I've read the Esquire article about Karl Rove, and I must admit that, even though I had read DiIulio's letter to the Esquire reporter and followed the story pretty closely, I was still amazed by some of the observations in the story about the degree of influence held by Rove. It is not just DiIulio who comments about Rove's power, but other Republican operatives. The McCain/South Carolina story I knew previously (among other things, the Republicans smeared McCain by phoning Republican voters and telling them that the daughter that McCain and his wife had adopted from Mother Theresa's orphanage in Bangladesh was actually the result of an affair McCain had had with a black prostitute), but it is laid out pretty vividly in the article.

But read the article. It's worth it.


An interesting point is discussed at the end of the article. One White House source comments the day after the 2002 election that maybe the lack of policy wasn't "benign neglect" but rather "brilliant neglect" -- that, given the closeness of last election and the divided Congress, Rove focused for the first two years on the hard right wing core, to motivate them for 2002, when he could get a majority in Congress, and now perhaps he would move to the center for 2004. The source is quoted as saying "The question is, What will we do? Will we finally put together a thoughtful policy team to create a coherent plan for America's future, or just push through one political favor after another dressed up like policy? I guess it's really for Karl, Karl and the president, to decide."
- posted by Joshua @ 11:17 AM