Posted on 07/13/2005 7:16:19 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
As Texas' top political operative, Karl Rove honed an ability to damage an opponent without clear evidence that he was responsible.
The pattern exasperated Democrats but always served Mr. Rove well – until, perhaps, the case of Valerie Plame.
Despite early White House denials of his involvement, Mr. Rove has come under attack for his role in the unmasking of a covert CIA operative – an act that appeared aimed at punishing a Bush administration critic, Ms. Plame's husband.
It's not the first time that President Bush's most-trusted political adviser has been accused of political hardball or dirty tricks. But usually, there are no fingerprints.
"I don't think anybody who has ever been on the other side of a campaign from Karl Rove could ever be surprised by the allegations, whether well-founded or not," said Austin political consultant Chuck McDonald. "Karl is relentless in his pursuit of whatever his agenda is."
Political operatives in Texas have long seen a pattern they call "the Mark of Rove." Level an opponent, leave no evidence.
A decade ago, Mr. McDonald was advising Democrat Lena Guerrero, a rising political star, when Mr. Rove leaked word to a reporter that Ms. Guerrero, whose resume claimed she was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas, didn't even have a degree.
The leak, and subsequent firestorm of publicity, damaged Ms. Guerrero, a railroad commissioner, and a Rove client defeated her.
In the 1986 governor's race in which he represented Republican Bill Clements, Mr. Rove announced he had found an electronic listening device in his office.
The controversy, coming on the eve of a key debate, helped Mr. Clements unseat incumbent Mark White.
Many Texas Democrats believe the episode was a political dirty trick. Mr. Rove denied he concocted the story.
In 1990, Mr. Rove recruited a little-known West Texas legislator named Rick Perry to challenge Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. Stories leaked to newspapers questioned ethical practices within Mr. Hightower's agency, prompting an FBI investigation.
Two Agriculture Department officials went to prison, and Mr. Hightower, who was not charged with wrongdoing, lost the election.
Four years later, when Mr. Rove directed Mr. Bush's first run for governor, a whisper campaign in East Texas targeted incumbent Ann Richards' appointment of gays in her administration. Mr. Rove said he was not involved, but analysts said the incident damaged Ms. Richards' re-election chances.
And in the 2000 presidential race, Mr. Bush faced a serious challenge in the Republican primary from Sen. John McCain. Bush allies questioned whether years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam had left Mr. McCain temperamentally ill-suited for the presidency.
Mr. Rove said he played no role in the attack on Mr. McCain. He also denied involvement in last year's successful attack by an independent group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, on Democrat John Kerry's service in Vietnam.
Much of the early money bankrolling the Swift Boat Veterans, though, came from a Houston homebuilder whom Mr. Rove recruited two decades ago to help bankroll the emerging Texas GOP.
The Kerry campaign was quick to see a pattern, even as Rove and Team Bush denied there was one.
"This town is built on myths," Mr. Rove told Fox News. "And I've become a convenient myth."
Perhaps the closest parallel to the current controversy over the outing of the CIA official occurred more than a decade ago.
In that political dustup, a newspaper columnist wrote a damaging piece in 1992 about Rove political rivals within the Texas Republican Party. Although Mr. Rove denied that he was the leaker, Republican leaders believed he was responsible and canceled his direct-mail contract with the Texas GOP.
The columnist in that episode, as in the Valerie Plame case, was Robert Novak.
They have officially gone round the bend. Call the men in the white coats.
"Attack of Press", Publish, tell no truth.
Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!
Rove alone, is smarter than the whole DNC put together. They cannot stand it -- he shows, through strategy and words alone, how IRRELEVANT and ANTI-AMERICAN the left is.
Just the sort of "balanced" reporting for which the Dallas Morning Spew is (in)famous.
Still not as bad as CNN's feature last night, with the subtitle "Worse than Watergate?" running across the bottom of the screen throughout.
I love this guy
Rove for President
For over twenty years I subscribed to the Dallas Morning News and now you know why I quit. They have a decent sports section but other than that its the same old MSM trash.
They recently sent me a letter wanting me to start the paper again for free, as they can't sell their junk any longer.
They said they wanted to win me back, well printing lies and mis-information is why I quit in the first place.
LOLOLOLOL!
Its really too funny, the press has got the investigation that it wanted, which it appears when the dust settles will make the darling boy Wilson and his wife and the dempress yawpers look stupid, and once again manuevered into performing an anatomically impossible feat upon themselves. "Who did this to you? Noman" LOL.
Oh, it's Congressman Menendez of New Jersey!!! Bwahahahahaha!!!
The leak, and subsequent firestorm of publicity, damaged Ms. Guerrero, a railroad commissioner, and a Rove client defeated her."
Guerrero was a liar and a fraud (much like Joe Wilson) and somehow it's Karl Rove's fault?
"Suspend logical thought all ye who enter here!"
The leak, and subsequent firestorm of publicity, damaged Ms. Guerrero, a railroad commissioner, and a Rove client defeated her.
No mention, of course, of whether or not she did have the degree.
Dems going up in Plames.
Those match book degrees are a bitch, ain't they?
I just heard that too! ROFLMAO
LOL! That's a good one! And now you have given me an idea: Karl Rove is Plame-proof! In fact, I think I will put it on my tag line for a while!
A Limbaugh T-Shirt suggestion?
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