Karl Rove: Political Genius or Careless Moron?

Karl Rove has my head spinning here. Love him or hate him (count me among the butt-smoochers), he is quite possibly the most disciplined political operative since Mark Hanna engineered a Republican realignment for William McKinley in 1896. Now the Wash Times is reporting - in an article that highlights dodgy support for Miers in the Senate, at best - that James Dobson of Focus on the Family got assurances from Rove about Miers:

James Dobson -- founder of Colorado-based Focus on the Family and an influential social conservative -- endorsed Miss Miers after a conversation with Bush political strategist Karl Rove. Such conversations have raised concerns that the White House is making assurances as to how Miss Miers would rule on certain cases -- a situation that many think would compromise her independence if she was confirmed to the court.

Senate Democrats, assisted by the always unreliable Arlen Specter, are now calling for Dobson to testify at Miers hearings as to exactly what Rove told him.

OK, based on what we know of how Karl Rove likes to set traps for Democrats that they always seem to fall into, is this recent turn of events by design or purely accidental? Honestly, Rove had to know that Dobson, as the leader of huge lobby group with his own radio show and an inflated sense of self-importance, would open up his big mouth. This kind of sloppiness is extremely out of character for him.

Maybe I'm giving him way too much credit here, but I have to agree with Robert the Llama Butcher that this whole nomination as it's playing out seems to be part of a larger strategy.

I mean, c'mon. Rove feeds assurances to Dobson and Dobson in turn publicy tries to sooth his doubtful followers, prompting Democrat suspicion? It's just TOO easy.

Posted by: Gary at 09:24 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 317 words, total size 2 kb.