The new Dem meme: What Will Karl Do?
posted at 12:15 pm on April 19, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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We could see this coming for months, and the results should be delicious. Huffington Post writer Tom Edsall reveals that a union has developed an extensive and detailed attack on Barack Obama’s connection with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, the former Weather Underground terrorists, while at the same time deriding it as “McCarthyism”. How do they square that circle? They wrap it into a cautionary message that asks, “What will Karl do?”:
A high-ranking labor supporter of Hillary Clinton is distributing to union leaders and to Democratic strategists a document detailing the radical activities of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, two former members of the ’70s group the Weather Underground, who decades later, in Chicago, crossed paths with Barack Obama.
The document - a three-page emailed essay by Rick Sloan, communications director for the International Association of Machinists as Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) — takes both literary and political license to outline what Sloan believes would be the thrust of a hypothetical Republican campaign against Obama focusing on his tangential connection to Ayers and Dohrn.
The goal of the essay appears to be to discredit Obama as the prospective Democratic presidential nominee. …
Sloan contends that the purpose of his document is to outline what he conjectures will be the tactics of Republican operative Karl Rove, an informal adviser to John McCain’s campaign, if Obama is the nominee. The title of Sloan’s paper is: “What Is Rove Up To?”
Well, this is really convenient, isn’t it? Not only can they indulge in what they call McCarthyism, they can blame their bete noir Karl Rove for it before he even utters a word. This frees up both Democratic contenders to fling as much mud at each other under the WWKD concept. We can call it pre-emptive McCarthyism, another great concept in campaigning from the people who brought us the vast right-wing conspiracy.
And it’s not McCarthyism by any stretch of the imagination. As Andrew McCarthy ironically noted yesterday, the Obamas have political ties to Ayers and Dohrn, not just a one-off chance meeting. Since Obama made his superior judgment the centerpiece of his campaign, it’s hardly outside the boundaries of political discourse to question why he tied himself politically to an unrepentant terrorist for years, why he and Ayers sent $75,000 to a Yasser Arafat toady, and even why he financially supports a church whose pastor claims that the government created AIDS to conduct genocides.
Meanwhile, the real Karl Rove can sit on the sidelines while the Democrats diminish themselves at the speed of light in an orgy of hypocrisy. That’s what this really is — a way to campaign hard while blaming others for the damage it causes, as hypocritical an effort as one will ever see in politics.
All we can say is, “Rove, you magnificent bastard!” — and ask when we can get our WWKD wristbands and bumper stickers.
Update: Joe Gandelman uses a word he dreads. RTWT.
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Even after Rove has retired, Democrats are still afraid of him. Amazing.
SoulGlo on April 19, 2008 at 12:20 PM
This, my friends, is the sad face of Democratic paranoia.
You meet with terrorists, and watch out…as a great man once said, the chickens…have come home…to roost!
Dr. Manhattan on April 19, 2008 at 12:24 PM
boogeyman
Limerick on April 19, 2008 at 12:24 PM
My guess is that even after he dies, they’ll still believe his head is being kept alive in some Halliburton laboratory.
Del Dolemonte on April 19, 2008 at 12:27 PM
I love that a retired adviser to the PREZ is so much in the middle of the DEMS campaign. Just like Mr. BUSH being mentioned in all their daily statements. NEWS FLASH to DEMS BUSH ain’t running.
pueblo1032 on April 19, 2008 at 12:32 PM
I’m just gonna stick this thought here for y’all to consider:
WE NEED TO REWARD ABC right NOW! WE need to lift the ratings of “World News Toinght” and “This Week”.
The business of news THINKS they’ve been getting rewarded for LIBERAL programming. Well we all know that the LIBs are gonna be PISSED about the debate and will attempt to DRIVE DOWN the ABC ratings.
IT is CRITICAL that we try to REWARD ABC for an (albeit small) attempt at fairness. AND for havin’ the COURAGE to go AGAINST the LIBERAL NORM in news.
Let ALL your friends and family know that to REWARD ABC for this DEBATE is in OUR BEST INTERESTS!!!
ALL Y’ALL - WATCH ABC ( NOT NBC or CBS)”World News Tonight” and “This Week” on EVERY TV in your house!
Raise those RATINGS FOLKS!- Because you know the LIBS are gonna be tryin’ to punish ABC.
Ex-tex on April 19, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Wow, if only Rove had 1/10th the powers the Kos Kooks and such attribute to him - he’d be the 2nd coming of Jesus or something.
Viscount_Bolingbroke on April 19, 2008 at 12:37 PM
It is just like the patricians in Rome hauling Caesar’s ‘Commentaries’ out as proof of some grand conspiracy to destroy the republic. Whatever Karl does, says, expels, is all part of some star-chamber plot.
Karl is not the First Man in Rome, but it sure feels good when you have the sky falling around your head. Never look within for the source of your troubles, always look without.
Limerick on April 19, 2008 at 12:38 PM
You can see it comin’, can’tcha’.
Kerry got “Swift-Boated”
Obama’s gonna’ get “Roved”
heh,heh,heh
franksalterego on April 19, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Yeah but there was a conspiracy to destroy the Republic and it succeeded so its a bad analogy to use.
aengus on April 19, 2008 at 12:46 PM
We’ll wait for the Ceasar thread for that one. I get…well…distracted sometimes. The basic point is valid IMO, looking without.
Limerick on April 19, 2008 at 12:56 PM
LOL!!
Yep, right next to Cheney’s!
Texas Gal on April 19, 2008 at 1:01 PM
No Rove? But what about the intellectual aspect of the democrat elitism?
They are smarter than us,……… right?
Kini on April 19, 2008 at 1:05 PM
snicker he said orgy
Kini on April 19, 2008 at 1:07 PM
It would be great if the All-powerful Rove would make off-handed comments on Fox News that could be “interpreted” as evidence of his grand conspiracy. How entertaining to watch him wind them up tighter and tighter. It would be a wonderful counterpart to Operation Chaos.
Mallard T. Drake on April 19, 2008 at 1:13 PM
RDS!
WisCon on April 19, 2008 at 1:15 PM
I’m always up for a Caesar thread. I see so many parallels between ancient Rome and modern America.
Karl Rove is awesome though. I am sure he does not mind his name being invoked by one Dem for the purpose of destroying another Dem.
HawaiiLwyr on April 19, 2008 at 1:17 PM
As you may well be aware, the democrats will frame John McCain AS Bush. Bush is their enemy, of course, and they will not run against John McCain, but they will attempt to frame the race as (Obama?) against George W Bush for the 2008 election. They want to channel all of the remaining hate against George W Bush to get elected.
Whether the rest of the voting public will accept the democrat’s plan is yet to be seen, since Bush was elected and reelected in 2004.
wise_man on April 19, 2008 at 1:17 PM
No suprise here that they want to use Karl as a bogeyman. I think there are some LibDems who mourned the passing of Fallwell and others who don’t know he’s dead.
MargaretMN on April 19, 2008 at 1:18 PM
Yes.
aengus on April 19, 2008 at 1:20 PM
Karl Rove is an accomplished artist in the art of the possible.
Ideological conservatives fulminate against “what is”, without an electable program for change. Rove has changed “what is” by electing a President who has advanced our agenda against a government establishment that is largely liberal-lite. That’s why liberal ideologues “hate” him, and why I honor him.
Randy
williars on April 19, 2008 at 1:22 PM
if Rove really wanted to get involved, all he would have to do is find out where HRC or BHO will be having lunch at somewhere and show up at the same place wearing only a red tennis shoe and a dress shoe.. then sit back and watch the paranoia..
DaveC on April 19, 2008 at 1:23 PM
This does seem like the Audacity of Hypocrisy.
And there I was thinking that progressives don’t buy into things like good and evil, when I turn around and realize that they’ve conjured up Darth Rove.
No one can save you now Luke-Obama.
Ares on April 19, 2008 at 1:29 PM
The real issue here is not Rove. The left wing Democrats have come to realize that Obama is not what people think he is. The media made him and because he is being exposed to his true colors, their tactic is to blame it on Rove. They cannot admit that they messed up promoting a Manchurian candidate.
mariloubaker on April 19, 2008 at 1:32 PM
Republicans really need to take all those Chuck Norris parables out on the internet and substitute Karl Rove’s name, given the fear and paranoia he puts into the hearts of Democratic partisans.
jon1979 on April 19, 2008 at 1:35 PM
How long will the left be obscessed with this Administration. Not a one has been frog-marched to prison, and it drives them crazy. Get over it, wacko’s. Getting back to Rove. What I think seperates Rove from the rest, is not his intellect, or his instincts, but simple common sense. The left has none, and it shows every two years. My favorite “segment” this political season has been Rove coming in after the fact, and conveying what Obama, or Clinton should have said, or done in damage control situations. Brilliant, and right on the money everytime.
chief on April 19, 2008 at 1:45 PM
Ed, nail on head: Rove is truly a Magnificent Bastard! No one, not W or even Cheney totin’ a 12 gauge over and under can throw these leftists into an apoplectic fit as quickly and for as long as Rove. And to Karl Rove: I raise another Shiner Bock to your long and happy health. Salute!
second digit on April 19, 2008 at 1:56 PM
Sorry Ed but we have no popcorn to pass..
Some dummy used it to make ethanol!
A truly sad day in our history and we mourn our loss.
CommentGuy on April 19, 2008 at 2:00 PM
In the quest of the ultimate Political hunting trophy
is the ability to bag the Presidentcy!
Many aspiring Liberal’s have tried to bag this alusive
trophy,but he’s quick,affective and down right dangerous
to Liberals who actually spend a second to think!
The Liberal hunting party are once again trying their
luck,but everytime they leave their political hunting
camp,they hear the terrifying SCREECH of that alusive
prey————————————ROVE!
canopfor on April 19, 2008 at 2:10 PM
I don’t care whose name the Dims are using to destroy each other; I just hope they keep doing it.
AZCoyote on April 19, 2008 at 2:30 PM
I’d love to see Karl Rove appear on some TV show and make a joke out of saying some arcane phrase like
(which were the go-code words for the attack on Pearl Harbor - or close to them anyway) as if he was sending a signal to execute a dastardly secret operation to a sleeper cell within the DNC!! That would be hilarious.
Of course, all kidding aside, we DO have sleeper cells in the DNC, right?!
drunyan8315 on April 19, 2008 at 2:45 PM
I’m not a Biblical scholar but aren’t those two lessons in there somewhere?
“Rove your brother…”
And
“Do onto others as Rove would do unto you.”
Spolitics on April 19, 2008 at 2:45 PM
He kills men by the hundreds! And if he were here, he would consume the Democrats with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse!
BryanS on April 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Do you think the libs wake up at night with cold sweats after having Rovian nightmares?
BrianA on April 19, 2008 at 3:03 PM
If the dems are worried about Rove, they’re even dumber than I thought they were.
tomk59 on April 19, 2008 at 3:04 PM
Yes, they do. But they wake up screaming only to find themselves confronting Rove riding into their sleeping chamber on horseback to claim his revenge.
BryanS on April 19, 2008 at 3:10 PM
Karl Rove, sitting there calmly, on whichever station he’s on, smiling, comes across so mild, compared to the yahoos.
The ironies and hypocrisies of this election cycle are sweeter and thicker than anything yet uncovered/invented.
Entelechy on April 19, 2008 at 3:14 PM
And I thought this was a bad time to be a REPUBLICAN!
EJDolbow on April 19, 2008 at 3:16 PM
They cannot understand why we don’t bow down before the Messiah.
Decades from now, both parties will be afraid that their top candidates will go Hillary on each other. This election will be as immortal as Nixon-McGovern.
pedestrian on April 19, 2008 at 3:17 PM
Obama denies being elitist. Claims it’s the Republicans who are “Giving him the Ayers.”
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 19, 2008 at 3:22 PM
Rove deliberately spelled his name with a “K” so it’d show up on web searches for Marx. Conspiracy!!!
Feedie on April 19, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Rove, you magnificent BASTARD!
misterpeasea on April 19, 2008 at 3:27 PM
They are pitting a older woman against a younger black man (say hello to identity politics). They are running the one of most hated women in America against the most liberal member of the Senate. Neither has a mathematical lock on the delegates, so they are still fighting, and look like they will be fighting until August. In August, there is a group that is on their side, that is planning riots at the convention.
And you ask if we have sleeper cells in the DNC?
talking_mouse on April 19, 2008 at 3:30 PM
I think you’re almost there, Doc. Might I suggest “Putting on Ayers”?
mikeyboss on April 19, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Is there anyway we can get Rove’s name involved in the politics of MN? I’d love to have the DFLer’s here quaking in their boots. Nothing seems to be stopping them at this junction .
MNDavenotPC on April 19, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Karlos, the Jackel.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 19, 2008 at 4:17 PM
Reminds me of the Bugs Bunny cartoon with Mugsy where he’s hiding him from the stereotypical Irish flat foot.
Copper: “Oh so he’s in the stove, eh?”
Bugs: “If he were really in the stove, would I turn on the gas?’
Copper: “You might rabbit, you might.”
Bugs” Well, if he were really in the stove, would I light a match and throw it in?”
and so on and so on…
BohicaTwentyTwo on April 19, 2008 at 4:20 PM
Kerry — swift-boated.
Obama — Rove-boated.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 19, 2008 at 4:21 PM
El Bastardo Magnifico
fluffy on April 19, 2008 at 4:38 PM
Yes, the Democrats are claiming that voting for McCain is the same as giving Bush a 3rd term.
No, the voting public isn’t buying it.
If McCain were in fact Bush Term 3, he wouldn’t be tied with the two Democrat candidates (some polls also have him ahead). Likewise, his favorability ratings would be low like Bush’s job approval. It’s not.
The biggest problem the Democrats have is that as in 2006 they are trying to make the 2008 race a referendum on the Iraq War. Unfortuately for them, all of the recent polls show by a 2 to 1 margin that Iraq won;t be an issue this year-the economy is much more important.
That would be the classic Bugs Bunny short “Bugs and Thugs”.
One of his best (1953).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_and_Thugs
Del Dolemonte on April 19, 2008 at 4:40 PM
Oops! Should be
Karlos, the Jackal.
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 19, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Amazing. In the Democrats’ minds, Rove rolls all the conspiratorial powers of the Masons, the Illuminati, and the Aliens into one. It’s an incredibly efficient paranoia! :)
irishspy on April 19, 2008 at 4:42 PM
It has been most amusing to watch the Dems make bete noirs out of Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and W through the years. The Dems attribute evil, self-serving motives and nefarious machinations to every policy and decision of these men.
Democrat paranoia says more about them than it does about their perceived enemy, the Republicans. The Democrats’ pointing of fingers is a diversion from the mischief that they themselves concoct. The example of the email essay is a case in point.
When the Dems hired a linguist (Lakeoff?) to assist in “framing their narrative”, they continued on their merry way to distort language and to create their own version of reality.
Mild-mannered Rove has become the feared MC Rove, and I personally love the idiocy of the Dems, who fail to see the downright nastiness of Carville, Begala, and Ickes.
Karl Rove has a terrific letter to CBS and the producers of 60 Minutes for their whole-cloth smear based on absurd claims by Jill Simpson about the thrashing of an Alabama politico, posted at powerlineblog. The man Rove has a keen mind; he would not stoop to the various bits of nonsense that are falsely attributed to him.
The Dems are Rumplestiltskins whirling like ill-tempered, mental dwarves in a fit of pique.
onlineanalyst on April 19, 2008 at 5:03 PM
I’ll bet what we are witnessing is the imminent collapse of the Democratic Party as we know it. Oh well, good riddance to bad garbage!
Rick554 on April 19, 2008 at 5:30 PM
The nucular option. If this doesn’t work for Hillary, nothing will.
myamphibian on April 19, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Don’t bother murdering a man when he’s busy committing suicide.
Rove is busy hanging out with the Fox babes.
Hening on April 19, 2008 at 6:14 PM
Nice phrase, quite catchy!
TooTall on April 19, 2008 at 7:08 PM
Actually it was “Climb Mount Nitaka.”
Noritaki makes dishes.
You made me laugh, though. :-)
trigon on April 19, 2008 at 7:38 PM
I need a WWKD bracelet.
TheSitRep on April 19, 2008 at 7:43 PM
What do you call a witch hunt that keeps finding witches?
McCartyism.
N. O'Brain on April 19, 2008 at 8:16 PM
I believe Obama is going to get Freaked.
MSimon on April 19, 2008 at 8:32 PM
These people take “obsessive compulsion” to the next level.
Cherry picking 6 districts in 2000 didn’t work for you, Dems. Just let it go.
Dave Shay on April 19, 2008 at 9:37 PM
A little Rovin music maestro.
A Rovin
MSimon on April 19, 2008 at 9:52 PM
Rove…You magnificent bastard! I read your book…
Nozzle on April 19, 2008 at 11:18 PM
Snort. A 13 year “tangential” relationship? Yup, just like he had for 20 years with Jeremiah Wright.
funky chicken on April 20, 2008 at 12:31 AM
“Audacity of Hope” vs. Magnificence of Bastardiness.
silverfox on April 20, 2008 at 4:51 AM
Actually, that’s to Dan Dbrams at MSNBC, and worth reading every word. You can feel the blows landing upon Abrams. But the money quote is this:
Pablo on April 20, 2008 at 7:25 AM
The Force is strong with Rove. From one Sith to another, all I can say is salute!
I R A Darth Aggie on April 20, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Well considering they represent roughly 50% of the US electorate isn’t that not a worrying sign of civillisational collapse?
aengus on April 20, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Correction: “Audacity of Hype”
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 20, 2008 at 2:01 PM
Correction: the “Audacity of Hype”
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 20, 2008 at 2:02 PM
Oops!
Dr. Charles G. Waugh on April 20, 2008 at 2:02 PM
He is a “Magnificent bastard,” isn’t he” And a damn fine Texas to boot!
second digit on April 20, 2008 at 3:51 PM
Why deify this twerp?
Yes, he’s a brilliant political strategist and analyst. But brilliance does not always produce results. I think Rove has been a bigger problem than an asset. He is the hitching post for our current image problem. The only reason Sen. McCain has a chance at winning is because the Democrats are in a self-consumptive frenzy.
Aside from that, the President, a Republican, has an approval rating lower than 30%. Our dwindling congressional seats are a problem for other state candidates. We sat back and swore that $3.50/gallon, an almost 100% increase since the beginning of WOT, would not force a recession. Wait til the American people become resentful and demanding some recompense from the 4th largest oil reserves.
We are
whistlingdriving past the graveyard on fumes. Our President gave Americans the finger on issues like immigration and Dubai ports deal. And like it or not, we have allowed the US Constitution to be used as a political football. Whether or not anybody in the Bush administration lied, many Americans feel lied to and/or fucked over.The Architect designed and will now walk away from a very well built shithouse. For now, most Republicans will stand around in the stench drinking warm Kool-Aid® while Karl Rove pees on their legs.
The Race Card on April 20, 2008 at 5:07 PM