The Perry-Rove story is shaping up as the ultimate tale of dangerously unintended consequences, with Rove in the role of Dr. Frankenstein and Perry as his living, rampaging political creation…

Yet Rove’s public comments only scratched the surface of his deeper concerns, according to his friends and associates. They cited Perry’s reliance on federally supported development deals — undercutting his states-on-their-own theory of American government; what they described as sweetheart deals with former staffers and, as one insider said, “Perry’s total shallowness and refusal to dig deep on the issues. “All he wants to know is the sound bite. He doesn’t care about anything else.”…

But the biggest irony is that Rove, a brilliant strategist and tactician, built the modern GOP that Perry inherited. Rove did it in three ways.