Wayne Slater of Bush's Brain....says Rove started the "arrogant Obama" stuff and media fell for it.

[madfloridian]

At first it was said to Republican groups, then to FOX News, which spread it around to the world.

Now it is being picked up by "talking heads" in both print media and on TV.

Karl Rove is still very powerful with those talking points.

Rove Signals GOP Attack: Obama's Arrogant

Few political operatives are better at definding an opponent's weakspot than Karl Rove. Bush's Brain has been busy pressing the case that voters should view Barack Obama's confidence as arrogance. And it's working. He's compared Obama to a condescending know-it-all at the clubhouse. He told FoxNews the other day that Obama's overseas trip "bespoke a little of arrogance and brashness." And like a dogwhistle to the troops, his call has been heard by GOP allies from radio talker Rush Limbaugh to cable TV's Sean Hannity.

But here's the beauty part: Even the dreaded MSM -- the mainstream media -- is picking up the theme. In the latest issue of the New Republic, Gabriel Sherman found reporters complaining that Obama's campaign was "acting like the Prom Queen." New York Times' Adam Nagourney cites an unprecedended overreaction by the Obama camp to one of his stories. And the New Yorker let it be known it was excluded from Obama's overseas trip because of that satirical magazine cover in which the campaign was not amused.

Now comes Dana Milbank of The Washington Post with a piece that begins: "Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee."

Karl certainly knows how to call them.

And the corporate media still loves Karl Rove and his tactics. The tactics of ridicule and humiliation.

And I guess Dana Milbank will be front and center on Countdown again...which is tiring the heck out of me.

[Jack from Charlotte]

1. This is just another way of saying......... Uppity......, The Republic Party..

and it's racists do and say the same things over and over. They change the terms slightly but it's always the same things I've been hearing them say since the 60's.

[madfloridian]

2. Rove's words to Fox about Obama.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/rove-obama-you-oughta-be-in-pi.html

"Bush's Brain found plenty wrong with the Obama trip. He told FoxNews that Obama looked arrogant. He said Obama's Berlin speech was "vacuous" and reflected "arrogance." The effort to speak at the Brandenburg Gate, Rove said, "bespoke a little of arrogance and brashness."

One thing for sure. Nobody's better than Karl at pushing a message. Did you get that part about arrogance?"

And he gets the spotlight from Fox and Newsweek.

And a way to get his message out.

[caledesi]

3. God forbid we see a black man who is confident! nt

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Exactly.

One wonders if the press expect a lot of rolling of eyes and "Yassuh, boss! Yassuh!" from him.

[spanone]

4. scarborough was right there in lock-step this am

[marmar]

6. The unapologetic media fellatio on John McCain is rather obvious.....

n/t

[bdamomma]

7. rove is also the one who mentioned Obama in a country club

too, just more spewing from this POS.

[izquierdista]

8. They are not "weakspots"

Many times, they are strengths, like one's VietNam war service record and the Purple Hearts to prove it. Or the ability to discern promising future technology like the Internet and sponsor bills to support it in Congress.

If Karl Rove was running a campaign against Warren Buffet, he would make successful investing something to loathe. And what is worse, the dumbbells who hang on his every pronouncement would go around muttering "make money, be successful....bad, shameful".

[madfloridian]

10. I think Slater meant "defining"....

and misspelled it.

I have heard him say to the effect of going after opponent's strengths...

In other words Rove is "defining" the opponent.

[kskiska]

9. And yet, during the Florida recount, it was Rove who advised *

to go into seclusion and give the air of inevitability of his election. He even began holding "cabinet meetings" as the votes were still being counted. I remember him coming out to a podium and saying, "I'll soon be president…" as if it were all preordained, which it likely was.

[lonestarnot]

11. aha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Arrogant? Yeah KKKarl would know about arrogant now wouldn't he.

[JaneQPublic]

12. That explains Gregory hammering "arrogant" on TRTTWH. . .

...since David Gregory and Karl Rove are buddies and dancing partners.

[madfloridian]

13. LOL exactly.

:hi:

[ColbertWatcher]

14. We should have seen this one coming.

Admiral McCombover is known for being vain. So, naturally, the GOP would say Obama is.

[opihimoimoi]

15. If anyone is arrogant...its Bush and his rich Pals...they are arrogant BULLIES who pick Tagets to

denigrate anyone who dare oppose them...typical Bully actions.

America needs to shuck the arrogant bullies from Gov't

[madfloridian]

16. Interesting...Slater's co-author about Rove on watch list when he flies.

He says the reason is just plain incompetence.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/the-breath-taking-incompe_b_114126.html

"As the American Civil Liberties Union was chastising the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for having a million names on the No Fly Watch (or selectee) List, I was preparing for another business trip. The travel hassles have not changed since I found myself on the list in January of 2005. Airline boarding passes cannot be printed at home, no curb check of bags is allowed, airline kiosks send you to the ticket counter, and that's when the fun begins. Like everyone on the list, I present identification in several forms and then step to the side to wait as the airline employee calls Washington to get me clearance. When my boarding pass is finally printed, there is often a checkerboard along the bottom, which alerts TSA officials at security screening that I am to be given special attention.

Many friends and more politically active types than I can count believe I was placed on the "selectee" list as a consequence of writing Bush's Brain and The Architect, two books critical of the current administration and the president's political gun Karl Rove. Circumstance suggests they might be right. But I do not know. My second book, Bush's War for Reelection, was released during the fall 2004 campaign and broke the news regarding the president's incomplete National Guard records. CBS and other news organizations used much of that research to pursue the story further, though their efforts did not prevent Bush's second term. A few months later, when I went to the airport for a January 2005 business trip, I discovered I was on the list. (CNN's Drew Griffin, recently doing reports on incompetence regarding the terrorist lists, also reported he has been placed on the No Fly Watch List.)

While I have no doubt that Rove and numerous other bad actors in the administration would use the selectee list to harass their political enemies, I am more inclined to believe the problem is breath-taking incompetence and outdated technology. The TSA is trying to refute the ACLU's claims that a million names are on the list as of last week but their explanation only reveals the agency's failings. The Inspector General of the Justice Department said in September of 2007 that 700,000 names were on the watch list and 20,000 were being added per month, which led to the ACLU's figure of one million this month. (TSA says the 700,000 names were scrubbed and reduced by 50 percent but has not refuted the 20,000 new names per month.)"

[madfloridian]

17. Carefully wording headlines to avoid the wrath of Rove.

This headline from the LA Times is geared to put doubt in minds.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/07/rove-in-contemp.html

"Karl Rove in contempt: Is it justice or a witch hunt?"

The article does not answer the question.

[DeepModem Mom]

18. K&R

[Imagevision]

19. media fell for it? - haven't heard anything about arrogant comment until now...

[madfloridian]

21. It's been all over. Arrogant, presumptuous....

They don't use the word uppity, but that's what they mean.

[KT2000]

20. rove's footprints

are all over mccain's face.
His slimy campaign is identical to the bush campaigns - media loves the dirty fight even if it is one sided.

[dreamnightwind]

22. cocky too

Yes, they're pushing this hard, I've seen them push the arrogant idea a number of times already.

Andrea Mitchell called him "cocky", and she didn't mean it as a compliment.

These kinda things are a good way to observe who is spewing republican talking points. Let's make a list. Gregory, Scarborough, Mitchell, Millbank. I think I've seen it from Schuster and Fineman, not positive though. And those are just MS-NBC people.

[riverdeep]

23. This can't possibly be true, since everyone tells me the media has a liberal bias

Why isn't Karl Rove in jail yet? Do you think you or I could ignore a Congressional subpoena and still be walking around free?