Karl Rove is quitting Bush. As good a time as any to give my opinion of him. And it’s not complicated.
Karl Rove is a thug. The man boy who cheats. A bully, a liar, a do anything no matter how unethical or immoral to win kind of guy. Sure, he’s had help along the way in his thuggery from a compliant press willing to spread his lies about his political opponents, to a whole host of lesser villains in hate talk radio and on FOX News, MsNBC and CNN. And yes, he’s a clever man, if by clever you mean someone who has managed to fool enough people to protect his sorry ass even though he has admitted to being involved in outing Valerie Plame, and has been linked to every major Bush scandal from Jack Abramoff to the US Attorney firings.
But a genius he is not. He is a modern day version of Dr. Goebbels, Americanized and home grown to be sure, but above all a practitioner of the Big Lie. And he has succeeded as well as he has in life because too many Americans were willing to buy into those lies. Not everyone, just enough. Enough people afraid of people who have a different skin color. Enough people who are afraid of people who speak a different language or practice a different religion or love a different gender than they do. Enough people whose own lives are so miserable that all they have is their hatred to keep them going from one day to the next.
All Karl Rove did was ride that wave of fear, anger and hate in this country. He sold the fear, and told the gullible who to hate. He’s no genius, just a crook who saw an easy way to get what he wants from people by playing to their basest instincts. Unfortunately, America has a long history of hucksters and con men, thugs and bullies, and political knaves. Rove was not the first, nor will he be the last.
I’d like to say good riddance to him, but I’m sure he’ll pop up again to bedevil our country. There are still a lot of bigots, racists, fraidy-cats and just plain morons out there willing to believe his lies. More than enough to keep the likes of Turdblossom spreading his brand of toxic manure for years to come.
