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Monday, August 14, 2007
Karl Rove:
Democratic Secret Weapon
by Stephen Crockett, co-host of
Democratic Talk Radio
Karl Rove gave the
Republican Party the political equivalent of the credit card teaser
rate! It sure seemed good in the short term but reality sets in over
the long run. Yes, “political genius” Karl Rove is the Democratic
secret weapon that spells many, many Democratic victories over the
next generation.
The big problem for an
evil “genius” is that they are evil and the American people really are
not evil. Yes, Americans can be deceived and manipulated with scare
tactics, lies, dirty tricks and simplistic slogans…. for awhile. In
the long term, those efforts always backfire. When these “darkside”
political tactics get transferred from election strategy to policy,
they will inevitably blow-up in the face of their users. Karl Rove
never learned this lesson from the era of Richard Nixon.
We should realize that
Karl Rove was not the only top Republican to misunderstand the lessons
of the greater Watergate scandal. Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, most
Republicans in Congress and the Republican National Committee are
equally blind. In the Republican Party, they are all Rovians! Hurrah
for us Democrats that they are!
Voter suppression,
tampering with the voter rolls, intimidation, fear, slander, lies,
deception and obsessive secrecy were keys to Republican victories in
2000, 2002 and 2004. These “darkside” tactics led to the Rovian
Republican dream of a permanent Right Wing Majority ruling America for
the next generation. It was always a crazy dream. It only made sense
if you lived in the distorted, alternative reality of 24 hour Fox News
and Rush Limbaugh-style talk radio. Most Americans live in the real
world.
Even the short term
victories from 2000 to 2004 were only possible because Democrats had
not held firm against the creeping subversion by the Republican Right
of our courts and regulatory agencies. Democrats should never have
permitted Right Wing radicals like Thomas and Scalia to have become
Supreme Court Justices before 2000. Bush did not legitimately take
control of the Presidency in 2000.
Rovian tactics like the
illegal, false felon purge by Katherine Harris in Florida before
Election Day 2000 made the Florida vote close enough to let the
Supreme Court thwart the will of the people and select George W. Bush
over the real winner, Al Gore. Thus began the rule by Rovian policy
which we call the Bush 43 Presidency.
In policy terms, the
triumph of Rovian policy meant secret government by and for the
economic elite. Trillions in tax cuts for the wealthiest of the
wealthy and a few extra dollars in tax breaks for the rest of us were
the first order of business. Most of us saw our tiny tax breaks
disappear into our gas tanks as the oil companies who bankrolled the
Rovian Republican Revolution financially raped us. California got
punished by Bush (Rovian) energy allies like Enron in an illegal,
electricity price-gouging scheme that federal regulators should have
stopped immediately. Unfortunately, the Rovians got to the regulatory
agencies first.
There was an immediate
drop in Bush’s approval rating. Only the 9-11 attacks saved Bush from
one-term status and allowed the Rovian Revolution to last past the
first few months.
Bankruptcy laws were
changed to screw-over debtors. Polluters got pretty much everything
they wanted. Trade pacts were signed all over the third world so
companies could ship good American jobs out of the country while
flooding us with cheap, often dangerous imports. Within a couple of
years, the 9-11 scare tactics and secrecy were not being truly
effective in keeping Americans in line politically.
Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and
George W. Bush dreamed up a war in Iraq! It was a great political
success and Rovian Republicanism was soon in total political control.
All government policy was soon Rovian Republican!
Then the results of Rovian
Republicanism became apparent. Afghanistan did not turn-out to be a
mission completed as the Rovians had told us. The same goes for Iraq
but multiply the mistake fifty times. Osama never got caught. The
anthrax terrorist was never caught. Food and energy costs rose
sharply. Republican officeholders were caught in scandal after
scandal. The White House got caught in lie after lie. Stonewalling and
claims of executive privilege became the order of the day. The
national debt exploded. The super rich got much richer while everyone
else got poorer.
The true nature of the
Rovian Revolution which is Bush Republicanism has been revealed. It is
out of touch with real American values.
Americans support Social
Security and do not want it privatized. They support universal health
care. They do not want the Bill of Rights trampled on by power crazed
public officials. Americans do not want endless war. Americans want a
strong defense but realize stupid can never be strong. Most Americans
want to be union members. Most citizens want to protect American
manufacturing and American jobs. Americans want renewable energy, safe
products and bridges that will not collapse under them. They want
honest elections where everyone gets to vote and have their vote
counted. Americans like balanced budgets. They want to rich to pay
their fair share of the tax burden. Americans want to be able to sue
corporations when those corporations wrong them.
Americans do not want the
kind of Republican rule that Karl Rove was selling. Americans in
increasing numbers like the Democratic approach over the Republican
one. Thank goodness, the Democrats had their secret weapon…. Karl Rove
(and crew).
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Written by Stephen
Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio
http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com ).
Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland
21919. Phone: 443-907-2367. Email:
midsouthcm@aol.com .
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