Karl Rove trying to stay relevant; now claims Obama 'keeping scores' with Dems

[TeamJordan23]

The President Is 'Keeping Score'
Chicago politics has moved into the White House.

By KARL ROVE

"Don't think we're not keeping score, brother." That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.

A few weeks ago, Mr. DeFazio voted against the administration's stimulus bill. The comment from Mr. Obama was a presidential rebuke and part of a new, hard-nosed push by the White House to pressure Congress to adopt the president's budget. He has mobilized outside groups and enlisted forces still in place from the Obama campaign.

Senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett and her chief of staff, Michael Strautmanis, are in regular contact with MoveOn.Org, Americans United for Change and other liberal interest groups. Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina has collaborated with Americans United for Change on strategy and even ad copy. Ms. Jarrett invited leaders of the liberal interest groups to a White House social event with the president and first lady to kick off the lobbying campaign.

Its targets were initially Republicans, as team Obama ran ads depicting the GOP as the "party of no." But now the fire is being trained on Democrats worried about runaway spending.

Americans United is going after Democrats who are skeptical of Mr. Obama's plans to double the national debt in five years and nearly triple it in 10. The White House is taking aim at lawmakers in 12 states, including Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. MoveOn.Org is running ads aimed at 10 moderate Senate and House Democrats. And robocalls are urging voters in key districts to pressure their congressman to get in line.

Team Obama is also ginning up the Democratic National Committee. A special group at the DNC has been created called "Organizing for America." It is headed by Mr. Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, and is lobbying for the administration's spending proposals.

Continue Reading: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123862834153780427.html

[monmouth]

1. And if the situation were reversed with rethugs in power, KKKarl would

have it no other way....LOL.

[safeinOhio]

2. I don't recall anything being said by Rove

about Tom Delay and his tatics.

[ErinBerin84]

3. poor Karl. So desperate.

Plus, didn't DeFazio vote against the stimulus because he thought it got too watered down/not enough infrastructure? Karl makes it seem like he was a blue dog.

[babylonsister]

4. The less I hear about what Rove thinks, the better.

Thanks, but no thanks. They are now the party of irrelevancy, and I'm going to keep it that way for awhile!

[The River]

5. Turdblossom

would be well advised to simply go away and not draw attention
to himself if he knows what's good for him. He's likely guilty of multiple
crimes against the Constitution which are being ignored, for now,
but if he keeps it up he may find himself under investigation.
The Don Siegelman case alone would put him behind bars.

[bdamomma]

6. this man needs to be added to Spain's incarceration list.

[seafan]

7. Karl Rove has a nose for 'keeping score'.

The President Is 'Keeping Score', April 1, 2009

Why isn't that criminal in prison, instead of spouting from the pages of the Wall Street Journal?


Funny, we remember this...


From Ron Suskind, January 1, 2003:

.....

Eventually, I met with Rove. I arrived at his office a few minutes early, just in time to witness the Rove Treatment, which, like LBJ’s famous browbeating style, is becoming legend but is seldom reported. Rove’s assistant, Susan Ralston, said he’d be just a minute. She’s very nice, witty and polite. Over her shoulder was a small back room where a few young men were toiling away. I squeezed into a chair near the open door to Rove’s modest chamber, my back against his doorframe.

Inside, Rove was talking to an aide about some political stratagem in some state that had gone awry and a political operative who had displeased him. I paid it no mind and reviewed a jotted list of questions I hoped to ask. But after a moment, it was like ignoring a tornado flinging parked cars. "We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!" As a reporter, you get around—curse words, anger, passionate intensity are not notable events—but the ferocity, the bellicosity, the violent imputations were, well, shocking. This went on without a break for a minute or two. Then the aide slipped out looking a bit ashen, and Rove, his face ruddy from the exertions of the past few moments, looked at me and smiled a gentle, Clarence-the-Angel smile. "Come on in."

And I did. And we had the most amiable chat for a half hour. I asked a variety of questions about his relationship with Karen Hughes. Were there ever tensions between him and Karen? Nope. "Oh, we’re both strong-willed people, but we work well together." I mentioned a few disputes others had told me of. He dismissed them all. Didn’t they sort of bury the hatchet after September 11? Nope — no hatchet to bury. As the president’s two most powerful aides, did they ever disagree? "Not often." Any examples? Nope. He couldn’t be nicer, mind you. Finally, I asked if one of his role models was Mark Hanna, the visionary political guru to President William McKinley who helped reshape Republicans into the party of inclusion and ushered in decades of electoral victory at the turn of the twentieth century. Rove’s a student of McKinley and Hanna. He has talked extensively in the past about lessons he’s learned from this duo’s response to challenges of their era. "No, this era is nothing like McKinley’s. I’m not at all like Hanna. Never wanted to be."

Since then, I’ve talked to old colleagues, dating back twenty-five years, one of whom said, "Some kids want to grow up to be president. Karl wanted to grow up to be Mark Hanna. We’d talk about it all the time. We’d say, ‘Jesus, Karl, what kind of kid wants to grow up to be Mark Hanna?’ " In any event, it’s clear, when I think of my encounter with Rove, why this particular old friend of his, and scores of others—many of whom spoke of the essential good nature of this man who was a teammate on some campaign or other—don’t want their names mentioned, ever. Just like Rove’s mates on the current team—the one running the free world—who go numb at the thought of talking frankly, for attribution, about him. These are powerful people, confident and consequential, who suffer gaze aversion when I mention his name. No doubt they’ve had extended exposure to the two Karls I saw that day last spring.

.....

Senator John McCain knows something of Karl Rove, though he’d rather not think about all that tonight, as a crowd gathers to celebrate the release of the senator’s new book. In fact, lots of folks here know Rove well. "Sure, I know Karl," says one man who has worked on several campaigns with him. "At the end of long days, we’d always meet at one bar or another, everybody but Karl. Where’s Karl? we’d wonder. The line was always ‘Oh, he’s out ruining careers.’ "

[AtomicKitten]

8. Karl has his nose pressed up against the window looking in.

[firedupdem]

9. He needs to concern himself with whacko bachmann and co. n/t