USA Today: Rove is back at his diabolical work, and GOP is counting on him

[DeepModem Mom]

GOP counts on Rove to head off disaster
Updated 8/21/2006
By Susan Page, David Jackson and Richard Benedetto, USA TODAY

....Rove is going back to basics. He and one of his closest political associates, Republican Chairman Ken Mehlman, have centralized control at the Republican National Committee. For the first time, the get-out-the-vote operation for House races has been moved from the National Republican Congressional Committee to the RNC.

They are relying on the so-called Voter Vault, a computer at GOP headquarters loaded with voting history and consumer information that can be used to "micro-target" voters. By analyzing such bits of data as what magazines the members of a household subscribe to, how many children they have, what types of cars they drive and what churches they attend, the program can pinpoint who is most likely to be open to a Republican appeal....

***

Karen Finney of the Democratic National Committee says it is "frankly shameful that after leaking the name of a covert CIA operative in a time of war that he still works in the Bush White House with a security clearance and is a featured speaker at events."....While Rove doesn't advise Republican candidates to distance themselves from Bush — quite the opposite — he does sometimes urge them to change the subject, to concentrate on attacking the vulnerabilities of the Democratic candidate who is on the ballot rather than on defending the president.

Rove also urges a no-apologies response to criticism of the war. He portrays the Iraq conflict as part of the war against terrorism and criticism of it as evidence of weakness in defending the nation's security....

***

The conventional wisdom held that Bush couldn't win in 2000, that the GOP couldn't pick up congressional seats in 2002, that Bush couldn't be re-elected, Rove has said. Each time, he has noted, the conventional wisdom was wrong....

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-20-karl-rove_x.htm

[Botany]

1. Talk about rubbing it in our faces

The conventional wisdom held that Bush couldn't win in 2000, that the GOP couldn't pick up congressional seats in 2002, that Bush couldn't be re-elected, Rove has said. Each time, he has noted, the conventional wisdom was wrong...

2000
"DELAND, Fla., Nov. 11 - Something very strange happened on election night to Deborah Tannenbaum, a Democratic Party official in Volusia County. At 10 p.m., she called the county elections department and learned that Al Gore was leading George W. Bush 83,000 votes to 62,000. But when she checked the county's Web site for an update half an hour later, she found a startling development: Gore's count had dropped by 16,000 votes, while an obscure Socialist candidate had picked up 10,000--all because of a single precinct with only 600 voters."
- Washington Post Sunday , November 12, 2000 ; Page A22

2002
USA Today reported on Nov. 3, 2002, "In Georgia, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll shows Democratic Sen. Max Cleland with a 49%-to-44% lead over Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss." Cox News Service, based in Atlanta, reported just after the election (Nov. 7) that, "Pollsters may have goofed" because "Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Max Cleland by a margin of 53 to 46 percent. The Hotline, a political news service, recalled a series of polls Wednesday showing that Chambliss had been ahead in none of them."

2004

Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House. BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

The elections are now for show because the real work is in rigging the vote, getting a plausible cover
story, and making sure the media falls in line to cover the crime.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Thanks for this post, Botany! nt

[acmavm]

2. I'm pretty sick and tired of the mythological KKKarl Rove. He

is not unbeatable, he is not a genius, and he can be bettered. We just need to find someone who's ready, willing, and able to hit him back. For every dirty trick KKKarl pulls, we smack him back with one as well.

We can win because we can kick KKKarl's ass with the truth. All he's got is lies and the ususal underhanded sneaky tactics.

[DURHAM D]

4. I wish someone would explain to me why Rove is still feeding on

the public teat while working on elections. I resent that my tax dollars are paying him to work on campaigns - the RNC should be paying him.

Just imagine if Clinton had his WH staff doing this.

[gratuitous]

5. Running on tricks has to be easier than running on the record

Because the GOP hasn't done shit for the country in the last six years.

But look at the metastory here. USA Today is basically admitting that it's privy to the dirty tricks and the framing that the RNC is using and going to use, and yet they will still report what they know is cynical manipulation of the populace as if these events were actual, honest happenings. As will CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and all the rest of the lesser media lights.

"Yeah, they're running a campaign of deceit and dishonesty and we know it. But what are you proles gonna do about it? If you try to tell people that the GOP is being manipulative, we'll just call you a bunch of America-hating libruls who are soft on security and who want the terrorists to win. And we'll have prominent, high-level government officials saying the very same thing."

[welshTerrier2]

6. save me! save me! ... it's KKKKKKKKKKK-Karl ...