Two weeks ago, I called attention to some informal advising of the McCain campaign being done by my namesake Karl Rove. Rove attempted to keep scrutiny at bay by repeatedly comparing his relationship to campaign officials as casual "chit chat," though his own words from a February appearance at the University of Pennsylvania remain indicting (excuse me, I just like to use that word whenever possible when discussing Rove):
He should take a biographical tour to the places in the country that have made him who he is. Go to the Naval Academy and talk about the values he learned there. Then he should go to Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas where he was trained as a naval aviator, and talk from the heart and the call to service. Go to Meridien, Mississippi and Jacksonville, Florida and talk about what he learned about leadership commanding the largest naval air squadron in the United States...And he should give a speech in Sedona, Arizona and talk about the people and places in his hometown that affected him.
The coincidence of this advice and McCain's subsequent Service to America tour caught my eye, and more recently that of the National Journal, whose Peter Stone has uncovered even more indicting evidence of Rovism within the McCain camp:
After leaving the White House in August, for example, he restarted his old consulting firm, Karl Rove & Co., which has been widely distributing projections of the nation's electoral map for 2008. Some of these maps-branded with the firm's name-were prominently displayed at a March briefing by the McCain campaign's then-top media adviser, Mark McKinnon, according to Salon.
Recent developments revolve around Rove's connection with the conservative political action group Freedom's Watch. Board member William Weidner told the Journal that Rove had been advising the organization's strategy, which figures to play as heavily in the POTUS08 campaign as funds will allow. Rove has made sure to stay close to those funds as well, maintaining an advisory relationship to Freedom's Watch's principal financial backer, Las Vegas casino magnate (and notorious union buster) Sheldon Adelson. Make no mistake, the 527 campaign against Barack Obama will get lower, nastier and more Rovian with each dollar Bush's Brain can squeeze from plutocrat Adelson.
So Karl Rove has taken to advising the presidential campaign of John McCain from outside and in. Check out the extended entry for an updated timeline on the architect's blueprints... |
Feb. 8, 2008: Rove inserts his name into the McCain campaign narrative less than a week after beginning his new career in punditry at Fox News. As the network begins to assign variations on the "former Bush advisor" label to their new analyst, McCain embraces Rove's endorsement and $2,300 show of support with a public invitation to advise his strategy:
I don't think anybody denies his talents, so I'd be glad to get his advice and counsel. We would obviously decide whether to accept it or not.
As for the reputation Rove has achieved through previous campaigns, including George W. Bush's successful bid against McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary:
It's not so much whether I approve of his tactics or not. He has a very good, great political mind and any advice he can give us I'd be glad to have.
Feb. 20, 2008: An unnamed source in the audience of his appearance at the University of Pennsylvania recalls Rove's comments to The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder. Seeming at first to balk at an opportunity to seize the helm of the McCain campaign, Rove emphasized the candidate's responsibility to make the movement his own:
McCain needs to focus on defining himself. First and more important, McCain needs to understand that no one in the country really knows who the guy is. He's a war hero and ran for president eight years ago. But they don't know a lot about him. He needs to seize the opportunity to reintroduce himself.
However, Rove continued to wax informally, if somewhat prophetically (emphasis mine):
He should take a biographical tour to the places in the country that have made him who he is. Go to the Naval Academy and talk about the values he learned there. Then he should go to Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas where he was trained as a naval aviator, and talk from the heart and the call to service. Go to Meridien, Mississippi and Jacksonville, Florida and talk about what he learned about leadership commanding the largest naval air squadron in the United States...And he should give a speech in Sedona, Arizona and talk about the people and places in his hometown that affected him.
The idea clearly resonated with McCain, who mapped a nearly identical Service to America Tour (see below).
March 8, 2008: Heightening attention to the roles suspected to be played by Bush policy planners in staging McCain's very public narrative effort, Politico's David Paul Kuhn reports:
A top McCain adviser said both Mehlman and Rove are now informally advising the campaign.
Ken Mehlman, former White House Director of Political Affairs, Bush 2004 campaign manager, didn't exactly downplay the historical relationship:
McCain was completely loyal to the president in 2004 and worked incredibly hard to help him get elected.
March 17, 2008: In his Washington Post column, Howard Kurtz quotes Rove's exception to Kuhn's description of the relationship. The item features a fresh term to qualify the less-than-informal arrangement:
Rove disputed a Politico report that he is an informal adviser to McCain, saying he merely has "chitchat" with friends in the campaign.
So what's new at the day job?
Asked on Fox about Bush's role in the campaign, Rove said McCain doesn't have to distance himself from the president but "needs to run as his own man."
March 31, 2008: Day 1, Service to America Tour. McCain in Meridian, Jackson, MS.
April 2, 2008: McCain in Annapolis, MD and Pensacola, FL.
April 3, 2008: McCain in Jacksonville, FL.
April 4, 2008: McCain in Prescott (not Sedona), AZ.
May 7, 2008: Karl Rove takes to washingtonpost.com to address the questions of readers:
I'm not certain that I qualify as an advisor to McCain. I have friends at the campaign who occasionally ask me for reactions, and the Fox network is well aware of that, and similar contacts by some of their Democratic analysts.
May 25, 2008: On ABC's This Week, Rove denies having any role, either informal or formal, in the McCain campaign, but even George Stephanopoulos doesn't buy it:
George Stephanopoulos: ...of course he was President Bush's former deputy chief of staff and political strategist-an informal advisor to John McCain's campaign. You just heard David [Axelrod]...
Karl Rove: I wouldn't, I wouldn't even go that far-informal advisor-no way.
GS: Well you pass on information to them. You give them your advice.
KR: Chitchat.
GS: Chitchat? Ok, well I think that justifies, that qualifies as informal, but let's move on...
June 2, 2008: Dallas Morning News reporter, and co-author of Bush's Brain, Wayne Slater counters denials from Republican hack Brad Blakeman over Rove's presence in the McCain campaign. On MSNBC's Verdict with Dan Abrams, Slater cites the February appearance at the U of P as proof of more-than-informal advising.
June 14, 2008: National Jounral's Peter Stone reports on Rove's further connection to a leading conservative 527 group this election season:
William Weidner, a Freedom's Watch board member, recently told National Journal that Rove has offered strategic advice to both the group and its major financial backer, Las Vegas casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson. Weidner, president of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which Adelson chairs, called Rove "an invaluable asset" to the group.
One prominent GOP strategist says that Rove's various behind-the-scenes efforts for McCain and Freedom's Watch are aimed at bolstering the Bush administration's sagging fortunes, helping Republicans in a tough election year, and protecting his own place in history. Rove, who was a key architect of George W. Bush's presidential victories in 2000 and 2004, is "trying to vindicate the Bush administration by electing a Republican president," the GOP source said. "This is very personal for Karl."
Very personal. Well maybe that DOES qualify as informal. Just not any more encouraging to disaffected (ie: non-Bush) Republicans, and certainly no less energizing to those of us who like to keep tabs. |
