The More We Learn about Rove, the Dumber he Becomes

[smartvoter]

It is interesting to see how many pundits have been surprised at how stupidly Rove is playing the Plame situation – hanging himself in his own spin.

Rove is the most effective attack dog in the Republican Party – there's no doubt about it. But he has never been the genius they make him up to be. After all, this guy was caught bugging his own office because the battery in the bug that would have to have been in place for days was new. Is this the work of a genius?

Rove has been effective because there is nothing he will not do to win. After losing an election to head the College Republicans he orchestrated a system of challenging votes to make the election such a mess that the head of the RNC – Bush Sr. at the time – had to name the winner. Rove was named, of course. He has started horrible whisper campaigns against adversaries – labeling child rights activists as closet molesters, war heroes as traitors, brilliant minds as unstable or faltering.

Yet, widespread knowledge of all these activities – and more – has not curtailed his rise in the Republican Party. Here you have the most morally bankrupt person imaginable reaching the highest echelons of power by wrapping himself, and the candidates for whom he has done his despicable bidding, in God-talk.

As we learn more about Rove, we learn that he is not the genius he has been made out to be. He would never have made it on our side of the fence because there is no magic word or concept that would make progressives rollover and shut their eyes like there is with the Religious Right.

It’s not so much that Rove is extraordinarily intelligent, but that the people he influences are easy targets. If you don’t believe me, try behaving like a dirtbag and using God-talk to get away with it at your next political meeting or rally.

Our side just isn’t that dumb.

[Erika]

1. Yeah

His genius lies in one sucker knowing another. He sold the Christian fanatics a bill of goods and they bought it.

[opihimoimoi]

2. He is the personification of LIE CHEAT STEAL...very high morals indeed

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. No he is not dumb

it is hubris, pure and simple

[smartvoter]

5. I don't think he's dumb. Just not as smart as he's cracked up to be. nt

[oasis]

4. Rove is only "brilliant" when he's holding all the cards. Back him into a

corner and he'll squeal like a pig.

[vickitulsa]

10. Hey, he does remind me of Piggy

Ralph's unappealing sidekick in Lord of the Flies. Not a perfect comparison because Ralph and Piggy wore the white hats in LOTF. But if you cast the opposing forces in reverse roles for this purpose, Rove becomes Piggy for the bad guys. Wonder when someone is gonna crack him in the head with the metaphorical rock?...

Does anyone else begin to get the feeling that W's other advisors (like maybe Karen Hughes) are going to advise him to start distancing himself from Rove as it looks more and more like Karl is going to be pushed out on the stage to take the fall for all the misdeeds of that crowd?

If the more intelligent members of this WH administration figure they can win this thing yet by letting more and more of the blame for wrongdoing pile up on Rove and then sacrificing him to excise their own cancer, it might work -- at least for a while. It strikes me that most of us, or at least a fair number of us, hardly knew who Karl Rove was before this story broke. He had successfully remained in the background, out of sight and free to work his evil in the dark, until his role in the Plame leak came to light.

Others have said it, but I think it's worth repeating that Karl is no longer able to hide. HE has become the story, in large part. And the many victims of his dirty tricks over the years must be feeling glee at seeing him squirm now.

Karl Rove has been "outed" for what he really is at long last, and I hope he is contemplating that as the focus on him continues to burn a hole in his chest like the sun's heat focused by a magnifying glass.....

[aquart]

6. What I have never understood is how he can be so clever

at manipulating people, but so ignorant of what people will do or feel? The same for the Republican party. Excellent manipulators. But everything goes wrong, falls apart, screws up.

The glorious war? Exactly the mess we told them it would be. How come we knew before the war what would happen, and they still haven't got a clue?

The economy? A disaster most people haven't even begun to understand. They got all their dreadful tax cut legislation. They legalized most corporate malfeasance. Why is everything falling apart? Why are all those backward foreigners kicking sand in our face?

They thought the elderly would dance at their Medicare fraud, and sing hosannas at their Social Security scam. Didn't happen.

How come they didn't know about people, when they're so good at making people react the way they want?

[smartvoter]

7. My opinion, FWIW is they don't care about people. nt

[Rosco T.]

8. Not dumb... ARROGANT... n/m

[smartvoter]

9. Didn't say he was dumb. Just not the great genius... nt

[Disturbed]

11. Arrogance nueters IQ

Rove and his cronies are clever,crafty Sociopaths. These Sociopaths do not have empathy, understanding of ethics or social responsibility. People are merely objects to be manipulated.

[mmonk]

12. I think dumb applies to the American people

after all, he has really taken them for a ride.

[unhappycamper]

13. Don't gloat yet.

The guy ain't stupid - he outed himself for a reason. So what's the reason? Why this distraction now? While we have our eye on the traitorgate ball, what are we missing? Is it Roberts? Something else? :tinfoilhat:

[vickitulsa]

14. I'm not inclined to gloat

at all, and I sure hope your pointed questions are followed up. Could the Bush machine have recognized way early on in this thing that it might be wise for them to let Rove absorb most of the blame for all the wrongdoing in the WH and then sacrifice him when it would do them the most good, making it look like they've excised the cancer in their belly.

I don't think too many will be fooled by such a ploy, if that is their intent.

As for the "something else" that we might be missing, or not focussing on hard enough (yet anyway), what about the David Kelly angle? When are we going to learn more about what W's lapdog British counterpart may have resorted to to "eliminate" a potential source of revelation there?

Your cautions are worth heeding, unhappycamper. I've wondered the same thing ... WHY Rove was so quick to give the reporters permission to reveal him as their source. Considering what he must have realized they would then be free to say both to the GJ and publicly, why did he not insist they all go to jail to keep his part in the outing of Plame confidential??......... Hmmmmmmm....

I've never thought it wise to gloat, anyway. Just makes one look like what W & Co have been for way too long: sore winners. Ungracious in their victories, and that's not where we are yet anyway. The victories for the good guys remain to be born alive and healthy; we're still in the conception and gestation phases.

Much work to be done! But I'm so glad to see it's happening, the due diligence is going on everywhere right now, as we speak.