Karl Rove on the 2008 Presidential Election
[Guest post by DRJ]
If you read the Instapundit (and I bet most of you do), you’ve noticed Glenn Reynolds’ frequent links to stories about government earmarks, pork and corruption. Sadly, greed and government excess are facts of life.
However, Prof. Reynolds’ focus on these subjects may actually be a harbinger of the 2008 elections. At least, that’s what Karl Rove thinks according to this excerpt from an article about his recent speech at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin:
“At a reception at the Presidential Museum before his remarks, Rove wouldn’t handicap the presidential race.
“It’s a jump ball,” he said. “(Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt) Romney was leading in the early stage and (former New York City Mayor Rudolph) Giuliani’s leading in the national polls; (Arizona Sen. John) McCain’s got a little momentum and Fred Thompson is doing well in some of the early stages.”
Rove said the Republican nominee will win if they draw enough of a contrast between themselves and leading Democratic contender Hillary Clinton. He added that corruption, not Iraq, will be the No. 1 issue.”
Karl Rove and Glenn Reynolds: Great minds think alike? Indeed.
— DRJ
An Instapundit link. Thanks!
Another Instapundit link. Thanks again!
Isn’t corruption what the ’06 elections were all about, at least before they happened and it magically transformed into a referendum on Iraq?
Pablo (99243e) — 11/3/2007 @ 1:33 pmProbably! Although for conservatives it seems like every election is about government waste. Too bad it’s not an issue for anyone else.
DRJ (5c60fb) — 11/3/2007 @ 1:38 pmWhere have you gone, Mark Foley?
Macaca!
Pablo (99243e) — 11/3/2007 @ 1:46 pmRove’s analysis is usually spot-on, except for his perennial blind-spot, which will be the underlying issue of this election:
Another Drew (8018ee) — 11/3/2007 @ 2:05 pmILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!
Another Drew,
I’ve never been convinced that Rove was behind the immigration debacle. He may have been on board for political reasons, such as doing what Bush told him and securing Hispanic votes, but I think immigration is GW Bush’s issue. There is some (admittedly mild) support for my theory in the linked article:
In other words, I don’t think Rove is the ideologue on immigration.
DRJ (5c60fb) — 11/3/2007 @ 2:44 pmThe irritating thing about immigration is how much better it could have been handled by just breaking the ‘work program’ and the border enforcement up by a couple of years. Picture a 2001-2 where we had taken firm steps about securing the border – followed up by dramatic increases in detentions, deportations, and turned-back-at-the-borders. All quite still laws that the D’s would have been crushed for opposing in the immediate aftermath of 911. Then there would have been a chance they might have the ‘high ground’ to actually be believed when they turn around in 2006 and work on getting the people actually here ‘out of the shadows’, with work program identification or whatever. They’d have a four year history of working hard on the easy part of the job. Instead of giving the impression they were going to give out ‘work permits’ just so they wouldn’t have to work hard at the border enforcement aspects.
Al (b624ac) — 11/3/2007 @ 4:28 pmActually, I think they give the impression that they were going to give out ‘work permits’ because they’re in favor of open borders, and failing to enforce immigration laws is your best option if repealing them is politically impossible.
I just don’t see, however, how illegal immigration can be the underlying issue of this election when there’s such a shortage of Republicans on the Republican side of it. It’s really hard to make an election about an issue where the two parties’ candidates pretty much agree.
Brett Bellmore (1e1300) — 11/4/2007 @ 5:06 amThe only solution for this country lies not in “the same-old-politics” campaigns for Giuliani, McCain, Romney or Thompson. We need something different…. RON PAUL.
Stephen Bratton (2ab1e7) — 11/4/2007 @ 5:26 amThe Only Man Who Can Save America.
I’m swooning over here.
Pablo (99243e) — 11/4/2007 @ 5:34 amI’d like to see an investigation of the connections between Ron Paul and the Church of Scientology. As for illegal immigration, I agree that GWB’s goal was open borders. When he and Vicente Fox were co-presidents of the Americas, some kind of deal was made. When Americans woke up to this, George was unable to deliver even though he roped Teddy Kennedy and that crowd in to help. This is why the angry Fox has been going around disparging Bush’s manhood with remarks like “windshield cowboy.” If the stupid party can make it clear the Democrats are more favor of a vast expansion of illegal aliens than even they were, they can win next yedar.
Banjo (b5278d) — 11/4/2007 @ 6:06 amI certainly hope corruption will be the number one issue; it certainly is in this one voter’s opinion.
Republicans and Democrats Should Start “Third Parties!
Roger F. Gay (1ccb43) — 11/4/2007 @ 6:44 amhttp://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/10/31/republicans-and-democrats-should-start-%E2%80%9Cthird-parties%E2%80%9D/
They make him sound like Neo…
Which is scary enough…
Scott Jacobs (a1de9d) — 11/4/2007 @ 6:53 amRove may or may not be right about corruption being the issue in 2008, but I hope he is right. We should all vote against all incumbents of both parties. A message needs to be sent to incumbistan that the populace has had enough sleaziness.
Bruce Lawrence (ae132d) — 11/4/2007 @ 7:45 amWe did that last election, and the idiots in the media assumed we obviously meant “Hey, roll-over and play-dead in Iraq!” was the take-home message.
Al (b624ac) — 11/4/2007 @ 12:39 pmNice of Karl to acknowledge the book I co-authored in 2006:
Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party
Too bad Karl didn’t read it before he sold the GOP to Jack Abramoff.
Robert Stacy McCain (ec9e0f) — 11/4/2007 @ 2:06 pmHow is Karl Rove gonna read a book six years before it’s written? You should write a book about that. I bet it would sell better.
The Apologist (ff682a) — 11/4/2007 @ 6:02 pmWhat Rove seems to be missing is that massive IllegalImmigration is a strong indicator of corruption. Our politicians refuse to enforce our laws because they’ve been paid off in some way or they see some sort of benefit to themselves no matter what the law says. Crimes committed by illegal aliens – such as those highlighted by this site – get people riled up, but that issue is far more pernicious.
TLB (9163ab) — 11/4/2007 @ 6:06 pmIMHO, the illegal immigration issue needs to be addressed but it needs to be framed better than it was. The amount of fearmongering and false information regarding some aspects didn’t help Republicans. Not everyone was into the fearmongering and crying about NAU and the Azatlan-La Raza conspiracies.
voiceofreason (db52f9) — 11/4/2007 @ 6:17 pmBut not enough did the hard work of separating themselves from that while sticking to the message of how stemming the illegal immigrants helps all Americans, even those who are Hispanic and here legally.
If they can’t find a better way of articulating how enforcement at the border AND at the company gates of US employers benefits all Americans, they will get smeared with unfair characterizations that paint the GOP as the party of racists. The GOP has to be willing to reach out in this regard.
As much as I’d like to see a woman president, I don’t trust Hillary as far as I can throw her.
retro (43c7ff) — 11/20/2007 @ 6:53 am