[rottndog]

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

[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.

[finnigan2]

"I never understood all the hype about Karl Rove."

- I shared your view until last week I saw him for the first time at a press conference on C-Span. He stood before a hostile crowd of reporters and, speaking without notes, he marched out an impressive array of facts, polling data and statistics on every issue thrown at him, with some of his information going back several years.
In short, he had more information in his head than any of these professional journalists had in their written notes - and these guys supposedly cover politics for a living.
The net result was that before long he had them completely cowed and meekly writing down his responses without follow up.
It's no wonder the Democrats demonize him and the press fear his influence.
I don't really know if he is listened to by the President on every issue but I do believe that someone who can discuss policy options with such a command of the issues is someone that I would want advising me.

[SupplySider]

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

I think the ultimate source of that hype is the DNC talking points, amplified by the mainstream media, and now accepted far and wide, even by the right. Rove (like Cheney) is the evil genius, masterminding the simpleton Bush.

[Kenny Bunk]

All Rove did was help Bush beat Gore and Kerry, two very weak candidates.

The Rove man has a certain undeniable talent for turning slam-dunks into near-disasters. Of course, one wouldn't expect him to do this on a shoestring.

We in the GOP spent hundreds of millions on some of the worst tripe to ever hit the airwaves, thanks to Karl Rove, Idiot Savant Extraordinaire. We've certainly have grown impatient waiting for the Savant to emerge.

But I am not worried. Karl has assured me on innumerable occasions that victory is perpetually ours because, "The Hispanics are the Republicans of the Future."