lily
11-12-2006, 05:06 PM
Link (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/11/AR2006111101103.html?referrer=email)
Rove Remains Steadfast in the Face of Criticism
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page A01
For a man still climbing out of the rubble, Karl Rove seemed in his usual
unflappable mood. He roamed around his windowless West Wing office decorated
with four Abraham Lincoln portraits, joking with his staff, stuffing copies
of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" into his bag and signing the last paperwork
of the day.
The Architect, as President Bush once called him, has a theory for why the
building fell down. "Get me the one-pager!" he cried out to an aide, who
promptly delivered a single sheet of paper that had been updated almost
hourly since the midterm elections with a series of statistics explaining
that the "thumping" Bush took was not such a thumping after all.
The theory is this: The building's infrastructure was actually quite sound.
It was bad luck and seasonal shifts in the winds that blew out the walls --
complacent candidates, an ill-timed Mark Foley page scandal and the
predictable cycles of history. But the foundation is fine: "The Republican
philosophy is alive and well and likely to reemerge in the majority in
2008."
The rest of Washington might think Tuesday's elections were a repudiation of
Rove's brand of politics, but Rove does not. For years, he has been the
center of hyperbolic attention -- called the genius, the electoral
mastermind, the most powerful presidential adviser in a century, Bush's
brain, the master of the dark arts of wedge politics, the Republican Moses
leading conservatives out of the desert.
The mythology grew to such an outsized degree that when Rove insisted again
and again during the campaign that Republicans would win despite the odds,
fearful Democrats convinced themselves that he must have known something
they did not and waited for an October surprise to spring. Rove encouraged
that with supreme confidence. "You are entitled to your math, and I'm
entitled to the math," he told a National Public Radio interviewer who
suggested Democrats might win.
It turns out that Rove is mortal after all, and not always so good at math.
And his critics are crowing. If he tuned in to CNN or NPR last week, here's
a sampling of what he would have heard about himself.
Richard Viguerie, the conservative direct-mail pioneer: "Clearly a loss for
George Bush, Karl Rove."
Andrew Sullivan, the conservative writer: "Shows him not to be a genius, but
to be a real failure as a political strategist."
Bill Maher, the political satirist: "Karl Rove has led this Republican Party
down a hole."
David Gergen, ex-presidential adviser: "He went off to hardliners, and that
left an awful lot of moderates . . . feeling alienated."
Even Bush seemed to be jabbing at Rove in the aftermath of the elections,
which handed Congress back to the Democrats. At a news conference Wednesday,
Bush was asked about his ongoing book-reading contest with Rove. "I'm
losing," Bush said tartly. "I obviously was working harder in the campaign
that he was."
But those who interpret that as anything more than an affectionate, if edgy,
dig misunderstand the president's sense of humor and his relationship with
his chief strategist, according to officials. Bush likes to needle Rove,
even nicknaming him "Turd Blossom," but aides said he does not blame his
adviser for the loss, and few believe Rove will lose his job. Instead, he
will turn to figuring out a policy and political agenda that can salvage the
last two years of the Bush presidency.
Rove Remains Steadfast in the Face of Criticism
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 12, 2006; Page A01
For a man still climbing out of the rubble, Karl Rove seemed in his usual
unflappable mood. He roamed around his windowless West Wing office decorated
with four Abraham Lincoln portraits, joking with his staff, stuffing copies
of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" into his bag and signing the last paperwork
of the day.
The Architect, as President Bush once called him, has a theory for why the
building fell down. "Get me the one-pager!" he cried out to an aide, who
promptly delivered a single sheet of paper that had been updated almost
hourly since the midterm elections with a series of statistics explaining
that the "thumping" Bush took was not such a thumping after all.
The theory is this: The building's infrastructure was actually quite sound.
It was bad luck and seasonal shifts in the winds that blew out the walls --
complacent candidates, an ill-timed Mark Foley page scandal and the
predictable cycles of history. But the foundation is fine: "The Republican
philosophy is alive and well and likely to reemerge in the majority in
2008."
The rest of Washington might think Tuesday's elections were a repudiation of
Rove's brand of politics, but Rove does not. For years, he has been the
center of hyperbolic attention -- called the genius, the electoral
mastermind, the most powerful presidential adviser in a century, Bush's
brain, the master of the dark arts of wedge politics, the Republican Moses
leading conservatives out of the desert.
The mythology grew to such an outsized degree that when Rove insisted again
and again during the campaign that Republicans would win despite the odds,
fearful Democrats convinced themselves that he must have known something
they did not and waited for an October surprise to spring. Rove encouraged
that with supreme confidence. "You are entitled to your math, and I'm
entitled to the math," he told a National Public Radio interviewer who
suggested Democrats might win.
It turns out that Rove is mortal after all, and not always so good at math.
And his critics are crowing. If he tuned in to CNN or NPR last week, here's
a sampling of what he would have heard about himself.
Richard Viguerie, the conservative direct-mail pioneer: "Clearly a loss for
George Bush, Karl Rove."
Andrew Sullivan, the conservative writer: "Shows him not to be a genius, but
to be a real failure as a political strategist."
Bill Maher, the political satirist: "Karl Rove has led this Republican Party
down a hole."
David Gergen, ex-presidential adviser: "He went off to hardliners, and that
left an awful lot of moderates . . . feeling alienated."
Even Bush seemed to be jabbing at Rove in the aftermath of the elections,
which handed Congress back to the Democrats. At a news conference Wednesday,
Bush was asked about his ongoing book-reading contest with Rove. "I'm
losing," Bush said tartly. "I obviously was working harder in the campaign
that he was."
But those who interpret that as anything more than an affectionate, if edgy,
dig misunderstand the president's sense of humor and his relationship with
his chief strategist, according to officials. Bush likes to needle Rove,
even nicknaming him "Turd Blossom," but aides said he does not blame his
adviser for the loss, and few believe Rove will lose his job. Instead, he
will turn to figuring out a policy and political agenda that can salvage the
last two years of the Bush presidency.