{"id":13511,"date":"2008-11-25T14:30:38","date_gmt":"2008-11-25T21:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/11\/25\/rovean-interview.html"},"modified":"2008-11-25T14:30:38","modified_gmt":"2008-11-25T21:30:38","slug":"rovean_interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/25\/rovean_interview.html","title":{"rendered":"Rovean Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

I don’t know if it’s the editing or if Karl Rove is just sitting … very … still right now, trying not to let his head explode. But this is a very odd interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Do you see the election results as a repudiation of your politics?<\/span> <\/strong>
Our new president-elect won one and a half points more than George W. Bush won in 2004, and he did so, in great respect, by adopting the methods of the Bush campaign and conducting a vast army of persuasion to identify and get out the vote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course, a while back, Rove was touting the 2000-2004 elections as mandates for Bush and a repudiation of the Democrats. But that was then.<\/p>\n

\n

But what about your great dream of creating a permanent Republican governing majority in Washington<\/strong>?<\/span>
I never said permanent. Durable.<\/p>\n

Do you think <\/strong>John McCain<\/strong> attacked too much or not enough?<\/strong><\/span>
<\/strong>Dissecting the campaign that way is not helpful.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At least, not in public, and not without a big speaking fee.<\/p>\n

\n

Have you met <\/strong>Barack Obama<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/span>
Yes, I know him. He was a member of the Senate while I was at the White House and we shared a mutual friend, Ken Mehlman, his law-school classmate. When Obama came to the White House, we would talk about our mutual friend.<\/p>\n

Did you have lunch together? Talk in the hall?<\/span> <\/strong>
We sat in the meeting room and chatted before the meeting. He had a habit of showing up early, which is a good courtesy.<\/p>\n

Are you going to send him a little note congratulating him?<\/strong><\/span>
I already have. I sent it to his office. I sent him a handwritten note with funny stamps on the outside.<\/p>\n

What kind of funny stamps?<\/strong><\/span>
Stamps.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just … stamps. Funny … stamps.<\/p>\n

\n

Do you have any advice for him? You already criticized <\/strong>Rahm Emanuel<\/strong>, Obama\u2019s new chief of staff, as a sharply partisan choice.<\/strong><\/span>
I raised a question as to whether this would be the best use of Rahm Emanuel\u2019s talents. If you\u2019re trying to work through a big legislative priority, it is sort of hard if you have a guy who has a reputation as a tough, hard, take-no-prisoners, head-in-your-face, scream-and-shout, send-them-a-dead-fish partisan.<\/p>\n

What about you? You were always seen as very partisan.<\/strong><\/span>
I wasn\u2019t the chief of staff. And you\u2019d be surprised by the Democrats I actually met, got to know and worked with.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Like Joe Lieberman.<\/p>\n

\n

Do you like <\/strong>Joe Biden<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/span> <\/strong>
I think he has an odd combination of longevity and long-windedness that passes for wisdom in Washington.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 I guess the answer is No. <\/p>\n

Do you <\/strong>regret anything that happened in the White House during your tenure?<\/strong><\/span>
Sure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And moving on to the next question …<\/p>\n

\n

You\u2019ve been booed off stages recently.<\/strong><\/span>
No, I haven\u2019t. I\u2019ve been booed on stages. I\u2019m a little bit tougher than to walk off a stage because someone says something ugly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Upcoming House investigative committees will be glad to hear that.<\/p>\n

\n

Do you think the era of negative politics is over?<\/span> <\/strong>
No.<\/p>\n

Do you see yourself as being associated with it in any way?<\/strong><\/span>
Look, in 1800 the sainted Thomas Jefferson arranged to hire a notorious slanderer named James Callender, who worked as a writer at a Republican newspaper in Richmond, Va. Read some of what he wrote about John Adams. This was a personal slander.<\/p>\n

What did he say?<\/span> <\/strong>
He said he lacked the spine of a man and the character of a woman. Negative politics have always been around.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The truest thing Rove has ever said. Looking at the 1800 election between Jefferson and Adams makes the worst of Atwater, Rove, or Schmidt look like Mister Rogers.<\/p>\n

\n

You\u2019ve never repudiated President Bush<\/strong>.<\/span>
No. And I never will. He did the right things.<\/p>\n

What about Iraq and the economy?<\/strong> <\/span>
The world is a better place with Saddam Hussein gone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

  Period. End of story. Moving on …<\/p>\n

\n

Do you have any advice for him at this point?<\/strong><\/span>
With all due respect, I don\u2019t need you to transmit what I want to say to my friend of 35 years.<\/p>\n

Remember, attack politics are out. It\u2019s a new age of civilized discourse.<\/strong> <\/span>
You\u2019re the one who hurt my feelings by saying you didn\u2019t trust me.<\/p>\n

Did I say that?<\/span> <\/strong>
Yes, you did. I\u2019ve got it on tape. I\u2019m going to transcribe this and send it to you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And that’s that.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via BoingBoing<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t know if it’s the editing or if Karl Rove is just sitting … very … still right now, trying not to let his head explode. But this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2008","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11480,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/18\/another_day_another_rat_j.html","url_meta":{"origin":13511,"position":0},"title":"Another day, another rat jumping","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 18-Aug-07 11:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Less than a week after Karl Rove jumped ship from the Bush Administration, Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, is bailing as well.\u00a0 To his credit, though, he's not...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50977,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/11\/sooner-or-later-you-have-to-come-up-with-an-alternative-to-the-thing-you-dislike.html","url_meta":{"origin":13511,"position":1},"title":"Sooner or later, you have to come up with an alternative to the thing you dislike","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 11-May-15 10:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Karl Rove, of all people, has been telling Republicans for quite some time that if they are going to long-term find the \"Obamacare is EVIL!\" party line successful, they will need to come up with a plausible alternative that satisfies the populace. The GOP has quietly ignored him, since actually\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9739,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/08\/jaccuse_3.html","url_meta":{"origin":13511,"position":2},"title":"J’accuse!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 8-Nov-06 10:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"Aha! The reasons the Republicans lost the House (and, maybe, the Senate) wasn't because of Tom Delay, or Bill Frist, or Mark Foley, or Karl Rove, or Jack Abramoff, or...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2006"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2006","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2006"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7147,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/10\/20\/what_a_differen-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":13511,"position":3},"title":"What a difference a decade makes","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 20-Oct-04 1:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An striking (if narrow) video look at the difference between the George W. Bush of ten years ago -- as a candidate for Texas governor -- and the sitting candidate...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2004"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2004","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2004"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11505,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/13\/rove_bails.html","url_meta":{"origin":13511,"position":4},"title":"Rove bails","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Aug-07 7:38am","format":false,"excerpt":"Rat leaving a sinking ship?\u00a0 Liability being finally pushed out of the pre-election-year limelight?\u00a0 No more political mountains left to climb raze?\u00a0 Karl Rove will resign at the end...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/bush-rove.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12938,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/09\/04\/after_and_before.html","url_meta":{"origin":13511,"position":5},"title":"After … and before","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 4-Sep-08 12:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Lovely. Just ... brilliantly ... lovely. 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