Karl Rove May Be Evil, but He’s No Genius

[deminks]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/15/karl-rove-may-be-evil-but-he-s-no-genius.html

When I sit down someday to write my memoirs and try to characterize this era, I will note three salient political features. One, and obviously, the increasing wingnuttery of the Republican Party. Two, the ever-increasing ownership of our political system by the top .1 (or even .01) percent. And three, the continuing and mind-boggling overestimation of Karl Rove’s brilliance.

The first two things I get. They happen to be real and true. But Karl Rove I do not. I never have, really, not even in 2000. I mean, his candidate didn’t even really win. Then came 2004. OK, I’ll give him that one, but all he did then was (barely) reelect an incumbent. Just two incumbents going back to FDR lost their reelection bids while eight won them, so that’s a pretty low bar for genius.

Then came the truly dark period, the one that should have pulverized his reputation forever, when Rove told his president to go out and promote Social Security privatization, which sank like a stone. This while Rove was talking up a “permanent conservative majority” and world-historic realignment, even though all he and his president’s failures managed to do was turn the Senate and the House Democratic in 2006 and then pave the way for the country’s rejection of John McCain and embrace of Barack Obama. Rove is a so-so political strategist, a corrupt trickster going back to college, and a venal and wholly unprincipled man who once orchestrated a whisper campaign that an Alabama judge who did admirable work with youngsters was a pedophile. And on top of all that, he’s just not that smart, as proved on Election Night 2012, when he made a world-class asshole out of himself over Ohio.

This week, everybody is going around saying, “Oh, this Hillary thing; typical unprincipled Rove, but you’ve got to give the devil his due. It works. The evil genius is at it again.” Let’s hold on to our hats here. What’s the proof that him suggesting that Hillary Clinton has brain damage is “working”? Because the media are talking about it, because people like me are writing about it, because it’s been Topic A on cable? Please. Since when are those indicators of anything? If cable-news controversies dictated politics and life, Obama never would have survived about a dozen little cable scandals in 2008, and Solange Knowles would be the world’s most important human being.

(end snip)

Suggested poll:

If you thought KKKarl Rove had molested children, how likely would you be to vote for him to be a genius?

See? anyone can do what KKKarl does. It is easy to be evil. It's not easy to be a genius. IMHO.

[3catwoman3]

1. GWB's nickname for him misses the mark a bit.

He is not a "turd blossom" - just a turd.

(Ever notice evil and vile are spelled with the same 4 letters?)

[JHB]

2. Yes, his "genius" is simple brazenness...

...which also speaks about those who consider it "genius'.

[randome]

8. Those are the people who want to be victimized.

The more we elevate Rove to the level of 'genius', the more power we give him over us. You're right, 'brazenness' was his favored tool. Nothing more than that.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[LuvNewcastle]

3. He's a run-of-the-mill con artist.

He's good at pushing people's buttons to get what he wants out of them. That's what his little schemes do to voters, and sometimes it works. Sooner or later, though, people get wise to what the con artist is doing to them, and I think the American people are becoming a bit more savvy about how people like Rove and the media manipulate them. I get the impression right now that people are just sitting back and taking it all in. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when they decide it's time to act.

[brush]

4. He and W didn't win in 2004 either

There were all kinds of underhanded shenanigans played that allowed them to "win" in Ohio in 2004. Remember Ken Blackwell, and the vote suppression in Cleveland?

So I don't even give Rove credit for a win at all. It's like you said, he's evil but hardly a genius — election night 2012 showed that.

White House press secretary Carney put it best recently when Rove tried to insinuate that Hillary has brain damage. While holding a briefing, he was asked by a member of the press corps if the White House was aware of any health and cognitive capacity issues that afflicted Clinton while she was Secretary of State. Carney got off the following zinger in response to the question:

“Here’s what I would say about cognitive capacity, which is that Dr. Rove might have been the last person in America on election night to recognize and acknowledge that the president had won reelection, including the state of Ohio. So we’ll leave it at that.”

[madokie]

7. Carney is good

One of the best Press Secretaries any President has ever had.
I can't for the life of me come up right now with any of the other zingers he's thrown out there but there have been several. All off the cuff too. That to me makes him a genius at what he does.

[malaise]

5. My only interest in Karl Rove is finding out who killed

Republican tech guru Mike Connell. His plane crash was beyond strange.

[brush]

13. That's right!

He was scheduled to testify about vote irregularities during the 2004 election (the second one that Bush didn't really win) but died before he could.

Somebody must have gotten to his plane.

[Calista241]

6. Rove

How many other people could have gotten GWB into the White House for 8 years? We all laugh and point when Rove opens his mouth, but don't write off what he says, or we'll be shocked when he pulls off what we thought was impossible, again.

[bemildred]

9. A low-grade moron with a high-grade megaphone.

One of a long line of them too. Rove neither invented nor perfected the art of gutter politics with the media megaphone. The ending of the fairness doctrine had a lot to do with that too.

[Beach Rat]

10. Rove was a hair's breadth away from being indicted for perjury

He went back in-at his own request-to testify in front of the grand jury and recanted his previous untruthful testimony to avoid prosecution. He participated in the outing of a covert CIA agent. He orchestrated the prosecution of Don Siegelman in Alabama. He finances disinformation campaigns through his Crossroads PAC. He planted listening devices in his own office. He set up his network of toadies to steal the 2000 election. His legacy should be on par with Al Capone or some other gangster.

You don't have to be a genius to manipulate the American public, as a group we're not all that smart. You just have to be twisted enough to want to do it and just smart enough to pull it off.

[brush]

14. Don't forget 2004 and the Ohio shenanigans as well. nt

[Tom Ripley]

11. Exactly. Just how smart does one have to be in order to be considered "Bush's Brain"?

It's not really a compliment.

[3catwoman3]

12. ROTFLMAO!!!

Not a compliment for sure!