In yesterday's Post Bulletin article, Ron Paul, Karl Rove in Rochester for state GOP convention we read this snippet:
At a time when the national Republican leaders are warning of a potential disaster at the polls in November, many Republicans are debating how to restore and refurbish the GOP's brand. U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn is one of two national figures who will address the state convention. The other is Karl Rove, the political strategist and architect behind President Bush's presidential electoral victories. He will speak Saturday. [emphasis added]
We're curious how having Karl Rove in Rochester will help refurbish the Republican brand in Minnesota--or anywhere else, for that matter.
After all, Rove's involvement in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys general has kept him in the headlines this week, and allegations in former White House press secretary Scott McClellan's new book don't put him in a very good light either, on the White House's handling of outing a CIA agent and the aftermath of Katrina. Or much else, frankly.
Both storylines can only remind Minnesota voters of why they don't don't like the Republican Brand. Bringing in a chief architect of that failed brand--one facing his own woes--makes one wonder why those who have been tossed the keys to the Titanic are so desperately scanning the horizon for another iceberg to ram.
Let's review the ice floes. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported House Panel Subpoenas Rove in Inquiry Into Justice Dept. Opening salvo:
The House Judiciary Committee pressed its investigation of possible political influence in Justice Department prosecutions on Thursday by issuing a subpoena to Karl Rove, the former chief political operative at the Bush White House.
Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the committee chairman, said the subpoena was necessary because Mr. Rove had explicitly declined an invitation to appear voluntarily. Mr. Conyers and fellow committee Democrats say they want to question Mr. Rove about the dismissals of several federal prosecutors and ask whether he knows anything about the decision to prosecute former Gov. Donald E. Siegelman of Alabama, a Democrat.
Mr. Siegelman, who was convicted on a bribery charge, was released from prison in March pending an appeal after an appeals court ruled that he had raised "substantial questions" about his case. . . .
A U.S. News and World Report columnist John Mashek writes in David Iglesias, Karl Rove, and the Fired US Attorneys:
Karl Rove, the political guru who gave us George W. Bush, is out of the White House now and free to circulate his opinions in a Newsweek column, on Fox TV, and in newspaper op-eds. But he refuses to talk to Congress about his role of firing eight U.S. attorneys after the 2006 elections.
Rove's attorney Robert Luskin says he will not appear to testify on the grounds of executive privilege. If the claim is made, contempt of Congress should be voted against him and let the current Justice Department stew or the courts decide it. With his silence, Rove is just confirming that he played a central role in the firings and probably feels he is safe with the still Republican-held Justice Department.
Republicans who challenge these words should read the question-answer interview with Republican David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., who was fired by the Justice Department by then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Gonzales has left Justice, with a soiled record as his legacy.
Gonzales resigned following questionable testimony about the attorney general firings.
And what does the "soiled record" have to do with Minnesota? The connection first emerged in two posts by a diarist at Minnesota Campaign Report back in March 2007: The Curious Case of Rachel Paulose and Heffelfinger's resignation and the U.S. Attorney "purge". The diarist's speculation were in part supported when Heffelfinger's name came up in records as a potential fire, MPR and other sources reported in April 2007.
Paulose's office was plagued by disgruntlement and resignations. WCCO reported in 4 In U.S. Attorney's Office Resign In Protest:
The four top administrators in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota have resigned their administrative positions. According to highly placed sources, the administrators have quit in protest over the job being done by Rachel Paulose, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota.
The resignations came in the aftermath of the controversial firing of eight U.S. Attorneys across the country. . . .
. . .Hamline Law Professor Joseph Daley said not only is this a big deal here in Minnesota but also on the national stage.
Daly sees the resignations as yet another blow to the Bush Justice Department which has come under criticism for firing eight U.S. Attorneys and replacing them with candidates considered more loyal to the White House.
Paulose had worked as an aide to a top official in the Gonzalez justice department.
"I think it's a continuation of ideological driven appointments and ideological driven prosecutions," said Daly.. . .
She eventually got "kicked upstairs" and returned to Washington. It's curious: we're not sure why Norm Coleman would want his support of Paulose brought up again.
Politico's Mike Allen took a look at the allegations against Rove in McClellan's book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception". The Rove bits:
The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts.
McClellan asserts that the aides Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff "had at best misled" him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
A few reporters were offered advance copies of the book, with the restriction that their stories not appear until Sunday, the day before the official publication date. Politico declined and purchased "What Happened" at a Washington bookstore.
The eagerly awaited book, while recounting many fond memories of Bush and describing him as "authentic" and "sincere," is harsher than reporters and White House officials had expected.
McClellan was one of the president's earliest and most loyal political aides, and most of his friends had expected him to take a few swipes at his former colleague in order to sell books but also to paint a largely affectionate portrait.
Instead, McClellan's tone is often harsh. He writes, for example, that after Hurricane Katrina, the White House "spent most of the first week in a state of denial," and he blames Rove for suggesting the photo of the president comfortably observing the disaster during an Air Force One flyover. McClellan says he and counselor to the president Dan Bartlett had opposed the idea and thought it had been scrapped.
But he writes that he later was told that "Karl was convinced we needed to do it--and the president agreed."
"One of the worst disasters in our nation's history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush's presidency. Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush's second term," he writes. "And the perception of this catastrophe was made worse by previous decisions President Bush had made, including, first and foremost, the failure to be open and forthright on Iraq and rushing to war with inadequate planning and preparation for its aftermath."
As one might expect, the Bush loyalist attacks on McClellan have been varied and harsh.
Rove's appearance might even be more scary than the northerns in Lake Ocheda. A friend in Rochester sent us a link to this YouTube of a recent MSNBC segment about Bush League Justice:
Tim Walz's campaign sent out a message about Rove's visit. Want to send a message to the GOP? Give to Walz's campaign here.
Although the headliner may be Karl Rove, let’s us not forget Dr. Tom Coburn. Yes, the Oklahoma Senator will preach to the choir his life philosophies --- such as, "the death penalty for abortionists and other people who take life," explaining his ardent opposition by noting how his great-grandmother was raped by a territorial sheriff; he has suggested blacks have a genetic disposition toward a shorter life expectancy; "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom"; and as a physician promotes that smog has nothing to do with asthma and other pulmonary afflictions.
Ah, yah, let’s us not forget that he withdrew his support for the 21st Century GI Bill in favor of McCain’s version.
Coburn’s message is sure to be an attack on earmarks, yet Norm Coleman will surely get his embrace even though Coleman is Minnesota’s leader.
Regarding Rove, I feel sorry for his son … Karl had to quit to spend more time with the boy (who is in college – not under the GI bill) and this will be another weekend where Karl is away on business.
Posted by: MinnesotaCentral | May 29, 2008 at 12:34 PM