Roving Reporter?
I haven’t really kept my opinion of the current state of conservatism a secret – I think it sucks. Everything conservatism was supposed to stand for – libertarianism, autonomy of individual states, and fiscal caution – has been systematically decimated by the crop of "neoconservative" politicians who’ve gained control of the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan took office back in 1981. Somehow, "conservatism" has gone from the representation of individual liberties and minimization of Federal government to standing for the expansion of the power of government to monitor individual activity (citing and exploiting fear of terrorism), the spending of large amounts of money on armaments and Federal law enforcement, and handing out corporate welfare, in the form of tax breaks, slackened environmental protection, and amnesty for illegal cheap laborers, like Halloween candy.
The latest and best example of every wrong turn conservatism has taken is embodied, of course, by President Bush. And far from making a secret of the direction in which he has taken his party and his philosophy, he has actually flaunted it. No, he’s not terribly interested in upholding the civil liberties of American individuals and, yes, he’s a friend of Big Business and the Wealthy. Don’t like it? Vote him out of office…oh, wait, you all already decided on your own not to do that, so it’s pretty much Bush’s way or the highway. Congrats, American public!
A year ago today it was almost beginning to look as if Bush would lose the election to his second term. We kept hearing about economic growth, but job growth was dismal and unemployment high. Most new jobs on offer were low-paying service industry jobs; tech jobs were being shipped overseas with a vengeance. The deficit was growing out of control and worse yet, Bush was selling large portions of our debt to China. The war was dragging on and most major combat operations had taken place AFTER Bush had stood before a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished." Worse still, our initial rationales for going into that war had proven to be false – no WMDs were found and no ties to terrorism had occurred in Iraq until AFTER our occupation began. So with all this political disaster, and the deck stacking higher and higher against him, how did Bush pull a win out of his ass?
Why with his secret weapon, Karl Rove, of course.
Everybody knows by now of Karl Rove’s genius with crafting an election campaign. He seems to have a knack for hitting the right subject matter, making the right contacts, and mounting an effective attack on Bush’s opponent while making Bush’s contributions and accomplishments look more impressive than they actually are. He’s like political Viagra, boosting Bush up, making him look bigger and better and ready to last longer. But all this magic worked by Rove on Bush the Candidate comes at a hefty price to Bush the actual President: Rove has a terrible temper and a thirst for vengeance over even the smallest slight, and his role as a press liaison has been marked with disastrous indiscretion and deliberate misinformation.
The most famous example of this is Rove’s disclosure, in a fit of pique, of the identity of a CIA operative to Robert Novak, who gleefully put the secret in print. This operative happened to be the wife of a diplomat who had disclosed the fault lines in Bush’s bogus intel leading up to the Iraq war to the press himself. It’s been an open secret in Washington that Rove was indeed Novak’s source for the story. Among most of the Washington press, the big question in all of this is how Rove and Novak have managed to avoid repercussions for the disclosure – after all, Bush’s own father was the President who made it a Federal crime to reveal an operative’s identity to the public. So why aren’t these guys facing any charges?
Well, it’s beginning to look like Karl Rove just might end up facing the music afterall. Why he’s now being investigated as the source of Novak’s coyly-defined "leak" is anyone’s guess, but Rove’s backers have been hitting the press themselves with a vengeance lately, trying to spin damage control. "Why wouldn’t the press have come out with this before the election if Rove had done this?" they demand. Well, while that’s a pretty good question, it can easily be neutralized with a second question – who controls press access to the White House? Who has spent the last five years deciding what the White House allows to become a story and what it doesn’t? Could it perhaps be a certain portly campaign manager/press liaison who got really, really mad at a diplomat who made Bush look like shit on a stick? Why yes, that sounds about right.
At the end of the day, it actually makes the most sense, from a strategic standpoint, to serve Rove up now. Since Bush has been elected to that coveted second term and cannot attempt another one, Rove’s primary function in Bush’s orbit has been served, and quite frankly, he’s already caused enough trouble as a press liaison. Although Rove has done a brilliant job of keeping a tight lid on the flow of information between the White House and the press, Bush may be deciding that the hassles of Rove’s hot temper and flapping gums may not be worth it. It would be relatively typical of this Administration to choose this time to stab Rove in the back and serve him to the press, too – this White House has made a habit of dumping dissenters and headache-causers in this second term.
It’s a running joke in the circle of folks with whom I talk politics how much I hate Karl Rove. Given my low opinion of this Administration, it would certainly stand to reason that I’d reserve my highest contempt for its chief architect. I’ve called him "an evil fungus" and "the giant psycho-baby". I’ve been known to troll message boards under the nym "karlrovesduckbutter." I’ve challenged folks to Photoshop Rove into humiliating circumstances. But at the possible humiliating end of his career, I find myself actually feeling sorry for him. Does Bush have no sense of loyalty, shared history, or friendship?
Nobody has done more for George W. Bush than Karl Rove. If Bush would feed him feet first to the wolves, what would he do to you or me?
