Why Karl Rove is out to destroy Tom DeLay
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Bob FertikWant to meet our members? Click 'Join' above!
Karl Rove, of course. Rove's fingerprints are all over the March 28 Wall Street Journal editorial that stuck the first knife deep into DeLay's back. The WSJ editors don't give a crap about corruption by Republicans, which they have aggressively justified since the rise of Gingrich and DeLay in the early 1990's. They only decided to suddenly turn on DeLay because Rove ordered them to.
But why is Rove after DeLay? After all, they share the same far-right big-business anti-Constitution neo-fascist agenda. On policy and politics, they are clones.
But on March 20, Tom DeLay made a big mistake - he dragged George Bush out of bed to fly to Washington to sign DeLay's Schiavo bill. How angry was Bush? Just read his lips in the photo above.
After that, things went from bad to worse. Polls showed Americans were outraged by DeLay's intervention in the Schiavo case, and that anger spilled over onto Bush, bringing his polls down to their lowest level ever.
Bush's approval rating fell from 52 percent to 45 percent in a week's time, according to a survey by USA Today, CNN and the Gallup organization, its lowest level ever in that poll. The biggest drop in support, the poll found, was among men, conservatives and churchgoers. A CBS News poll similarly found that Bush's favorable rating had dropped by six percentage points since February, to 43 percent.
Karl Rove lives - and dies - by polls. He fights every news cycle of every day - literally 24x7x365 - to make sure Bush is always portrayed in a positive light. If someone hurts Bush's image, Rove makes sure they pay a heavy price - just ask Richard Clark, Joseph Wilson, Paul O'Neill, or anyone else who has dared to tell the truth about Bush.
Tom DeLay's Schiavo scam hurt Bush big-time. Bush's polls are still hemorrhaging - the latest AP/Ipsos poll has Bush's approval all the way down to 44%, with 54% disapproval - the worst poll he's ever had.
Some might think Bush's polls don't matter because he's not running again. But Bush is leading a rightwing revolution, and he has no intention of stopping his Total War on every liberal policy, institution, and idea in the world.
Just look at Social Security. It doesn't matter to him that the more he talks about Social Security, the more the public rejects his privatization plan. He is determined to force privatization on America, come hell or high water.
But to continue his rightwing revolution, Bush needs political capital - a concept that has been crucial to his political outlook since he watched his dad lose the White House. Here's an essential insight into Bush's brain from Russ Baker:
“He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,” said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. “It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’ And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, ‘If I have a chance to invade….if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.”
After stealing a second term in the White House, Bush didn't have much political capital to spare. He bet nearly all of it on Social Security privatization, and that bet is bombing. And then Tom DeLay came along with a shovel and pitched the rest of Bush's capital into Terry Schiavo's hospice bed.
Incredibly, Tom DeLay and his cronies think he's tougher than Rove and Bush. They think they can fight Rove and keep DeLay in power.
This is a Battle of the Monsters. It's King Kong vs. Godzilla.
AmericaBlog is rooting for DeLay:
Good. Strategize away. Keep putting DeLay out there. Make him a bigger name then he is. Tie him to the Congress and the Right Wing Nutball agenda.
So who will win in the end? The smart money would go with Rove, who has the backing of Big Business. But DeLay is tenacious and vicious, the result of prolonged exposure to pesticides.
If Rove really wants to remove DeLay, he will have to deposit a lot of money in DeLay's Swiss bank accounts.
Stay tuned...
Update: BuzzFlash agrees...
Well, we said it about the media frenzy surrounding Trent Lott's lauding of Strom Thurmond and we'll say it about Tom DeLay. It's not the Democrats that will bring down Tom DeLay; it's the Executive Branch and the White House that are leaking like a sieve. Karl Rove's fingerprints are all over this knife.
DeLay has forgotten the golden rule: George W. Bush comes before any Republican's personal agenda or power play.
DeLay has forgotten that he doesn't control the judiciary or the media; the White House does.
There's only room for one Godfather among the Busheviks; and Tom DeLay, not content to have the Congress as his concession and stay in the background, is stepping on Karl Rove's carefully crafted image of Bush.
He's raising attacks on the judiciary at a time that such positions are hurting Bush in the polls. Bush may nominate loyal incompetent hacks to the bench -- and renominate them -- but Rove knows how to hide their right wing religious agenda in sheep's clothing.
Karl Rove is sharpening up his cutlery. Tom DeLay ought to be watching his Bushevik backside .
The former exterminator and present "Dioxin brain" has started to cast a shadow on the White House and draw undue attention to the real delusional goals of its inhabitants. His ego has gotten the better of him, and he's forgotten who is the Don of the mob.
Rove is just about ready to pour the cockroach killer all over Tom.
And the man who crawled out from under a rock of immorality can't even see it coming.
A rattler never does.
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Comments
Not just yet
As much as I like seeing "Hot Tub" Tommy squirm like this and want him ridden out of town in disgrace, I think we need him around a little longer. He needs to be the face of the republican party in the next election cycle. The Democrats need to frame him as the poster child of the majority in Congress and the Senate.
But man it's fun to watch...
I agree... Attacking Bush dir
I agree... Attacking Bush directly doesn't work... We need to focus on others and rip the "moral" veil from the face...
"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies"
The Atheist Bible(My website)
In the meantime...
American and Iraqi kids are being killed.
The economy sucks.
Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Austrians, the list could go on and on, are starting to lose respect for America in general, as no one over here can figure how the idiot got re-elected and how he gets his way.
Bush disrepects the Pope in Italy.
Bolton will become US ambassador.
Rice becomes head of the Stae Department.
Rumsfeld stays on as head of Defense.
Tom Delay steals evrything, but the hub caps.
Greed runs amuck in America.
A planted reporter is allowed in the Briefing Room.
Ms. Thomas is told to shut-up.
Wolf Blitzer insults Catholics who do not agree with Bush.
What peaceful means can stop this insanity?
I could go on and on.
Please read the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Do I see commonalities? You bet!
Franco, Mussolini, Hitler and now Bush!
It seems to me from over here that the States is falling apart and is surely losing friends. Americans should watch out if the rest of the world does not need America because of financial reasons as much as they did in the past.
Thanks for the space to rant.
Forgive me for this history lesson.
What peacefull means indead. Frankly, the one thing we have on our side is that his term is limited, and there is no logical successor waiting in the wings. Seems the likely candidates keep sticking their feet in their mouths.
As you clearly allude to, the facists used and manipulated the press as efficiently as this group does. Unfortunately for them, those of us that are opposed to these lunatics cannot be easily rounded up and murdered. All we can do is continue what we are doing, and go for the throat when we get an opening, like what is happening to Delay.
Your last line is the biggest problem that we now face. We are deep in debt, the dollar is in big trouble, and we don't even hold the high moral ground anymore. And most of America is too short sighted and/or stupid to realize it.
I once wrote a long rant against Matthius Doefler, well know for refering to Europeans as cowards. I realized, after a great deal of research, that after 2000 years, maybe Europe is just sick of war.
Wars fought on American Soil
Continental US approx 3,200.000 Sq. miles
Revolutionary War
War of 1812
Mexican War
Civil War: Union
Spanish-American War
Wars fought on European Soil
Continental Europe approx. 4,000,000
43 Roman emperor Claudius invades Britain
60 - 61 Rebellion of Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, against Romans in Britain
68 - 69 Civil war in Roman empire after Emperor Nero dies
180 Death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius; end of Pax Romana
235 - 84 Long period of civil war and chaos in Roman empire
360s First invasions of Europe by Huns from central Asia
378 Romans defeated at Adrianople by Visigoths: Emperor Valens killed
410 Aaric the Goth, king of the Germanic people, the Visigoths, sacks Rome
445 Attila the Hun attacks western Europe
c. 450 Saxons from Germany begin to invade Britain
451 Attila defeated at Ch_lons
476 Germanic invader Odoacer expels Romulus Augustus, last emperor of Rome, and takes control of the city
c. 670 Syrian chemist, Callinicus, invents Greek Fire, a highly inflammable liquid used by the Byzantine army in battle; first used in Battle of Cyzicus c. 673
715 Muslim forces conquer most of Spain; only the mountainous north, home of the Basque people, remains independent
732 Charles Martel , king of the Franks, defeats Muslims at Poitiers in France, stopping Muslim advance northwards
787 Vikings make their first raids on the coasts of Britain
809 - 17 War between the Byzantine empire and the Bulgars - Khan Krum of Bulgaria defeats Byzantines in 811 and kills their emperor
c. 843 Charlemagne 's Frankish empire breaks up
878 Alfred defeats Vikings under Gudrum at Ethandune; Treaty of Wedmore divides England between them
885 - 86 Vikings raid Paris in France
c. 900 Magyars, nomadic people from central Asia, invade Europe
937 Athelstan of England defeats large army of Scots, Irish, and Danes at Battle of Brunanburh, northern England
955 Otto defeats Magyars at Battle of Lechfeld, near Augsburg, and defeats Slavs at Reichnitz
976 - 1025 Reign of Basil II, Byzantine emperor who defeats Bulgarians in 1014
1014 Brian Boru, High King of all Ireland, defeats Vikings at Battle of Clontarf, but is killed after victory
1066 William Duke of Normandy, defeats Harold of England at Battle of Hastings
1072 - 91 Norman armies conquer Sicily
1171 - 72 Henry II invades Ireland and is accepted as its lord
1180 - 1223 Philip II Augustus rules France, conquering Angevin lands in the west
1190 Teutonic Order of knights, a military society, set up in Germany to defend Christian lands in Palestine and Syria
1212 Almohads defeated by Christians at battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
1240 Russian Alexander Nevsky defeats Swedes at great battle on the Neva river
1282 - 84 Edward I of England conquers Wales
1291 Three Swiss cantons join together to begin struggle for independence from Habsburgs
1314 Scots defeat English at Battle of Bannockburn
1337 Edward III of England claims French throne - 100 Years War (1337 - 1453) begins
1346 English defeat French at Battle of Cr_cy
1358 Jacquerie Revolt; peasant uprising north of Paris, France
1381 Peasants' Revolt in England led by Wat Tyler
1389 Christian Serbs defeated by Ottoman Turks at Kossovo in Serbia
1429 Joan of Arc leads French forces against occupying English army at Siege of Orl_eans
1453 Ottomans besiege and capture Constantinople, ending Byzantine empire
1453 End of 100 Years War; English expelled from all France except Calais
1456 Hungarians under nobleman John Hunyadi storm Belgrade and drive out Turks
1480 Spanish Inquisition introduced to uncover heresy
1485 Henry VII becomes first Tudor king of England and Wales after defeat of last Plantagenet king Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth
1492 Christian Spanish capture Granada in Spain from Muslims
1527 Troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, sack Rome and capture Pope Clement VII
1560s - 90s French Wars of Religion: Protestant minority in conflict with Catholic majority as leading nobles struggle for power under weak Valois kings
1568 - 1648 Dutch campaign for independence from Spanish rule
1571 Don John of Austria smashes Ottoman fleet at Battle of Lepanto
1572 Massacre of St Bartholomew: 8,000 Protestants die in Paris, France
1588 English fleet defeats Spanish Armada off south coast of England
1618 - 48 30 Years War involves almost all Europe except Britain
1627 - 28 Catholics besiege Huguenots in La Rochelle on western coast of France
1642 - 47 Civil war in England, Scotland, and Ireland
1645 - 69 Candian War between Venice and Ottoman Turks
1648 - 53 The Frondes; revolts against mazarins rule in France
1683 Turks besiege Vienna; beaten off by John Sobieski
1688 Revolution in England against James II brings William of Orange to the throne
1700 - 21 Great Northern War: Russia is victorious and replaces Sweden as the dominant power in northeastern Europe
1701 - 13 Much of Europe involved in War of Spanish Succession; French routed at Battle of Blenheim, 1704
1712 Religious warfare in Switzerland
1715 First Jacobite rising in Britain attempts to restore exiled Stuart dynasty to throne
1733 - 35 France and Austria fight War of Polish Succession to make their candidates Polish king
1740 - 48 Prussia attacks Austria and drags much of Europe into War of Austria Succession
1745 - 46 Second Jacobite rising in Britain led by Bonnie Prince Charlie attempts but fails to restore exiled Stuart dynasty to British throne
1756 - 63 Seven Years War; Prussia and Britain versus France, Austria, and Russia
1757 Battle of Rossbach; Frederick The Great of Prussia defeats French and Austrians
1773 - 75 Emelian Pugachev leads uprising of Cossacks and peasants in Russia
1778 War of Bavarian Succession between Prussia and Austria
1787 - 92 Turkey fights Russia to regain the Crimea, but is defeated
1788 - 90 Sweden attacks Russia, but a peace treaty confirms the pre-war borders
1789 Outbreak of French Revolution; Paris Bastille stormed (14 July)*
1795 France overruns Netherlands; creates dependent Dutch republic
1798-99 Wolfe Tone organizes Irish revolt against English rule
1805 Battles of Trafalgar (British naval victory) and Austerlitz (French army victory)
1808 - 14 The Peninsular War in Spain
1812 Napoleon reaches Moscow; is forced by partisan warfare and burning of Moscow to retreat to France
1813 Napoleon defeated in the "Battle of the nations", Leipzig
1815 Battle of Waterloo; final defeat of Napoleon
1821-29 Greek War of Independence, against Turks
1827 Battle of Navarino Bay; British, French, and Russian navies destroy Turkish fleet
1830 Russians suppress Polish revolt
1830 Revolution in France
1847 - 48 Civil war leaves Switzerland a federal state
1848 Year of Revolution throughout Europe
1853 - 56 Crimean War: Russia fights Turkey, Britain, France, and Sardinia
1863 - 64 Poles rebel against Russian rule
1866 Prussia defeats Austria at Sadowa in Seven Weeks War
1870 - 71 Franco-Prussian War; Napoleon III abdicates, Third Republic established in France (to 1940)
1876 Turks put down Bulgarian rising with great cruelty
All that even before the 20th century and 2 World Wars. I'd be sick of war too.