[The South Texan]

"I never understood all the hype about Karl Rove. All he did was help Bush beat Gore and Kerry, two very weak candidates."

Better than average (not exceptional) at winning elections.

About the worse I've seen at PR. Since Jan 20, 2005 Rove allowed the Rats and the MSM to define the agenda. They allowed a very weak White House Press Secretary to stay on the job too long. The whole management of the CIA leak case, Katrina, Iraq, Immigration and the Dubai Ports deal PR strategy is/was a disaster. Rove should have declared victory and gone back to Austin right after Nov 2004. As much as I hate to say it the Clinton's right after they won in 1992 and started having problems in 1993 did the right thing by cutting lose the people who came over from the campaign to the White House or at the very least putting them in lower profile roles.. Campaign managers and big guns do not make good White House strategists in this age. Maybe going back to Reagan and before then, but not now.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" About the worse I've seen at PR. Since Jan 20, 2005 Rove allowed the Rats and the MSM to define the agenda. They allowed a very weak White House Press Secretary to stay on the job too long.
The whole management of the CIA leak case, Katrina, Iraq, Immigration and the Dubai Ports deal PR strategy is/was a disaster."

So true, so sickeningly true . It is unbelievable that the low lifes in the media bested the WH and were able to define the war in Iraq, the WOT, Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, the economy, etc. Just unbelievable.