For those looking for a respite from Karl Rove, there will be no interlude. He'll be out there telling tales for the rest of the month and when he returns to Texas.
Less than a week after his announced departure from the White House, Rove was still hard at work spinning failures into victories. He literally has no shame or regard for the public record.
For several days, Rove was taking a continuous victory lap for his dirty work in Washington as well as Texas. His interviews with reporters were a flight from reality.
The worst bit of Rove revisionism was his interview with the New York Times published on August 19. He was holding forth with a reporter at an IHop restaurant in Waco, Texas, chewing on Democrats. Rove blamed the Democrats in Congress, specifically Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, for the collapse of immigation reform. That's what he said.
It was the president who carrries the blame for failing to rally his own Republicans on the measure. A lame duck Bush was sneered at by right wingers who seemed happy to leave him in the lurch on this key issue.
Blaming Democrats, as they say in Texas, makes right the words: That dog won't hunt. Reid brought the measure up twice, giving the White House ample time to rally Republicans behind Bush. Instead, GOP opposition grew even louder.
The ultimate insult from Rove was to blame Democrats for the increasing lack of civility in Washington. True, party warfare started before Bush and Rove arrived in town in 2001. Remember, it was the compassionate conservative and uniter, not decider, who was going to change the city. Of course, it has gotten much worse.
In campaign tactics and in dealing with politicians, even Republicans at times, Rove regards compromise and decency for wimps.
There will be no more rants on Karl Rove from me. He's not worth escalating the blood pressure of an aging journalist. And to those who still proclaim his genius as a campaign strategist, look at where those Election Day results have left the country.
John W. Mashek covered politics in Washington for four decades with U.S. News & World Report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Boston Globe. His primary beats were Congress, the White House, and national politics. He covered every presidential election from 1960 to 1996. He was a panelist in three televised presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992.
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