No spin doctor has ever been as influent and controversial as Karl Rove, the man behind George W. Bush throughout his presidency.
Rove was not only the mastermind of the 2000 and 2004 campaigns, he also literally shaped Bush’s communication and overall strategy for 8 years. He is the one who built up and broadcasted neo-conservative ideology. Karl Rove is obviously smarter than the usual Washington fox, but he has also built his success on hard work; which explains his incredible knowledge and understanding of American politics and the American political map.
His legacy will of course largely focus on the war in Iraq and the decisions of the Bush administration. However Rove did not wait to be in the White House to be controversial. Throughout his career, Rove has had an unbelievable track record and I just wanted to share a few examples of his incredible ability to go beyond good and evil when it comes to winning an election:
-In 1970, young Karl Rove—who was only 20 at the time–was sent by the Republican Party to Illinois to organize a local political campaign. The first thing he did was to pay a visit to the Democrat Party offices pretending to be a Democratic voter, and stole some paper with Democratic Party headers. He then wrote invitations for a rally promising “free beer and girls” which he sent to various people in town.
-Karl Rove appeared in national newspapers for the first time in 1973. In the midst of the Watergate scandal, which would provoke Nixon’s resignation, Rove was mentioned in a Washington Post article entitled: “Republican Party probes official as teacher of tricks”.
In the article, Rove was said to be telling Republican voters in seminars he was organizing to root through the opponents’ garbage cans. Rove was questioned by the FBI about this, but was never seriously threatened.
-Karl Rove started to work for the Bush family in 1980 and always stayed faithful to them.
-In 1993, young George Walker Bush asked Rove to help him get elected Governor of Texas. Once again, Rove used controversial methods to help his candidate win the election. He set up a smear and rumour based campaign, which included targeting Richards’ lesbian advisors.
This type of aggressive campaigns will then become Karl Rove political signature.
-In 2000, during Bush’s first presidential election primaries, Karl Rove used what is known as a “push-polling” strategy, which consists in asking questions in a poll which are so biased that they will necessarily affect the results and therefore will influence the way the race is ran. Rove did not invent this strategy, but he certainly was a genius at applying it.
Bush was facing the Vietnam war hero John McCain who was largely ahead of him in the polls. Rove decided to strike back and launched through his company, Karl Rove & Co, a number of polls with the following question: “Would you vote for McCain even though he would be emotionally disturbed since the Vietnam war?” Bush finally won the primaries and was elected president of the United States.
-From 2001 to 2007, Karl Rove was one of the leading figures of all of Bush’s controversial decisions. Along with Dick Cheney, he shaped a communication strategy to legitimate the war in Iraq. He was also threatened in the Valerie Palme scandal, named after a CIA agent whose identity was revealed to the public after a mysterious leak from the White House.
Karl Rove certainly is a cold blooded and pitiless spin doctor, but he is also undoubtedly one of the most brilliant minds of his time. A cynical and brilliant politician who comes straight out of a Machiavelli book.
Archive for February, 2009
Nothing but the spin... 