I think Karl Rove may have suffered a stroke or something. He has inexplicably written a paean to Teddy Roosevelt in Time Magazine. Although he never does so explicitly, the clear inference is that we should think of Teddy Roosevelt when we think of George W. Bush. Colonel Roosevelt commanded the “all-volunteer First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, the “Rough Riders”, during the Spanish-American War.” During Vietnam, George W. Bush hid at Harvard Business School instead of fulfilling his air guard duties.
Teddy Roosevelt “was a widely-respected historian, naturalist and explorer of the Amazon Basin; his 35 books, listed online, include works on outdoor life, natural history, U.S. Western and political history, an autobiography and a host of other topics.” George W. Bush never travelled widely and had Karen Hughes write his book A Charge to Keep.
Teddy Roosevelt “was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize, winning its Peace Prize in 1906 for his successful mediation of the Russo-Japanese War.” According to Reuters George W. Bush was warned launching a war in Iraq could subject him to prosecution for war crimes.
“Surveys of scholars have consistently ranked [Teddy Roosevelt] from #3 to #7 on the list of greatest American presidents.” George W. Bush consistently ranks as among the worst Presidents ever and “In early 2004, an informal survey of 415 historians conducted by the nonpartisan History News Network found that eighty-one percent considered the Bush administration a “failure.”
Teddy Roosevelt took on the powerful railroad industry, broke up trusts, created the food and drug inspection act, and the meat inspection act. He “set aside more land for national parks and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined.” George W. Bush has never challenged a powerful industry, and he has consistently moved to reduce enivonmental and other safety regulations.
Teddy Roosevelt founded the Progressive Party. Bush considers progressives to be the coddlers of terrorists.
“While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, [Teddy Roosevelt] was shot by saloonkeeper John Schrank in a failed assassination attempt on October 14, 1912. With the bullet lodged in his chest, Roosevelt delivered his scheduled speech.” On 9/11, George W. Bush, informed that our country was under attack, went ahead with his scheduled appearance with a group of second graders.
Lastly, Karl Rove has always modeled himself after William McKinley’s unscrupulous political advisor, Mark Hanna. When Roosevelt took over for McKinley, “Mark Hanna was the rival power in the Republican party.” It was only “[when] Hanna died [that] Roosevelt had an easy renomination and reelection in 1904.”
I have no idea what Karl Rove was thinking. But, when we think of Teddy Roosevelt, George W. Bush is about the last person that comes up for a fair comparison.