group to DC to visit McConnell's Office. He was on the floor of the Senate about to re-instate earmarks. There were so many of us in his Office that they could hardly close the door. As we sincerely promised that we would primary Republicans and the TEA Party would fund them, McConnell acquiesced while on the Floor of the Senate. But his intent was to buy votes and keep the Establishment cronyism alive.
As for Rover, he is a POS. And that is not an acronym for Point of Sale.
John Navratil| 2.12.13 @ 11:41AM
Von Mises Jr.,
I once wrote, to much derision, that we might come to like earmarks - just not the ones slipped into a bill in the dead of night.
Obama will be spending the money he was through Executive Orders mandating his departments spend as he wishes. Of course that's easier with no budget; just CRs. Congress has given up so much of its budget authority to unelected bureaucrats that this sorry state of a quasi-king run amok with the public fisc was bound to happen.
The Congress must rein in this authority by taking control of the budget at the level of detail provided by earmarks. Unfortunately, they will have to figure out ways to get this past Reid. I figure it's either government shutdown or capitulation. My money is on capitulation.
Big Bob| 2.12.13 @ 12:38PM
And this has what to do with the topic???
John Navratil| 2.12.13 @ 3:50PM
Big Bob,
I was responding to Von Mises Jr when he said "He was on the floor of the Senate about to re-instate earmarks" in his post. Isn't that relevant?
Nancy in NC| 2.12.13 @ 7:45AM
Rove views himself as a "king" maker when in truth he backs losers. The GOP should distance themselves far from Rove. He's a loser with no principles and embodies everything that is wrong with the GOP.
Doctor Right| 2.12.13 @ 7:53AM
There is concern that what Rove is seeking to do is build a Shadow Republican Party — a decidedly "Establishment GOP. An Establishment GOP that is effectively built in the image of all those repeatedly losing presidential candidates, not to mention the Establishment losers supported by American Crossroads in recent elections."
That's exactly what's going on. And that's why I'm now convinced that the ONLY way to fix the GOP is to leave the GOP.
Send the establishments a message once and for all.
And of they want us back, then there must be real change.
The Big E| 2.12.13 @ 9:02AM
I completely agree. The GOP is dead. A new, conservative party would immediately be a far more effective opposition without it, and would, before 2014, relegate the GOP, and Karl Rove, and all his little quislings to the political ash heap.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.12.13 @ 9:38AM
Agreed.
Grzmlyk| 2.12.13 @ 11:37AM
I heard Scott Rasmussen on the Peter Schiff show yesterday - he was talking about how his polling finds that most Americans are center-right.
I think he's an unusually reliable pollster, but I question his findings, and I pose the following rhetorical question to prove it: If we're a center-right country, why are we a left-wing social democracy (and moving further left every day at the speed of light)?
One only has to look at any and every aspect of our culture to see the sad, sad truth.
And politics follows culture - it is NOT the other way around. Therfore, the reason the GOP is basically a counterfeit of the Democrat party is because, as a body politic, we WANT a nanny state; we're happy with the status quo and we want more goodies. Sure, we like to rail against spending, but we don't want our own oxes gored.
Grzmlyk| 2.12.13 @ 11:38AM
(cont'd)
This is just one of the insidious effects of statism - it corrupts otherwise decent, hard-working people. Rove recognizes this and wants a seat at the power table (after all, from his perspective this is not about America at the crossroad, it's about keeping himself relevant and wealthy), so he poses as a conservative while advocating the very things conservatism detests.
Liberalism is a juggernaut - look at Kasich caving a couple of weeks ago on Obamacare. The gravy train is now unstoppable and you either get on it or get under it. Only when it crashes - and it is going to crash - will we even have a prayer of turning things around. But, with a culture now entirely ensconced in an utterly false reality, I am not optimistic. We are following every other empire into oblivion.
Anthony| 2.12.13 @ 11:55AM
Well said Grzmlyk, but I think it's more a function of the passiveness on the part of most Americans who do not wish to see this country devolve into leftist hell, but do nothing to stop it.
I agree politics does indeed follow culture, and our culture is dominated by pillars of corruption that have rotted out America.
Honest, decent and hard working Americans are not ones prone or motivated to rise and take charge of things, unless and until the critical mass has been reached.
I think we are there, and it will only take one brave individual, like the Dr. at the prayer breakfast, to set in motion the forces of rationality and decency.
Grzmlyk| 2.12.13 @ 12:25PM
I agree that passivity is a problem - and I hope I'm wrong - but I don't think it's most Americans; in fact, I think those who would like to see America on a different course are in the distinct minority, and their numbers are dwindling.
Nixon talked of the "silent majority;" I once believed it. No more. And we've moved leftward by two or three galaxies since then.
There's a reason we've allowed our culture to march ever further leftward; it is the false consciousness that has infected us and is nothing less than a psychic pandemic worse than the Black Death of the dark ages. Nobody has the courage to speak out against the most outrageous liberalism because the pillars of corruption have rendered any dissenting opinion worthy of ridicule and ostracism. We've agreed to define reality as something other than reality; the silence of the sane few is assent.
I'll be curious to see what happens to Dr. Carson. He's already being pilloried by the left. He'll be accused of being an Uncle Tom, a house boy for the GOP, a fool, whatever - and I wouldn't be surprised if he's driven out of his position at Johns Hopkins.
Tragically, I think the forces of rationality and decency have been permanently banished by America and will not make a comeback until this whole house of cards collapses and reality emerges from the rubble. But my guess is that, in time, we'd go right back to this collective hypnosis that is ultimately suicidal. Such is human nature.
Anthony| 2.12.13 @ 1:05PM
Grzmlyk, CJW, We are indeed being marginalized by the media and the leftists, no doubt about that. Obozo is indeed out to finally finish off the R Party, as weak and pathetic as it is.
Being a conservative is portrayed daily as fringe politics by a concerted effort of the media and D elites.
While it's true conservatives wish to live and let live, as opposed to intolerant lefties, the fact is, if we do not get our asses out of the boiling pot before it's too late, we will be boiled alive.
I pray we wake up before we're served up for dinner.
That said, I am becoming convinced that Grzmlyk is correct, that indeed we have lost the battle and only a total collapse will trigger a backlash, one that will be mighty nasty to observe.
CJW| 2.12.13 @ 12:14PM
Mr G, Anthony
We may be center right in our beliefs but the majority still believes this is the best country to live in. While we complain about taxes and increasing government control the majority are satisfied with the status quo.
As Dr Sowell repeatedly points out, the "poor" in our country are rich compared to the rest of the world, in that they have a house, appliances, color tvs, cell phones, medical care, food stamps, ete.
Most people simply do not care about the increasing government control, and get upset only about taxes, and if there is a war that may affect them personally by having their family members in the military.
We are a fat, well contended nation. But what drives the lefties is their ideological zeal to impose their will. Look at Obama. We conservatives do not have that same zeal to impose our will throught the government. We want the government to leave us alone. Our campaign rhetoric to cut the government and you take care of yourself does not sound as attractive as the Dems promising to take care of every aspect of your life, from condoms to health care to jobs, etc.
Grzmlyk| 2.12.13 @ 12:27PM
You stated it perfectly, CJW. I agree completely.
darcy| 2.13.13 @ 2:43PM
How many intelligent, thinking, conservatives really understand the role played by the Italian, Gramsci, and the Frankfurt School -- Marcuse, Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Critical Theory, and the Institute for Social Research -- in undermining the moral fabric of our nation? How many conservatives can articulate, persuasively, to fog-headed friends, relatives, or co-workers, that our moral rot is the result of concerted efforts by anti-capitalists to destroy America from within? and that our fiscal nightmare is rooted in immorality run amok?
How many conservatives understand that when mainline churches abandoned the Bible, Marxist tools rushed in to feed the people lies?
JONVIL| 2.15.13 @ 3:32PM
Well Said!
Hardcard| 2.12.13 @ 8:13AM
Mr. Hannity please dump rove before he drags you down, send him to join big dick morris to where they belong with the socialists aholes in the sewer stream media.
Maxwell| 2.12.13 @ 8:22AM
How many people here will forward this article to Sean? Will Hannity have the stones to call out Rove with all of this info? Just asking.
loulou| 2.12.13 @ 10:08AM
Hannity is just following orders. Apparently Fox News has decided that they like Rove.
I couldn't believe he had the nerve to surface again on Fox--not after his tantrum on election night 2012.
Watch Fox's numbers go down.
Von Mises Jr| 2.12.13 @ 10:37AM
Chris Wallace (a flaming liberal) had two highly distinguished (NOT) Congressmen on Sunday. When he announces Nancy Pelosi (who said we have a deficit, not a spending problem and thinks the First Amendment secures gun rights) along with Elmer Fudd McLame, I put on the fishing channel. If you combined both their IQ's you wouldn't make three digits.
Last night while watching Cavuto, if I recall correctly since I only watch the FBN, Rover was coming on. I read a book.
It seems like the AM Radio and sites such as TAS are the only ones worth visiting any more. So thank you Jeffrey Lord for doing God's work.
bustunloose| 2.12.13 @ 10:57AM
What ya reading ? Something Rush wrote 20 years ago. Bunker mentality right wing nuts. Get some fresh air and read my lips you will not take over the GOP ou small minded, twisted true believers in nonsense. You soul mates are the Green party-so form your glorious Conservative party get your one per cent and leave the the rational, broader thinking, pragmatic and politically competetive GOP alone.
Drunken Sailor| 2.12.13 @ 11:52AM
I smell troll
Grzmlyk| 2.12.13 @ 12:42PM
Hm. Chris Matthews before his first cup of coffee, perhaps? Almost as inarticulate and definitely as unhinged.
TNcracker | 2.13.13 @ 10:34PM
Politically competitive GOP?? What are you smoking?
Anthony| 2.12.13 @ 11:43AM
Agreed Von, Wallace is sickening to watch. His browbeating of La Pierre two weeks ago finally finished FOX News Sunday for me.
Wallace is an establishment toad and low rent "journalist" like his father was. He might as well have been a CNN news babe reading Amnesty International talking points.
When the POS admitted that he sent his kids to Sidwell Friends, when they were young, but he never saw armed guards, I almost threw up on my TV.
Are you suprised Mr. Kiwi black shoe polish for hair didn't pick up on Pelosi's ignorance of the 2nd Amendment? I'm not, Wallace is part of the Washington establishment that admires Madam Botox for brains and the rest of the reprehensible Ds.
Louis Jenkins| 2.12.13 @ 3:59PM
Wallace told LaPierre to stop talking about the extra security that Obama's kids received. He told LaPierre that he was errant in bring up the topic. But then, aren't we all created equal? Doesn't our children deserve as much as Obama's or Chris Cristy's, or any children for that matter, receive? Obviously, there is a strata envolved here. And the commoners, our children, are not on the same level as Obama's or Chris Christy's children. That pisses me off, and should make a lot of you angry. It goes against the pure theory that we all are created equal. Obviously we are not.
Cobalt| 2.12.13 @ 11:46AM
You are correct, V M Jr.
Almost all of the network people are a joke. They are so politically correct, and dishonest. They never ask tough questions, when the subject is Obama and his cronies.
Bill O'Reilly could be a lot more critical of Obama that he is, and Bob Schieffer, a nice guy, never asks a tough question; however, I think Brian Willliams, another nice guy, may be the most irritating anchor on television.
bustunloose| 2.12.13 @ 10:51AM
So ya gonna replace Mitch with what ? Another Akin or OD or Angle orwas it Engle ? You idiots-Senator Judd anyone ? You people belong in a loony bin.
loulou| 2.12.13 @ 11:08AM
Calm down, calm down. You're going to suffer from apoplexy if you're not careful.
Von Mises Jr| 2.12.13 @ 11:18AM
Ignore the troll loulou. The moron can't even construct a sentence.
bustunloose| 2.12.13 @ 11:34AM
Neither could those dopes you insisted we run for Senate. WE ARE COMING FOR YOU AND GONNA KICK YOUR SORRY ASSES OUT OF THE GOP. BEAT IT-YOU ARE 8% OF ELECTORATE AT BEST. Go the way of the Geen Party-PLEASE !
Woodrow| 2.12.13 @ 11:50AM
bustonloose - Please continue. In a perverted sort of way, it's amusing to witness the face of today's Democrat party.
Drunken Sailor| 2.12.13 @ 11:53AM
Karl????? Don't you have some ass to kiss somewhere?
Grzmlyk| 2.12.13 @ 11:44AM
I quit watching Hannity years ago. His vanity knows no bounds, and he was never a thinker. He's simply a regurgitator of dogma.
Yes, he comes down on the right side (as far as I'm concerned) of many issues, but so what? He's an unthinking block. His job at Fox is to get ratings - not to provoke thought or put forth quality arguments. He's an entertainer who occasionally makes a good point in spite of his own shallowness.
Alan| 2.12.13 @ 8:55PM
Thank you, well said. The guy is a bore,a non-thinking imbecile. He's not even a good entertainer. He's akin to being lectured by a museum display for three hours a day.
bustunloose| 2.13.13 @ 1:40PM
Gets killed debating economy-even by that cement head Ed Rendell.
Jacob McCandles| 2.12.13 @ 8:28AM
Rove is an elitist. Someone like O'Donnell, who is not a Bush blue blood, isn't fit for his version of the republican party. That's what the real issue is. Conservative leadership requires backbone and principle, not a pHd or Rhodes scholarship. Balancing the budget, maintaining a strong military, and honoring the constitution. It's not rocket science.
TNRebelRouser| 2.12.13 @ 8:30AM
I have stopped watching Sean Hannity on Fox and I no longert listen to his radio program due to his persistance on pushing the likes of Karl Rove on his viewers/listeners. I no longer contribute to the RNC and will NEVER vote for a RINO again. I'm still chewing tums after voting for McCain and Romney and I have serious doubts that I will ever regain my conservative dignity after shaming myself for casting those two votes. I will seek my absolution by donating/campaigning for true conservatives in future elections and will include in that a sizable contribution to the conservative that may choose to run against Mitch McConnel in KY. It's the least that I can do.
Larry E| 2.12.13 @ 9:07AM
That movement conservatives tend to be philosophical conservatives, animated by transcendent principles escapes both Establishment Republicans and those "conservatives" who regularly, though inaccurately, call for adherence to the "Buckley Rule".
Because principle, rather than a grasping need for power motivates movement Conservatives we cannot long countenance voting for candidates whose speeches, legislative record and general worldview are anything but conservative.
We simply cannot continue engaging in a behavior so fundamentally at odds with our core beliefs. Cognitive dissonance has increasingly found its cure among philosophical conservatives through the action of inaction. Avoiding the voting booth.
There are those who advise us to adapt our philosophy to a changing electorate (though offering little evidence that the conservative message is actually irrelevant ... running a moderate who sometimes makes conservative noises as he feints to the right does not a conservative make) in order to win elections.
Toward what end? If the proposition 2+2=6 is untrue, they seem content to offer instead the proposition that 2+2=5. While it is true that 5 is an answer nearer to correct, it's still wrong. All wrong.
This provides for the "ratcheting effect" Thatcher observed decades ago. Though the speed at which we plunge over the cliff's edge has slowed, the direction remains unchanged.
Larry E| 2.12.13 @ 9:08AM
Power is not our aim. A Constitutional Renaissance is. That will be encouraged by a passionate devotion to the principles of liberty framed by the Constitution and explored within the Federalist Papers.
JimmyMac1948| 2.12.13 @ 8:50AM
Regarding Christine O'Donnell, Rove wasn't the only conservative who was aghast. Charles Krauthammer called the debacle from the get-go. Conservatives need to follow William F. Buckley's rule: ack the most electable consrvative. Ideological purity may give you O'Donnell over Cadtle but in the end it gets you someone farther to the left. WRT Steve King, he may not sell well throughout Iowa. Michele Bachman only sells in her district. While Republicans need to heed Reagan's dictum to never speak ill of another Republican (think of the presidential primaries) it doesn't pay to put forward marginal candidates for seats that should be slamdunks.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.12.13 @ 9:25AM
As a Delawarean who voted for O'Donnell in the 2010 primary over Castle, I have posted extensively (some might say excessively) on the issue. When I was given a choice (and Castle's 2010 primary was the first time in 40+ years of elective office that Republican primary voters were given a choice about Castle), I expressed my preference.
As I posted here in 2010, though, if the results were reversed, and Castle had been victorious, I would have voted for him. That he refused to back O'Donnell, despite speaking of the need for post-primary party unity before the results were counted, validated for me why he did not get my primary vote.
Paul A'Barge | 2.12.13 @ 12:39PM
If you want real choices when you vote quit whining and move to places like Oklahoma, Arkansas or Texas. O'Donnell is a raving loon and you know it.
TLP| 2.12.13 @ 2:22PM
As opposed to who?
Nancy Pelosi?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.12.13 @ 5:13PM
In 2010, Bill Maher released footage from the 1990s where Christine O'Donnell stated that in the early 1980s (as a teenager) she dabbled in witchcraft, helping to solidify the impression that she was an unstable attention magnet.
In 2013 (and every moment before), every time that Nancy Pelosi opens her mouth (and I'm thinking with all the Botox, that takes some effort), she confirms that not only does she meet the description of raving loon and unstable attention magnet, but many less flattering descriptions as well.
Had Christine O'Donnell won, she would have become one of 100 Senators. For four years, Nancy Pelosi was two heartbeats away from President.
...Scary...
Paul A'Barge | 2.13.13 @ 2:58PM
See if you can hold the following two thoughts in your mind at the same time: (1) Christine O'Donnell is a loon. (2) Nancy Pelosi is a raving loon.
Grimace really hard. I know you can do it.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.12.13 @ 5:03PM
Perhaps, Mr. A'Barge, you can point out for me which part of my post qualifies as whining.
I have pointed out previously that my vote in the primary was as much against Castle as it was for O'Donnell, whom I knew to be flawed (though raving loon is not how I would characterize her), and he went on to prove he earned my lack of support.
I have lived in Oklahoma, and spent time in Arkansas and Texas. They are all fine places, though I don't plan to abandon my place of birth where I chose to return until I am sure it is beyond salvation.
For me, to stay and continue to fight is a real choice.
Warrior| 2.12.13 @ 5:38PM
Describe a virgin in from Arkansas (works for Oklahoma too).
An ugly third grader or a 11 year old sister who can outrun her 12 year old brother.
Paul A'Barge | 2.13.13 @ 2:56PM
Let it go. And move back to Texas (or Oklahoma or Arkansas). The fight where you are is over and we lost.
loulou| 2.12.13 @ 10:17AM
Krauthammer, brilliant as he is, is an establishment hack. He enjoys the DC social life and never wants to jeopardize that. He follows the party line and that's all I expect from him.
I donated to O'Donnell even though I don't live in DE. A true conservative would find Castle unacceptable.
Regarding Reagan's dictum--Romney the RINO was the most vicious of all the primary candidates.
Strange how he got himself castrated by the time the general election came around.
bustunloose| 2.13.13 @ 1:45PM
Castl would be Sen# 46. That is all you need to care about in these perilous times. He was not a crazed money burner by the way-he some semblance of spending discipline-that is good enough for that state. Really-unacceptable. Your on the Titanic and refuse to go aboard the purple life boat-the color is unacceptable-LOONY.
John Navratil| 2.12.13 @ 11:49AM
JimmyMac1948,
Ideological purity seems to work for the Dems. Why not for the Republicans? Because we've listened to the arguments that the candidate may be weak on abortion, but he is a good conservative. Or he's give a bit on spending to preserve a strong military. The list of compromises is endless. Glenn Beck, before 2008, said something along the lines of if you compromise on a candidate, you get a compromised candidate.
I understand the Buckley Rule just fine. It's meaning has been co-opted to "run the party candidate and ignore the electorate". Recent election results seem to support my thesis. The proof of the pudding is in the number of people who have joined my twenty year practice of not sending any money to the party.
bustunloose| 2.13.13 @ 1:48PM
Really ever heard of Hiedi from where-North Dakota-she ran as a righty-and promply voted for Reid. That is all they want from her you dope.
CJW| 2.12.13 @ 8:57AM
Rove is overrated. He almost lost the 2000 election by not disclosing during or before the primaries Bush's DUI. The Dems disclosed it the weekend before the election, and Bush's numbers fell. If it were not for Ralph Nader as the third party candidate in Florida, Aljazeera Gore would be president.
In 2004 the evangelicals voted in record numbers for Bush, and Kerry was a lousy candidate.
Rove's reputation rests on Bush winning.
loulou| 2.12.13 @ 10:18AM
Barely winning.
bustunloose| 2.12.13 @ 11:28AM
How many did the Dems barely win latley ? Col. West-still big hit up the side of the head. So many-yeah they cheat-but just a few more moderats come our way-so much better.
George True| 2.12.13 @ 1:51PM
Troll. Parroting the usual leftist false narrative talking points. Polly wanna cracker?
bustunloose| 2.13.13 @ 1:50PM
Just can't face reality can you ?
MarkJeff| 2.12.13 @ 9:21AM
Thanks Mr. Lord. Your pieces are very long, but very thorough. There is something about Rove I just don't trust, and he needs to be pushed out of the way, tossed overboard, or thrown under the bus. He has jumped the shark.
loulou| 2.12.13 @ 10:18AM
Lord's reporting is superb. His pieces are not long. Do you ever read books?
Doctor Right| 2.12.13 @ 10:44AM
LOL!
Yes, Mr. Lord, by all means...make it into a Tweet!
obadiah| 2.12.13 @ 9:25AM
Senator O'Donnell is getting ready to reveal the truth about Karl Rove. It isn't just that "Rove has now been positively identified by Texans as both a Ford supporter in 1976 and a Bush supporter in 1980." In fact, all along, Rove has been a MOLE with a real allegiance to the leftists and marxists. She found the evidence in her bushes.
mwv| 2.12.13 @ 9:37AM
I'm glad someone else besides me is noticing these things. I unsubscribed from Newt's email when he threw Doug Hoffmann under the bus, and later did the same with Rove, and stopped reading his columns in the WSJ. I did think the uproar over O'Donnell was ridiculous on both sides. It showed how terrified the media was of the new conservative uprising, and the arrogance of the establishment "conservatives." Yes, she made mistakes, but what I'll remember from the whole thing is just what Mr Lord is discussing now. Forward!
missbosslady| 2.12.13 @ 10:07AM
Ha!
I too shot out an email to Rove the same night of the Hannity interview and received a similar, if not identical response. I knew then what many people are discovering now about Rove.
In my opinion, Rove is bad news and understands politics for power's sake only. The sooner he is marginalized the better.
atilla| 2.12.13 @ 10:22AM
KARL ROVE = WEASEL AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT….HE HAS NO CLOUT OR CREDIBILITY!!
KennesawJack| 2.12.13 @ 10:26AM
Karl Rove has become the pivot man in a Democrat Party circle jerk. You know the Obamabots are lovin' this.
Turk| 2.12.13 @ 10:27AM
My addition to Mr Lords piece on Rove/establishment Repubs is the fact that he while in the White House with Bush 2, saw to it that Herman Cain would not be a stellar Black Republican in the US Senate, from the State of Georgia. For those who would respond that Mr Cain had negatives, they could have been defended in a campaign in one state where in the 2012 primaries the smears were uncontrolable. I repeat: a charismatic black businessman was blocked by Rove, in favor an old white guy who would play ball and not rock the boat of the leftist ruling class.
ejp| 2.12.13 @ 10:29AM
I too have stopped listening to Hannity because I can never forgive him for his puffing of Dick Morris and his bogus numbers and claims about an easy Romney victory and lulling people like me into a Pollyanna belief that Romney was going to do it. He lost all credibility with me from that point onward and I haven't listened to him since.
KennesawJack| 2.12.13 @ 10:58AM
Nor I.
Anthony| 2.12.13 @ 10:33AM
It's all an inside the Beltway numbers game with these clowns. Forget ideology and principle,these are foreign concepts to men and woman who have no core beliefs, except winning and maintaining power.
America is dying, and Rs like Rove are stacking and counting the china plates while the Titanic sinks.
What a pathetic bunch of clueless losers.
bustunloose| 2.12.13 @ 11:02AM
Let me see listen to Rove and we have a Senate majority thanks to some people you hate because they are not pure enough. We'd be worse off with that ssenario. Really follow thru on your threats and LEAVE THE GOP1
John Navratil| 2.12.13 @ 11:51AM
bustunloose,
I did that after the Bush-1 tax increase. I still get to vote in the primary though.
bustunloose| 2.13.13 @ 1:53PM
Join the conservative and run-do not sabotage the only viable alternative to the Dems-an inclusion rational pragmatic and sane GOP.
R Martin| 2.12.13 @ 10:35AM
Picking H. W. as his running mate had to be Reagan’s biggest mistake. Ideologically, Bush was totally unsuited to follow Reagan’s lead, and that mistake has reverberated over the decades. A direct line to that fateful pick can be drawn to the Clinton and Obama presidencies and the fiscally reckless veto averse presidency of George W. Bush. Not to mention that Karl Rove is still around pushing the “W” brand of politics.
When such “moderates” (the British term “wets” is so much better) get into power they infect the party with mediocrity, and they metastasize. Sadly, conservatives just seem to lack enough muscle and star power to counter the trend.
canuckistani| 2.12.13 @ 10:42AM
Again, through Lord's effluent, you see kernels of bright lights only to be squandered by ignoring facts and evidence: the current GOP cannot win statewide or national elections in contested regions. Bitching about Rove only obscures the truth of the matter.
The GOP does not have women, non-whites, Jews, even Catholics - all trumping angry white bassmasters term after term. Why? Angry whites have had theirs noses at the trough for generations with farm bills, ludicrous defense jobs programs and pandered to factions in regards to guns and cheap gas. All the while GOP policies on healthcare, China, education and foreign policy have weakened the nation to the point of atrophy. All central policies embraced by baggers and neocons alike.
The problem is the platform is unwinnable.
Demint has cashed in, Kibbe and Armey have shown their true colors and Paul is breathtakingly asking about arms transfers between Libya and a Nato ally Turkey and dimentia-ridden McCain and closet-boy Graham are embarassing themselves.
Central thread: irrelevance is next.
If Lord's wants to spew 3000 word treatises on the halitosis of Rove et al, by all means continue, as it is one more daya and 3000 words fewer on the treatise of how to right the ship and alllow the right to be more than a protest party, but a leadership party.
Simon Templar| 2.12.13 @ 10:55AM
Facts and evidence?
Nothing more than the typical liberal lies, distortions, cartoon characterizations, myths, half truths, and propaganda.
Troll, and nothing more.
canuckistani| 2.12.13 @ 1:40PM
Um, it is Lord arguing amongst the choir, not a marxist to be targeted in his spewage - just the doughboy atheist from Austin.
George S| 2.12.13 @ 1:08PM
This is what happens when you only watch MSNBC. You didn't notice "women, non-whites, Jews, even Catholics" because they cut the cameras when anyone other than a white face was speaking.
If you are so confident in your analysis, how would you like to bet one year's salary that I can name one each "women, non-whites, Jews, even Catholics" Republican?
Thought so.
canuckistani| 2.12.13 @ 1:47PM
It doesn't take one to watch MSNBC to realize that the GOP has a serious demo problem that is only getting worse cycle after cycle.
Drafting Cubans as some salve to the Hispanic void is a clear - and amusing- misunderstanding of that demo, just as neocons make the inconvenient error of lumping persians in with peninsular arabs.
Same goes for women and gays. Empowered groups do not lead to societal concessions, in fact the opposite is true. It is that fundamental flaw in the conservative manifesto that will not return it leadership on a national scale. Supply-side had its day and continued stunts on the margins only creates more confusion as the rest of the world moves on.
axbucxdu| 2.15.13 @ 7:48PM
Right, pander to the state's supplicants just as the treason party does. Great idea slick. Better to just field candidates that can persuade the disaffected half of whitey to get off his indifferent ass and vote. This avoids the need for additional assistance from the other whatevers.
Simon Templar| 2.12.13 @ 10:48AM
Was this not the man that said, "deficits do not matter?" Did his boss George W Bush not say when asked about the conservative movement by a journalist, "What conservative movement?"
He could clear this up in a second by just saying the words on national television, "the Tea Party is the best thing that has ever happened to this country."
He will not, and never will.
Enough said.
mwv| 2.12.13 @ 11:06AM
Another thought: Fair or not, media bias or not,,,deep breath, conservatives do have a PR problem, and Rove is at the top of that list. It seems as if our spokespeople are either a wimpy, pants-worshiping, metrosexual nincompoop (Brooks) or a live-puppy-eating sadistic freak who helped blow up the levees just to watch poor black people suffer. Karl Rove, for the good of the party, needs to retire from the public eye, and just go on the lecture circuit and write the occasional book. And Brooks just needs to come out of the closet and design handbags for the next PBS pledge drive. Not that there's anything wrong with that...
Simon Templar| 2.12.13 @ 11:09AM
If you take Rove's explanation, his avowed objectives, and his defense at face value, it seems very reasonable. No one would argue with the idea that poor candidates with weird problematic backgrounds or questionable past elements should not be supported. Sure it is a great idea to research candidates and share the information with other conservative groups who do not have that information and would like to be forewarned so they do not pick a bad candidate. That information must be accurate and truthful.
The problem with Rove is he has said much more than that over the years that is very disturbing and indicates where his ideology really is and what his beliefs are as well as his participation in that very real and corrupt GOP establishment.
Mr. Lord, Rove claims that he raised millions for many Tea Party candidates and was instrumental in getting them elected. Is this true? He claimed this on Hannity's radio show the other day.
Solo| 2.12.13 @ 11:29AM
Anyone who may have participated in preventing the likes of Al Gore and John Kerry (who served in Viet Nam, by the way) from grasping the levers of power can't be all bad.
And.....if it is true that he funded and supported Tea Party candidates, then that is a point in his favor.
But....Rove is all about his perceptions of the "numbers" and how best to manipulate pieces on the chessboard in order to "just win baby".
I don't think he gives a wit about ideology. What he prefers are "moderate" (read non-ideological) candidates who he believes can work their way past "the great middle" of the electorate...and what we end up with are Democrat-Light "representatives" like "Ballin" John Boehner and Mitch "Harry Reid's B*tch" McConnel.
Get rid of Rove and the problem still remains: The "low-information voter".
Drunken Sailor| 2.12.13 @ 12:03PM
Simon,
I think the key here is Rove's inability to walk the walk. He preaches that Republicans need to rally behind the canidate, and they do need to. AFTER the primary. The primary is, and should be were we remove the chaff from the wheat.
If Roves canidate does not win the primary then who's fault is that? At that point, Rove should practice what he is preaching and get behind the canidate. Not snipe at them just so he can later say "I told you so". If he is anywhere as good as he thinks he is, he should help a canidate, who won even though he believed them to be flawed, into becomming a better canidate for the general election.
He has shown his true colors and made his bed. Let him lay in it.
Who Knows?| 2.12.13 @ 12:03PM
Cogitating Karl Rove----that’s the ticket!
For this writer, it’s “Free at last, free at last! Thank Da Almighty, I’m free at last!”
I’m back in grad school, in effect. Those days were filled with intense rereading of slim math volumes.
It always seemed such a no-brainer---take a math course with 100 or less pages of dense material to study and master, or take a history course with a couple of thousand pages of detailed “old fart” stuff.
Since BHO conned most Americans, again, I’ve managed to become repulsed by Rush, and most down-in-the-mud politics. It’s quite enough to read the headlines, thank you very much. (The last phrase reminds me of the wicked wit I first heard 30 years ago—as a response to someone who done you wrong, you can’t beat “Fuck you very much.”,
I recommend reading “Godel, Escher, and Bach”, the 1979 tome that won the Pulitzer Prize for Douglas Hofstadter. It’s “An Eternal Golden Braid”, and “A metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll”.
Much more fun, and edifying, than keeping up with the latest Karl Rove doings!
Remember, there are opportunity costs. Time spent on relearning that 1 + 1 = 2 precludes better-spent time advancing to 2 x 2 = 4, not to mention what Godel gave us.
Apply Godel to politics---he’s the 20th century Copernicus.
Who Knows?| 2.12.13 @ 12:03PM
Get with it, and have a good laugh!
If “Godel, Escher, and Bach” is too difficult for you, why not try “The Dancing Wu-Li Masters”, by Gary Zukov, and “The Tao of Physics”, by Fritjof Capra? You’ll always have Karl Rove to kick around, as well as the myriad other high profile political players---sort of like the Ray Lewis character in the NFL: elite monsters of the “midway”.
Yes---listening to Limbaugh, instead of growing your own garden? Vegetate or grow vegetables?
There are always four options---stay the same, get worse, get better, or understand and transcend. Most people spend their lives trying to stay the same, and keep from getting worse, but fail at it. A few are into getting better---successful “Karl Rove” types are the epitome of this small class of people.
Ah, but, to understand and transcend!
You DO understand, don’t you?
Of course---when awake, part of the day, you DO stand under the sun, and bask in its transcendental and mysterious rays.
Who Knows?| 2.12.13 @ 12:05PM
Got to sign off now.
It's almost 9:07 PST, and thus time to hear the latest Rush Limbaugh circle jerking act.
He's SO into himself, and what OTHER people have to say about HIM.
Mr. Reactionary.
Paul A'Barge | 2.12.13 @ 12:40PM
To _"Who knows?"_,
tl;dr
everything you wrote.
Who Knows?| 2.12.13 @ 1:41PM
Huh? What do tl and dr mean?
Who Knows?| 2.12.13 @ 1:43PM
Oh---too long, didn't read. I get it.
Your loss.
Lance DeBoyle| 2.13.13 @ 11:58AM
Here is an aphorism for you, "If you ain't thinkin' too good, you shouldn't be thinkin' too much."
You are welcome.
Paul A'Barge | 2.12.13 @ 12:30PM
Mr Lord, with all due respect O'Donnell is a mutt, and unfit for public office.
George True| 2.12.13 @ 2:08PM
Regardless of any perceived flaws in Ms O'Donnell (real or imagined), she would have been orders of magnitude better than the bearded Marxist who won because of the Rove-enabled Enemedia savaging she was subjected to. If her Marxist opponent had been subjected to that level of scrutiny and Enemedia slander and libel, he most likely would have lost instead of her.
And the fact is: She. Could. Have. Won. If Rove and others had supported her to the hilt after the primary, instead of killing her with friendly fire. And if the Enemedia hit job on her had been forcefully and ruthlessly countered, which Rove and his PAC had the ability and funding to do.
Virtually every senator on the left side of the aisle, without exception, is a Mutt of the First Order. And you have the temerity to call Ms O'Donnell a mutt? In what bizarro-world parallel universe?
bustunloose| 2.13.13 @ 1:56PM
Totally in denial-totally estranged from reality. Hey let's crank up Alan Keyes again'
Paul A'Barge | 2.13.13 @ 3:07PM
I just do not understand why I need to keep tell some of you this: Yes, (1) Demos are mutts and (2) Christine O'Donnell is a raving loon. All at the same time.
You can beat Rove with sticks all you want but at some point we need to stop putting up complete losers as our candidates in elections.
Ex: Akin, Mourdock, Angle and O'Donnell.
Guimo| 2.12.13 @ 2:11PM
What was Ted Kennedy then? Have you ever heard of a candidate "growing in office"? (Not that Ted Kennedy did, but maybe Christine O'Donnell would have.)
7-08| 2.12.13 @ 1:59PM
Americas IS center right; they do not want a emperor in the white house, but when given the choice of deporting thirteen year old girls who do not speak Spanish, or confronted by a church steeple clown dictating about reproductive choices, or hinging their foreign policy on obstinate anti-semantic buffoons named Paul, they accept the alternative.
Some thirteenth year senior wanting free birth control has more influence than the “pro-life” meddlers. Stars in our conservative movement do not have a chance, Hispanics see ICE agents in their dreams wearing Karl Rove t-shirts, women of child bearing age see coat hangers, blacks see pointed white hats, and Reagan Democrats watch your hypocritical beltway choices spend money with incumbent abandon.
Do not blame Rove; share the blame with his establishment. The best architect’s work cannot overcome the raw materials he works with. All those desperate men and women who suffer from the economic horror of out of control government voted for Obama out of desperation; he needs them for votes, many extremists need them as a scapegoat, a rational for their own intolerance.
Smaller government-less taxation-more personal freedom - Tea Party. Tread past that and you tread on your margin of victory, what you could win so simply and easily - you chose to lose.
vigilant| 2.12.13 @ 2:13PM
Great work, Jeff. I go straight to your stuff if I read nothing else.
Politicians behaving like the animals they are-amazing! At least some are getting wise to it, instead of offering them the blind trust they've never deserved. Reagan succeeded because he lived out his core beliefs. Most politicians have none other than, "being in charge is good".
Truth is always viciously attacked. But it wins in the end.
Old Guy | 2.12.13 @ 3:03PM
Very brief mention of Indiana. Lugar could have elected Mourdock. Instead he vitually campaigned against him, up to refusing to allow Mourdock use of a picture showing the two shake hands.
megapotamus | 2.13.13 @ 10:09AM
And Lugar wouldn't have campaigned against a Democrat like that. Clearly the RINOs view Democrats more favorably than Our Noble Selves. And I despise the RINO more than the fashionable socialist. At least the New Left knows what they believe in. Rove and his paymasters think they have a product to sell. It's a bit spicy; best tone it down a bit. Mix in some fillers and water which become the cement of a totalitarian state. The Democrats move huge pyramid blocks in to shore it up when they may, then the Republicans brace those up with smaller blocks but they are all at work on the same edifice.
Claymores| 2.12.13 @ 6:06PM
Excellent article! I am not sure of the planet of origin for Karl Rantsor Raves on a wide variety of topics.
CTsOpinion| 2.12.13 @ 6:43PM
I see the Lords of Conservatism still have their panties in a bunch. Your ‘Kill Karl’ rant undoubtedly provides the Leftwing’s daily entertainment and it just shows just how clever you all are.
RE: The very cute not a witch Christine O’Donnell
Christine’s candidacy served Delaware Republicans well by ending the political career of liberal ex-governor and Congressman Mike Castle. Unfortunately the attractive O’Donnell did not possess the credentials to be elected to my town council much less United States Senator. I believe this is what got Karl Rove into such a twist, he wasn’t wrong.
For the record Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin represent the species of obstinate political asshat this conservative has opposed all my voting life.
Steelbutterfly| 2.13.13 @ 6:34AM
Rove isn't alone. There is a tendency of the GOP "elites" to try to influence the primary outcomes by backing candidates the local electorate does not want. It happened in 2010 in Alaska, between Murkowski and Miller. GOP party attorneys were sent to "consult" with Murkowski during the recounts. This was sanctioned by Cornyn, since he was (and still is) the head of the NRSC. The final straw for me was during the convention in FL. There was an attempt to push rule changes through before all the opposing delegates had arrived (how strange that the entire VA delegation was picked up late and their bus driver got lost on the way to the meeting that day) - particularly those who had mounted a campaign to alert delegates and others of the move to take the right to appoint delegates away from individual states and award it to a national candidate. In addition, they pushed through a rule change allowing the national committee to pass new rules between national conventions, which essentially puts all the power in the hands of the national committee, and negates any power that local delegates could wield. The GOP national leaders have no trouble asking for the support - both monetary and volunteer - from the grassroots members, but they ignore our wishes when it comes to choosing candidates. I will never again donate to the national committees, or the national party. I will research the individual candidates I wish to support and donate directly to those. And I am not alone.
Don L| 2.13.13 @ 10:02AM
There is no ideological split in the GOP as much as their is an ideological split between Americans who believe in fighting to defend their God-given rights as outlined in the Declaration of Independence and those arrogant political rulers in both parties.
The ideological schism is between those who value and understand the govdernment is only to preserve freedom and provide service on behalf of the common man and not the warped present Washington heretical idea that winning an election makes the common man the serventof the political ruling class!
megapotamus | 2.13.13 @ 10:03AM
Don't forget Lugar and Mourdock. I don't know if Rove's personal hoof prints are on that one but certainly Loogy is RINO through and through, just the sort of treacherous 'pragmatist' Rovians love. Mr Rove would not risk open war but open war is upon him whether he would risk it or not. Yes, I know that makes us the Orcs. I'm okay with that.
Kevin Gutzman | 2.15.13 @ 10:39AM
Yes, Mr. Lord. Yes!
HC69| 2.16.13 @ 11:11AM
Great article Mr. Lord!!! Wish all this came out alot earlier. I've always been convinced that Rove was at least partially responsible for Bush's refusal to veto Campaign Finance Reform, for advocating Harriet Miers, for not vetoing some of the major spending bills, for getting in bed with Teddy Kennedy on education, for the prescription drug entitlement... And his attacks on Christine O'Donnell, right out of the box, were simply unforgiveable. With any luck, his new PAC will dry up and die and he'll head off into the sunset. Good riddance.
owend| 2.17.13 @ 12:19AM
Thanks Jeffery Lord for a great article. I knew that Rove was an establishment Republican, but I had no idea the lengths that he has gone to defeat Tea Party candidates. This is typical of the establishment and their attempts to hold power in the GOP. They are becoming more desperate as they see the Tea Party as a real threat to their power base. I once read an article that stated the GOP establishment doesn't even care that much about winning the White House, due to the fact that they can blame the Democrats for anything that goes wrong while continuing to fatten their wallets and power base under the radar. This is the real battle that is going on. True conservatism represented by the Tea Party, as opposed to the go along get along statist establishment.