Posted on 10/28/2010 10:03:10 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Tea Party activists tell The Daily Beast that Karl Rove "has been wrong all summer long." Shushannah Walshe on the party's fight over Sarah Palin and the Republican soul.
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It didn’t take long for Tea Party activists to circle the wagons after Karl Rove’s attack on Sarah Palin.
“What you're seeing is the first shot in the war against Sarah Palin,” said Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips. “Karl Rove is a very shrewd political operative. Getting himself into trouble is not what’s going on,” added Phillips, who earlier this year organized the Tea Party convention, where Palin was the headline speaker.
“Karl Rove–bless his heart–has been wrong all summer long when it comes to having any idea of what conservative Americans want,” said Levi Russell, spokesperson for the Tea Party Express by email. “The difference is that Rove is a D.C. analyst, and Sarah Palin is a leader.” Russell described Palin as “unquestionably the most electrifying figure in politics today,” while Rove “strikes me as a guy who would cross his arms and scowl at the thought of some Hollywood actor named Reagan running for Governor of California.”
Damning by faint praise, Russell went on to say: “Personally I’ve always liked Rove, but it is painfully obvious that he is losing his connection with the American people, and no longer has his finger on the very strong pulse of the conservative movement in this country, which is fueled by the tea party and figures such as Gov. Palin.”
In an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Rove on Wednesday questioned Palin’s suitability for the presidency, citing her reality-TV show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, which will air next month.
“There are high standards that the American people have for it [the presidency] and they require a certain level of gravitas, and they want to look at the candidate and say 'that candidate is doing things that gives me confidence that they are up to the most demanding job in the world’,” Rove said.
Rove was the architect of the Bush presidency—and a big-tent vision of the Republican Party he hoped would long outlast 43’s time in the White House. But by the time Bush left office, his approval ratings had sunk so low that many conservatives ran away from his legacy, and avoided even mentioning his name.
As the Obama presidency used the force of the federal government to try to tame an economy in ruins, a grass-roots brigade of Tea Partiers rose up—reacting against Big Government and eager to revive a Republican Party in limbo.
With Obama’s declining fortunes, Rove has reasserted himself, funneling rivers of newly unrestricted campaign cash into an effort to aid Republican candidates nationwide. As Election Day draws near, the infighting between Rove and the Tea Partiers has grown more intense—jockeying for primacy over the direction of the party, a battle that could shape the presidential election in 2012.
The Palin attack wasn’t Rove’s first swipe at the Tea Party movement.
When Christine O’Donnell won the GOP Delaware primary, Rove went on Fox News and expressed concern about her “character,” adding she had been saying “a lot of nutty things.” Palin quickly came to O’Donnell’s defense, also on Fox News, telling Rove to “buck up.”
O’Donnell didn’t return the favor on Thursday, as she was too busy with her campaign for the Senate seat to comment, a spokesperson said. Her team did, however, emailed a note from conservative strategist and Reagan biographer, Craig Shirley. “Before criticizing Sarah Palin, Mr. Rove might remember that Ronald Reagan once hosted a couple of television shows including G.E. Theater and Death Valley Days,” Shirley said.
On Thursday, there were new hints that Palin is interested in the presidency as Entertainment Tonight promoted an upcoming interview with Palin in which she says she’ll run in 2012, “if there’s nobody else to do it.”
Whether she can win, though, is an open question. According to a poll released earlier this month, 64 percent of Americans believe she would not make an effective president.
“What Rove is saying, and other Republicans are saying, [is that] if you look at the polls, Palin is not qualified to be president,” said Republican strategist John Feehery, adding that this may be the opening salvo in the fight for the Republican soul. “Once this election is over, we start the next campaign,” he said. “Whoever is our presidential candidate is going to be the one who’s going to be defining Republican policies,” Feehery said. “There are a lot of people who love Sarah Palin who think Karl Rove is off his rocker, and there starts the competition.”
Rove, who has raised millions of dollars for the Republican Party during this election cycle, also talked about a possible Palin candidacy as he appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday. The architect of Bush’s two election wins displayed his trademark cool.
“Look, there are going to be several geological ages that are going to come and go before the 2012 Republican presidential nomination fight gels,” he said.
Rove will be working for Romney. At least Palin has been out working hard to elect Republicans. Where is Romney? Where’s he hiding. Who is he working to help elect.
Well said but those fooled by this rove kid will never get it. To bad but that is just how it is evidently.
Well said but those fooled by this rove kid will never get it. To bad but that is just how it is evidently.
How can a man be so brilliant than to allow the media and the democrats to frame the argument and character of Bush by NOT FIGHTING BACK? He admitted that it was his idea not too... so much so that the name Bush became a curse word by 2008!
You cannot excuse Rove’s bush-league attack on O’Donnell - He should have said “I don’t believe she is the best candidate but I wish her well” - But No, he went on the offense for 3 straight days attacking her and giving fodder to the MSM.....He is attacking Sarah but has Rove ever point out that Mitt has to explain RomneyCare? Romney has to explain himself before he ever become viable since ObamaCare will probably still be the main issue other than the economy and it will take the issue off the table
At least I go to bed at night that I still support a man who i still believe in and not a hypocrite.
The same Rockefeller/HW Bush branch of the GOP that was against Ronald Reagan is against Sarah Palin.
Rove has worked to throw away that Delaware Senate seat because he sees it as a way to hurt Palin and the tea party.
This is full out war between the two ends of the Republican Party.
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It is a thing of beauty to watch arrows fly straight into the target.
Beautifully said.
Either Rove doesn’t remember that or he doesn’t think Reagan had the appropriate gravitas, either... though, if truth be told, this is all about Rove supporting Romney same as he supported Castle.
Yep! And check out rove’s work with C.A.I.R.’s heavy hitter grover norquist at grover’s the ‘islamic institute’, one of the most anti American muslim groups going. FU rove. Anyone who supports this man has not done his homework. A muslim lover? nice rove, real nice.
The war between the left and right within the GOP is eternal, the reason Rove is desperate enough to lose elections to stop Palin is because he knows that his liberal end is losing control to a national movement of conservatives, and that she is strong enough to survive and lead that movement to a takeover of the GOP much greater than what Reagan achieved, although he did take the Presidency for 8 years.
Rove was lying, things are gelling, and that is why he is so desperate, and willing to lose elections, including one or two Senate seats if that is what it takes to deliver a body blow to Palin.
Yeah. Hewitt, Rove, and Mitt sure "picked a lonely hill to die on". And there might not be anyone there to perform a eulogy.
Many people were fooled by Rove. A lot of us now realize that.
The great news is that after this election cycle, we will have two years to find some great primary challengers. And some really good primary challengers will step up to the plate. We will take these RINO’s out one by one, election cycle by election cycle. We will take our party back from hacks like Rove.
My thoughts too. Amazing how she antagonizes both the Left and Right (RHINOS)
If she has no chance of winning the Presidency, why all the agonizing over her?
Run Sarah, run!
I agree 100%. muslim lovers? no damn way. Real Americans? you bet!!!
LOL :) Agreed.
Rove will be working for Romney.
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No doubt about it. Also, as in 2008, Romney will be the GOP insiders’ favorite. Romney did poorly last time, but only because few people knew of his accomplishments and positions. Now that he has had more exposure and is better known, he will do catastrophically.
At least I go to bed at night that I still support a man who i still believe in and not a hypocrite.
When u go to bed at night, I want u to think of all the future primary challenges yet to come. Think about the two year head start that will attract some great challengers to these GOP RINO’s. The party has just started. That should also help you sleep well.
I disagree. The Cocktail Party, the Beltway Party, the Rockefeller and anti-Reagan wing of the republican party is very much against Sarah Palin. The vitriol is palpable. In fact, well beyond a reasonable or sensible dislike, their hatred seems pathological.
“Yeah. Hewitt, Rove, and Mitt sure “picked a lonely hill to die on”. And there might not be anyone there to perform a eulogy.”
A passing cat may throw some sand over them.
he will do catastrophically
LOL
Speaking of Romney. Where has he been this election cycle?
He seems to be MIA.
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