Why is Rove so important to the Republicans?

[Strawman]

I don't get it. Why don't they cut him loose? What does he have on these guys? I'm tired of hearing about how brilliant he is. That's not why he's still around. Any weaselly College Republican who read the Cliff's notes of The Prince and has a lust for power and no scruples could think of the kinds of dirty tricks and schemes he's come up with through the years. He can't have abilities that make him that unique. I don't give a fuck if he's memorized precinct results from the Presidential election 1896. There are other nerds who can do that. You don't have to be an Oracle to come up with the idea to spread rumors about your candidate's opponent being gay or having a black baby or to tell the party attack dogs in the press to go after the wife of a political "enemy." You just have to be a scumbag who will sink to any level to win and who believes in exploiting the worst elements of human nature for your advantage. It would be so easy for * to shitcan this guy and the taint he brings with him and not have to deal with the allegations of hypocrisy, but he hasn't. Why? What's the real story? Isn't it troubling to the press that this one man has such power over our President and the leaders of the majority party in Congress?

[Cary]

1. Because your president is a moron. (n/t)

[Strawman]

5. it can't be that simple

the interests that he's is fronting for may be selfish evil, but they aren't morons. there's more to it.

[blm]

2. Because they know they can only win by tricking the public and the press

and Rove does it better than anyone else.

[Pryderi]

3. I think Rove being in the WH hurts the Repugs. Maybe he should stay.

[kurth]

10. Let him stay. Just keep him in at 350 degrees for 12 months.

Test for doneness in Nov. 2006.

[Strawman]

13. I agree

but the fact that he is still around when firing him could make this go away is something the press should be all over. the fact that they aren't suggests a level of intimidation beyond what I had previously imagined existed.

[dmkinsey]

4. Well, * needs a brain

and if they get rid of *'s current brain it'll be tough ("hard work") getting a suitable new brain

[Strawman]

sure, but not necessarily Rove

There are hundreds, possibly thousands of young Republican Rove wannabes out there. Someone else could do that job, if being *'s brain is all there was to it.

[win_in_06]

6. Because they know we hate him so

[babylonsister]

7. Because he really IS Dimson's brain. nt

[zanne]

25. He's actually more than Bush's brain...

He's the Republican Party's brain. Even if Karl didn't design political strategy for most of them, they use his ideas, slimy as they are. When I see Republicans, I see one big ROVE.

[waiting for hope]

8. He's been with Bush

practically since day one of his political career - I bet he has kissed Bush's ass so many times that the Shrub would miss that wet sticky feeling....:evilgrin:

[sam sarrha]

9. he is a Rasputin Personalities.. his boss is a wet brain alcoholic drug

addict sociopathic narcissistic Village Idiot

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

11. Because he also has no compunction about implementing

dirty tricks others might only think of, dream of, contemplate?

No morals to get in the way.

:shrug:

[panichol]

12. Because Rove would have to fire himself. He is the president.

[Protagoras]

14. He's become a test for them

Exactly how bad can they be and get away with it. If they have to get rid of Rove then we'll know without a doubt they are vulnerable. Rove is one of the inside boys...and hasn't had to pay a due.

Simply put...they think it will set a strong precident that will cause them to be held accountable in the future.

And I think I agree. If Rove gets away with it...then they know they only have to have real underlings fall on swords...their arrogance continues unabaited, and their dirty tricks will be validated because they will work..and without real consequences.

[Strawman]

15. That's a good explanation

Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm surprised they are that arrogant and willing to risk their power and legitimacy on that kind of a power grab.

The only other ones that make sense are blackmail or stubborn loyalty and the absence of any sort of feelings of accountability in *'s personality.

[Protagoras]

20. Arrogance is exactly that kind of feeling

The willingness to risk all their power and legitimacy in a power grab because they don't accurately weigh the cost/benefit because they think they are better than they actually are.

Being rich and powerful can cause arrogance. But The abuses we are seeing are a Symptom of arrogance...if that makes sense.

We can't judge their thinking by our thinking...because we don't feel that sort of invulnerability and we count costs they could never think of.

[Strawman]

28. I think arrogance is probably the best explanation

It's a thread that runs through everythign this administration does. Look at Iraq and the arrogance that formed the intellectual foundation of their policy there. I guess this is no different and they are no less arrogant and more rational with their own political careers at stake.

[no_hypocrisy]

16. Because he's successful at keeping the status quo.

1. Rove controls access to *. This is a biggie. The policy made by * is first decided by Rove.

2. He knows where all the bodies are buried and keeps rogue, independent republicans from straying from the neocon agenda.

3. He fights dirty. He is not afraid to be too outrageous in destroying his enemies. Kinda al-Quaedalike.

4. Republicans wouldn't be where they are without Rove (among others). He put them on top and decimated the democratic party (until 2 days ago with Harry Reid). He made this country a one-party system.

[slor]

17. Because repugs can never have enough...

fat-assed. mean-spirited, pasty-faced people around.

[underpants]

18. Because that would show weakness and signal a defeat-must WIN!

they are all about the WIN. WIN WIN WIN. Win every day! We are winners! Don't YOU want to be with a WINNER? You aren't a LOSER are you?

That is a huge selling point for them. Follow them and you not only get to win but you get to rub people's noses in it*


*this is for everyone who wasn't the smartest in class AND the big tough guys (real or imagined) who want to win again AND for the ladies who want to picture themselves with WINNERS

That's why. They can't let W's #1 guy get taken down. They have their marching orders.

ON EDIT-how many times can you remember where they ran out and declared victory early? Then ran around yelling WIN!WIN!WIN! and anyone who dared make mention of anything else either hated America or hated America.

[BonnieJW]

19. Because he knows too much.

They need to know where he is 24/7. Can you imagine what beans he could spill?

[LeftNYC]

21. He's the battery that runs the engine...

Rove is a brilliant guy, say what you want. He's evil as hell, but he truly is Bush's Brain.

[jobycom]

22. You really underestimate Rove.

You MIGHT be able to find someone else to do what he does, but the idea that all he does is come up with dirty tricks or memorize details is wrong. He's a mastermind strategist, like a general. At any one time he has a couple dozen strategies in mind, and he has all the details of each plot figured out. He knows each player, how they connect, where they are vulnerable. He thinks every move out over the course of the game. He knows how each strategy he is working affects every other strategy, and how one change here affects everything down the web. He's the reason only Libby has been indicted, he's the reason none of the evidence has been traced to Bush and Cheney so far. He was clever enough, so far, to avoid even perjury charges when Fitzgerald and the grand juries know he is lying.

You could find a few other people who could do this. But they'd have to be loyal, and ruthless, and they'd have to be trusted with sensitive, criminal information, and they'd have to know all the people and plots Rove already knows, as intimately as Rove knows them.

And keep in mind, you wouldn't be replacing an employee. You'd be replacing one of the owners, one of the partners.

And it would look like weakness for Bush to fire him. Bush is dirty in all of this, and firing Rove now makes Rove look more guilty, which makes Bush look more guilty. Not firing Rove gives the pretense that Rove is innocent, and therefore Bush is innocent.

Rove's biggest problem now is that Fitzgerald is the same type of strategist (I think, judging from the way he spoke at his press conference), and can see Rove's tricks. He can't prove them yet, but Rove isn't fooling him.

Just my thoughts. Probably wrong. I usually am.

[Strawman]

27. yeah, I guess that makes sense

but at some point the marginal benefit from his ability as a strategist over other potential strategists is outweighed by the other baggage. I guess they just figure they can keep him and ride it out.

[jobycom]

29. That's true, and the question it

Will they realize when they reach that point? They may not, and they may have already past the point where their association with him condemns them. But without Rove, they don't know what to do. Clinton could dump Carville and Stephenopolis and Dick Morris, who were all talented, because Clinton was smart enough on his own to understand what they did. Bush and Cheney aren't, I don't think. Cheney's smart enough in general, but not at people manipulation. He gets very angry when people disagree with him.

[napi21]

23. Because Shrub keeps giving Rove credit for his elections!

Shrub has been promoting Rove's brilliance since his first election in Texas. You know how hs followers believe everything that comes out of his mouth, and they believe this story too!

[Lexingtonian]

24. I doubt it's blackmail

He's a "genius" because the GOP is getting very thin on real talent, highly lacking in people who are as good at what his skills are.

Essentially, his vital power is that he Understands Rednecks. That's what it comes down to. Be it those small town folk in Indiana, Mississippi, Kansas, or Arizona whose votes the Party needs and whose resentments he knows all too well. Or be it the sorta smarter ones zipping around in suits on Capitol Hill calling themselves House Rep or Senator or (now) President.

No, nobody cares. If you look at polling, people on both sides see the House and Senate and White House politicos as part of the same big mob family. Why care which capo does what dirty work, you're either for them all or against them all.

[VaYallaDawg]

26. Because, like most of those greedy hogs who feed at the public trough

he's never had a real job in the real world.

[meow2u3]

30. Rove is the "enforcer" of the Lockstep Shuffle

Rove enforces the Lockstep Shuffle demanded of repukes. He dishes out the propaganda pieces, a.k.a., talking points, because individual repukes aren't bright enough to come up with convincing lies on their own.

[biggles1]

31. Bush needs Rove like the rest of us need a frontal lobe.....n/t