A Tribute to the Myth

I know that much has been written in the past week about Karl Rove and his leavetaking from the White House -- and Bush. Rove's role had such an impact on the political landscape over the past few years that I thought I'd do my own "tribute" to him, by compiling a few of my favorite pieces on him.

James Moore at Huffington Post, The Rove Goes on Forever, provides a devastatingly accurate view:

When I first started reporting on Karl Rove in the late 1970s, I was impressed by his singularity of purpose and his willingness to say or do whatever was necessary to succeed. This amorality, a complete lack of concern for right or wrong or harm done, will be his legacy in the American political process. Lives and careers might be destroyed, great institutions compromised, the truth sullied until it is unrecognizable, but all of that will be acceptable collateral damage to Karl as long as he and his party and candidates have won the day.

Nothing has ever mattered to Karl Rove beyond the accumulation of political power. And every move he has made during the political ascension of George W. Bush has been about gathering the kind of influence that is necessary to build a political dynasty. While it is too easy to call him a liar and a cheat, the narrative evidence and the facts leave the conclusion unavoidable.

Keith Olbermann has his review of Rove, Keith Olbermann Says Goodbye To Turd Blossom, a video worth watching. NYU's Jay Rosen discusses how the press helped empower Rove (and in fact admired him) by giving him a pass, in Karl Rove and the Religion of the Washington Press.

As though he were prescient, Joshua Green wrote a fascinating retrospective piece on Rove's legacy in the Atlantic, The Rove Presidency. It's a must read for anyone interested in this character study.

Will Bunch of Attytood noted the success of Rove's power of divisiveness, in Mission accomplished:

He probably didn't want a subpoena-empowered Democratic Congress for the last two years of the Bush administration -- despite what some crackpot may have theorized back in November -- but his final mission in the White House was to boost divisions within the Democratic Party and give a weakened GOP a good a chance as it could hope for to keep the presidency in 2008. And in this instance, it really is a case of "Mission Accomplished."

The crowning achievement was the new wiretapping bill that passed Congress last weekend. In this end, what the bill said -- although it is a frightening expansion of executive powers -- may prove secondary to its other accomplishments, which are 1) Turning Democrat against Democrat, which could surely hurt the party in next year's elections and 2) Normalizing expanded government spying in a way that may lessen the impact of the probes into potential lawbreaking during Bush's first term.

The only thing that's surprising here is that Rove actually admitted it:

Mr. Rove also said he expects the president's approval rating to rise again, and that conditions in Iraq will improve as the U.S. military surge continues. He said he expects Democrats to be divided this fall in the battle over warrantless wiretapping, while the budget battle -- and a series of presidential vetoes -- should help Republicans gain an edge on spending restraint and taxes.

He was certainly the Master of the Mayberry Machivellis, through his manipulation and dirty tricks. He made "divide and conquer" an art form. I think part of the reason he was so successful is that most people presume transparency in others, that they are tricked when someone acts in such a dishonest, underhanded way. Basically, society functions by giving people the benefit of the doubt without looking for hidden motives, so they are easily deceived.

Steve Gimbel of Philosophers' Playground provides an interesting analysis of Rove, in Karl Rove: Portrait of the Bullshit Artist as an Old Man. Observing Rove's "ubiquitous smugness," Gimbel remarks:

What accounts for it, I believe, is a complete lack of seriousness. Not that Rove is not intense and driven, I mean a deeper metaphysical capriciousness. It is one thing to treat everything as if it were a game, it is another to actually believe it is all a game. Here is the kid who cheated his way to a championship trophy and who believes that all those who object are just jealous that they weren't gamesmen enough to beat him.

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The postmoderninsts were seduced by the idea of deconstruction, convinced that the ultimate political act was to peel back the layers of belief to expose politics where epistemology was thought to be. But Rove realized that deconstruction was for losers, it was an autopsy. The job you want is Dr. Frankenstein, building the monster in the first place. Preconstruction is the place of postmodern winners, deconstruction is for whiners.

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Truth is usefulness. Reality is what you get everyone to believe. All is maleable.

Rove leaves smug because he doesn't think reality has caught up to him, after all, he hasn't let it...at least in the reality he creates.

The Next Hurrah speculates on the reasons why Rove is leaving, in My Guesses on Why Rove Resigned, focusing on various possible legal difficulties that may be about to hit, as did I in Homeward Bound, such as The Abramoff Investigation, The Office of Special Counsel Investigation and The Iglesias Investigation. See also, Hullabaloo, for more speculation on the possibilities.

On the other hand, I particularly like the guess contained in the Comments:

EW - while you go all high and stuff, I go low and am sticking with Larry Flynt camp. Remember Flynt is putting his final touches on his list for a september release. (You don't launch a new marketing campaign in August, you know). I strongly suspect Flynt has netted Rove. He took full page ad in Wapo offering upto $1M for info on illicit sexual affairs. He later said that he is working from a list of about 30 DC insiders, mostly repubs.

Jeff Gannon or his equivalent took the money and gave up Rove to Flynt.

It's interesting in an ironic way that there have been hints and gossip over the years that Rove is an atheist (or an agnostic, at a minimum) and gay, since he has managed to use religion and homophobia as the primary issues to divide the country. I guess he's the Roy Cohn to Bush's McCarthy.

And a final thought: When I heard the news that Rove was leaving, my first thought was of "the road not taken."

Based upon everything I've read about Rove, if he had not channeled his energies into politics (and Bush), he has the type of personality that could just as easily gone the way of a Ted Bundy. In fact, I later saw a piece by Sidney Blumenthal referring to Rove as a "political serial killer," so maybe I'm not alone with this vision.

See also, Dick Polman's take, The draining of "Bush's Brain".

For another compendium of Rovianisms, see Phawker's WANTED: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

And of course, I'll conclude with Jon Stewart's take on "The Departed" --


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NOTE: Corrected, as noted in Comments.

Tags: Karl Rove, Bush, Commentary, Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Politics, Video