Politics Rove’s Delusions
posted by on November 9 at 11:16 AM
Perhaps you heard this Rove interviewwith NPR’s Robert Siegel right before the election:
SIEGEL: We’re in the home stretch, though, and many would consider you on the optimistic end of realism about -ROVE: Not that you would be exhibiting a bias …
SIEGEL: I’m looking at all the same polls that you’re looking at every day.
ROVE: No, you’re not. No, you’re not.
SIEGEL: No, I’m not?
ROVE: No, you’re not. You’re not. I’m looking at 68 polls a week. You may be looking at four or five public polls a week that talk about attitudes nationally but that do not impact the outcome of -
SIEGEL: I’m looking at main races between - certainly Senate races.
ROVE: Well, like the poll today showing that Corker’s ahead in Tennessee, or the poll showing that Allen is pulling away in the Virginia Senate race.
SIEGEL: Leading Webb in Virginia, yeah.
Mr. ROVE: Exactly.
SIEGEL: But you’ve seen the DeWine race and the Santorum race - I don’t want to have you call races.
ROVE: Yeah, I’m looking at all these, Robert, and adding them up, and I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math, but you’re entitled to your math, I’m entitled to THE math.
SIEGEL: Well, I don’t know if we’re entitled to our different math, but you’re certainly -
ROVE: I said THE math. I said you’re entitled to yours.
Well, I’m going to get a little cagey here, but bear with me:
I ran into a high-profile member of the local Republican party last night, and they made it clear that indeed, Rove was totally delusional about the elections. This source is close to another high-profile Republican who now works as a GOP lobbyist in DC. This GOP lobbyist is pals with Rove.
Well, my source was talking to this lobbyist on the night before the election and said: “Man, I’ve been out doorbelling, and we’re going to get crushed.” The lobbyist, stunned, replied, “No. The polls are wrong. Don’t believe the liberal media reports. Karl is looking at the real numbers and we’re going to win.” My GOP informant replied: “No. Listen, I was out doorbelling, and when I told people I was a Republican they slammed the door in my face.” His comrade replied: “No. No. Karl’s on top of this. We’re going to win.”
My source then chastised his colleague for being lost in the D.C. loop and not understanding what was happening on the ground.
God I wish I could have seen Rove's face on election night... I can only imagine the look of absolute horror as he watched the power he so coveted pulled out from underneath him.
Then I'm sure he slinked back to hell to unwind.
Did anybody see that movie "The Grifters," with Cusack and Bening? There's a character in there that Bening alludes to in flashbacks, a genius grifter played by J.T. Walsh. He takes huge risks and has huge successes, but he was fundamentally unstable. At one point, he snaps. In the scene, he's half-naked and screaming, seemingly in the midst of mad delusions, crushed with paranoia. His genius flirted with madness, as is often the case, and madness won out. I believe Rove has now passed that point as well, his genius for cynical manipulation succumbing to the madness of his own inhumanity.
I hope this ends the perception that Rove is some invincible political genius and ends his career.
Well, seriously folks, what else would you have expected Rove to have said?
What? You're surprised that a professional spinner/liar would spin and lie to NPR, or even to his own peeps?
It's his job to energize his voters - and to de-energize others' - with whatever it takes to make it happen.
It's NOT his job to provide honest analysis of polling data to anyone other than his own boss, and heck, maybe not even then.
He gets paid a lof of money for that kind of thing. Surely you already knew this?
They got lucky with 9/11 happening on their watch. That is all. Rove is no genius and never was.
Well, I hadn't heard it, but that transcript was hilarious. And Rove reminds me of someone out of Dr. Strangelove.
Sean,
The point of my post wasn't so much the Siegal intvw. as much as it was the real life snap shot that the friend of Rove's friend got. That snippet makes it clear that Rove had, indeed, spun himself and not just the public.
Christians and Republicans choosing to believe comforting fantasies despite lacking or contrary evidence? Shocking!
I remember being chilled by that NPR interview. The transcript doesn't do it justice, failing to encompass the utter condescension and dismissive-ness of his voice.
It made me believe the fix was in. Hell, it might have been. With this big of a wave, even the Republican Electoral Death Star couldn't hold.
Right about now Rove probably could use a long session with Mike Jones.
Matthew, I've been calling this lot a bunch of grifters for quite some time.
Rove may have stumbled, but they, the Cheney/Bush crowd, will mostly be getting away with a hideously lucrative scam. Despite winning, the Dems are left with the mucking out of the stalls...for decades to come.
Rove never was good at math, only at lying.
Of course Rove was going to lie about the poll results?
What else was he going to do? Publicly redict absolute, total defeat, thus ensuring that Republican voters would stay home?
Better to lie through one's teeth and hope for a miracle.
Rove is an asshat. The biggest asshat of all time.
Gosh ... the Repugs got their signals mixed for once? Huh.
Someone who cares should send Karl a nice fruitcake baked in 2000.
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