WA POST: Assessing Karl Rove

[L. Coyote]

Assessing Karl Rove By Chris Cillizza | August 14, 2007; 3:00 PM ET
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/08/the_rove_effect.html?hpid=topnews


The decision by White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove to leave his post at the end of the month has set off a furious debate over what his lasting impact will be on the Republican Party specifically and national politics more generally.
Karl Rove
How will history judge the record of "Bush's Brain." (AFP/Getty Images)

The Post's Anne Kornblut and Michael Shear wrote a piece in today's Post addressing just that question.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2007081301168.html?hpid=topnews

The duo write: " advocates credit him with devising a winning strategy twice in a row for a presidential candidate who seemed to start out with myriad weaknesses. His detractors blame Rove for a style of politics that deepened divisions in the country .......

What then is Rove's ultimate legacy? That depends on elections to come. If Democrats regain the White House in 2008 and grow their congressional majorities in the House and the Senate, it will almost certainly be laid at the feet of Bush and Rove. If, however, Rove's prediction that Bush's approval ratings will improve as his terms winds to a close comes to pass, Republican prospects would likely improve both at the presidential and congressional levels -- developments that would surely improve Rove's standing when the history of the Bush administration gets written.

What is not in doubt is that Karl Rove is -- without question -- the most prominent political strategist of the past few decades.

[Spinzonner]

1. It wasn't a Rovian strategy, it's a Republican one

with a long history behind it, including recently Lee Atwater.

It's just that Rove was more ruthless and better at it.

[L. Coyote]

2. Emphasis on "is" and important to remember the future tense too!

Rove may be leaving his post at the White House, but not necessarily his role as a strategist for the Rs. Even if he went to Pluto forever, the same old stuff would continue, like voter caging black soldiers serving in Iraq to win the Presidency!!

[Orsino]

3. What's to assess? His reputation for "genius" was manufactured by the media...

...afraid to point out that he was merely unscrupulous.