Why Rove is a threat to the United States

In the January 2003 Esquire, Ron Suskind profiled Karl Rove, demonstrating how Rove has structured everything in the White House to run without a discussion of facts or reality, all falling under the oversight of the "Strategery Group." Yes, parody becomes reality in the Bush White House.

One concerned White House aide said:

There has been almost no meaningful consideration of any real issues. It’s just kids on Big Wheels who talk politics and know nothing. It’s depressing. Domestic Policy Council meetings are a farce. This leaves shoot-from-the-hip political calculations—mostly from Karl’s shop—to triumph by default. No one balances Karl. Forget it.

John DiIulio, former head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives agreed with that assessment:

What you’ve got is everything—and I mean everything—being run by the political arm. It’s the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis.

DiIulio lamented that spinning facts rather than digging for the truth inevitably leads to problems:

When policy analysis is just backfill to support a political maneuver, you’ll get a lot of oops.

That last quote brings to mind the Downing Street Memo which documented how "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" for the Bush administration to fabricate a justification to invade Iraq.

Why don't people who care about actual issues speak up? Why is there such fear of Karl Rove? Here's a tasty little nugget Suskind recalled as he waited outside Rove's office for a meeting:

Inside, Rove was talking to an aide about some political stratagem in some state that had gone awry and a political operative who had displeased him. I paid it no mind and reviewed a jotted list of questions I hoped to ask. But after a moment, it was like ignoring a tornado flinging parked cars. "We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!" As a reporter, you get around—curse words, anger, passionate intensity are not notable events—but the ferocity, the bellicosity, the violent imputations were, well, shocking. This went on without a break for a minute or two. Then the aide slipped out looking a bit ashen, and Rove, his face ruddy from the exertions of the past few moments, looked at me and smiled a gentle, Clarence-the-Angel smile. "Come on in."

And hey, that's how someone from Rove's own party gets treated. Beware anyone inside or outside the administration who has a different view of reality - especially if you're Joe Wilson, and you happen to know something that could disprove the administration's lies about a WMD program in Iraq, upon which the increasingly jingoistic statements signaled a desire to imperil the lives of Americans in a war that couldn't be justified by the facts. The Los Angeles Times:

A source directly familiar with information provided to prosecutors said Rove's interest was so strong that it prompted questions in the White House. When asked at one point why he was pursuing the diplomat so aggressively, Rove reportedly responded: "He's a Democrat." Rove then cited Wilson's campaign donations, which leaned toward Democrats, the person familiar with the case said.

Well, of course, if anything, Joe Wilson is an independent (or was before this ruckus), since he voted for Junior's dad, and gave money once to Junior's presidential campaign.

So, who's the enemy here? Who are we fighting? Who attacked us on 9/11? What constitutes an appropriate response? What are the urgent domestic priorities that need to be addressed? These are not issues that Karl Rove, George W. Bush, or the rest of the lot of fascist bastards in the White House lose any sleep over. They have their own agenda.

Josh Marshall put it this way:

The president and his partner are more concerned with going to war with half the country than they are with war against the country's enemies abroad. Until the president thinks differently on that key point there's simply no point in dealing with him on anything.