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September 27, 2004
Nobody ever whispered to me
The Atlantic Online | November 2004 | Karl Rove in a Corner | Joshua Green
Okay, we all know that Karl Rove is a slimebag of the highest order. But who knew that he, like his putative boss, spent time corrupting the politics and institutions of my home state? Yes, it's true! Apparently, we're the minor leagues now.
Anyway, Rove allegedly started a whispering campaign at the University of Alabama School of Law insinuating that a Democratic state Supreme Court justice was a pedophile. This was just about the time of my one, regrettable, year of law school there, but nobody ever tried to use me as a conduit for smears. I'm actually rather insulted.
Also, Rove was the architect of much the Business Council of Alabama's still-current strategy of painting Democratic judicial candidates as tools of the plaintiff's bar and their use of "horror stories" of allegedly overgenerous judgments. This actually explains something to me. I've wondered why the Republicans have been so good at getting elected to judicial office (eight of nine current justices are Republicans) while only getting about half the other statewide offices, and Democrats still control the legislature. Maybe it's because they had an Evil Genius design their judicial campaign plan but only local yokels for everything else.
What did Rove learn from Alabama? Well, let's just say that he might have gotten some lessons from a recurring character around here:
In the rare instances when he has failed to set the terms of debate, Rove hasn't fared nearly so well. Four years ago, in a race to succeed Hooper, who was retiring as Alabama's chief justice, Rove lined up support from a majority of the state's important Republicans behind his candidate, an associate justice named Harold See. Like most of Rove's clients, See had an enormous financial advantage and ran a brutally negative campaign—but he was nonetheless trounced by Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments" judge, who succeeded in making the race about religion. This loss may have helped Rove to recognize the power of religion as a political motivator: from the question of gay marriage to organizing churches for Bush, it features prominently in his playbook for the current election.
Yes, the long-sought Roy/Rove link at last.
(Link from Talking Points Memo.)
Posted by Mac Thomason at September 27, 2004 10:40 AM
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