Bush's Brain is Only 2 Miles from My House Tonight

Karl Rove, aka Bush's Brain, has been invited by the Champaign County Gross Ol' Party's Lincoln Day celebration.

From the CC GOP website:

“Our goal this November is to challenge every Democrat in all federal, state and local races. It is a privilege and honor to have Karl Rove come to Champaign County to assist in our efforts,” said Jason Barickman, Chairman of the Champaign County Republican Central Committee.

Rove’s visit is part of his book tour promoting his forthcoming memoir, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,” scheduled for release March 9.

‘Courage and Consequence’ is a candid and behind-the-scenes view of some of history’s turbulent and momentous years. It tells how President Bush got to the White House and what happened during his consequential presidency. It’s a frank account of what I witnessed and my often-controversial role,” Rove said."

I agree it probably was a controversial role, considering nearly 5000 men and women are dead from the Iraq war, and thousands of troops still stuck there. I don't think Lincoln would have picked this kind of fight for the good of our country, which is bankrupting our government when we could have had universal health care.

If only this had really happened:

Rove should have been arrested and tried for treason for outing a CIA officer.







Mr. Benny and I are planning to have dinner out of town this evening, to say the least. I don't think I eat my dinner, knowing Karl Rove is crapping only 2 miles from my house.

(cross-posted at the DU, with slight modifications)

Rove vs Dean Debate

Someone tipped me off that Karl Rove and Howard Dean were debating at DePauw University. I watched it on a live stream.

Howard's opening remarks were much better than Karl's about generational civic engagement.

(photo courtesy of DePauw U)

"Our generation is a partisan generation," Gov. Dean declared. "People have talked about the culture wars. We've spent a lot of time demonizing each other's side, that makes it very difficult. One of the extraordinary things about this new young generation is they're sick of it. The question I get most often from young people is, 'When can you guys stop fighting about this stuff you've been fighting about for 30 years and get something done about the things you can agree on?' And I think it's going to have to wait until this generation is fully empowered for that to happen."

Dean reminded them that as they voted more in 2008 than other generations in decades, it was up to them to continue the engagement.

Rove made a terrible joke about a mouse in the University President's pool, which made me realize that Rove was initially uncomfortable, but then he got into how important it was to get involved with the community, whether it is business development that creates jobs, volunteer work, or serving on a city commission. I did like that part of his opening remarks.

There were times I was surprised how much they agreed upon when it came to immigration issues, Afghanistan and to a certain extent border security. However when it came to the CIA and investigations about national security, Rove denied that Bush's administration ever tortured any one, but the advanced techniques (meaning waterboarding) were approved by the CIA, and he claimed that the ones being interrogated were told ahead they would not be killed and at that a doctor was always available. Hmm...have a little feeling Rove was acting like Cheney and not telling all of the truth there.

When it came to civil discourse, Rove went on and on about the First Amendment. Dean didn't quibble much here especially at town halls, as he said the one he attended with Jim Moran a few weeks ago was raucous, but fine with him. Rove went off on a rant about Scott Simon's interview recently of a novelist who wrote about having lunch somewhere and Rove (fictionally) was there. The writer said something about grabbing a knife, but valor got the best of her. Simon laughed at the humor. Rove apparently wrote NPR to tell thing it wasn't very funny to him. Dean's debuttal was about Lou Dobbs' remark about him "[H]e's a bloodsucking leftist -- I mean, you gotta put a stake through his heart to stop this guy". Rove did invoke a smile from Dean when he said "Never trust CNN."

Rove's wingnutty kicked in full force when it came to health care reform. He said he didn't want a government bureacrat making decisions about his health care. He repeated John McCain's idea of tax credits, etc. Dean smacked Rove pretty good, saying that he was tired of private insurance coming between him (as a doctor) and the patient. He also wanted insurance where you cannot take it away from you, it is called Medicare.

Here's the video clip:

Howard Dean on health care reform

Overall, I thought it was a lively debate, and while Rove was more snarky than Dean overall, I liked it.

To read more and see more video clips, go here.

Dean debates Gingrich on MTP on Sunday. That's more controlled by a Republican hack, but Dean can handle him any day of the week.

John Edwards on Palin: Too Inexperienced to be President

Today Karl Rove and Rove's worst nightmare John Edwards debated about George Bush's record on the economy, health care, foreign policy at the Commercial Finance Association's annual meeting in SF this morning. Clearly many differences, and I'm still trying to get more details about what they said.

But what I could find from Try-City Herald was they agreed that Palin would need a lot more honing in foreign policy and health care if she contemplates a run in 2012.

From TCH:

Edwards said Palin's inexperience was too much for John McCain's campaign to overcome.

"The problem was, over time, particularly in the vice-presidential debate ... it was fairly obvious she wasn't ready to be president, and that made people nervous," he said.

Otherwise, JRE was greeted warmly by the packed room of nearly 1000 attendees, whereas two demonstrators who called Rove a "war criminal" before being ushered out of the hall by security.

Rove claimed that's how SFranciscans say hello since a similar incident happened to him there last month.

Not so with JRE. They essentially said "welcome back."

(Picture courtesy of THC).

Joe Biden Knows How to Stealth Bomb Karl Rove

From the Wall Street Journal online today:

Biden, Called a ‘Dufus,’ Turns Other Cheek

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden proved he can walk away to fight another day.

Talking with reporters aboard his campaign plane Monday evening, Biden was told that Republican strategist Karl Rove, while at the GOP convention earlier in the day, publicly characterized him as a “big, blowhard dufus.”

Biden reacted with visible surprise. The Delaware senator, well known for relishing a good bare-knuckled political brawl, smiled and called Rove “a great American.” Then he turned and walked away.

Biden also is known to chatter, and moments later took more questions at the other end of the cabin. Asked again about Rove’s remarks, he said, “I learned a long time ago, you can call me anything you want.”

Sometimes being a stealth attack dog is better than being an ugly one. Karl, you just got "Cheney'd..politely."

(h/t to Donkeykick at Brand X)

I Hate It When Karl Rove May Be Right

Today, I took the bus to work (which I do more frequently these days). Whenever I take the bus, I grab the Wall Street Journal from the driveway, and look at it. Generally I glance at "What's News Section" on the FP, then if the human interest story below the fold gets my attention, I read that next. Otherwise, I skip to the Opinion pages to see what my favorite Conservatives are yapping about.

On page A11, a header at the top of the page grabbed my attention: Conventions Need a Believable Script. The opinion piece was about McCain and Obama, and what they needed to do to define themselves, and Mr. Rove had some suggestions. His premise was using the upcoming Conventions as the vehicle. Here are Mr. Rove's hints:

For McCain:

Mr. McCain's handlers must achieve three things. First is a greater public awareness of the character that makes him worthy of the Oval Office. Mr. McCain's warrior ethic makes it difficult for him to share his interior life, though his conversation with Rick Warren did provide moving glimpses into it. To win, Mr. McCain will need to show more.

Mr. McCain's second goal is to persuade Americans he can tackle domestic challenges. The doubts are whether he understands their concerns about their jobs, their family's health care, their children's education, the culture's coarseness, and their neighborhood's safety.

Third, Mr. McCain must show voters he remains a maverick who will, as president, work across party lines as he has as senator. Naming a Democrat or two he will draw into his cabinet would remind people of his bi-partisanship.

As though three things take up a bit of column space, Mr. Rove nails it about Obama with this comment:

Mr. Obama, on the other hand, needs to reassure Americans he is up to the job. Voters recognize he represents change, yet they are unsettled. Does he have the experience to be president? There are growing concerns, which the McCain campaign has tapped, that Mr. Obama is an inexperienced celebrity-politician smitten with his own press clippings.

Then he points out the obvious, but most of us overlooked:

Mr. Obama's performance this summer has added to voter doubts, putting a large burden on his acceptance speech. There are challenges in a speech staged with 75,000 screaming partisans at INVESCO Field. Will it deepen the impression that he's more of a rock star than a person of serious public purpose, or can Mr. Obama have the serious conversation he needs to reassure Americans?

Mr. Rove also suggested that demonization of each other would not work in this election. Ironic considering that was Mr. Rove was particularly good at when advising the Chimperor in Chief. But you know what? He's right for this reason:

Voters want to learn more about these two men, their personal values and their public vision. Every possible minute should be spent on these.

Read the rest here.

Damn, I hate it when Karl Rove may be right. Obama's team could benefit from reading this free piece of advice.

Trippi: John Edwards is Karl Rove's Nightmare

From CNN Political Ticker:

Rove knows that Democrats will rally around whomever he attacks—so he attacks the candidate he thinks Republicans can most easily defeat," Trippi wrote to supporters in a fundraising e-mail. "It may seem backwards, but Rove and his cronies did the same thing last time around. In 2004, they were scared of John Edwards, so they attacked John Kerry."

"Rove is using his sneaky, underhanded tactics to try and trick Democrats into rallying around a candidate who won't be as strong as John in the general election," Trippi added.

I think Trippi is right. Read the rest for yourself here.

Bill Maher on Bill-O's Show is a good example how this may be true.