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Gingrich: Karl Rove Strategy 'Maniacally Dumb'
NewsMax.com ^ | May 31, 2007 | staff

Posted on 05/31/2007 8:53:31 AM PDT by kellynla

Karl Rove’s political strategy for President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign was "maniacally dumb,” declares Newt Gingrich – who says the right can’t retain power if it alienates the center.

In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg for The New Yorker magazine, the former House Speaker said Rove left Bush with "no political capital.”

Gingrich observed: "All he proved was that the anti-Kerry vote was bigger than the anti-Bush vote.”

The Bush campaign failed to wage a campaign based on ideology, said Gingrich, and instead of suggesting that Kerry was "to the left of Ted Kennedy,” it focused on attacking Kerry’s war record.

Gingrich has gotten heat of late from some conservatives for reaching out to center-right voters, Goldberg notes. But Gingrich said he wants to bring the center into a coalition with the right "because I want to give the right power. The right can have power only by being allied with the center.”

Failure to recognize that was Rove’s mistake in 2004, according to Gingrich, who feels Republicans risk alienating "America’s natural majority.”

The GOP’s only hope of holding on to the White House in 2008 is to nominate a candidate who runs against Bush, just as Nicolas Sarkozy won France’s presidency by "making his own president, Jacques Chirac, his virtual opponent,” said Gingrich.

Goldberg writes that Gingrich "says the Bush administration has become a Republican version of the Jimmy Carter presidency, when nothing seemed to go right.”

Gingrich also warned: "When you have the collapse of the Republican Party, you have an immediate turn toward the Democrats, not because the Democrats are offering anything better, but on a ‘not them’ basis. And if you end up in a 2008 campaign between ‘them’ and ‘not them,’ ‘not them’ is going to win.”


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; gingrich; karlrove; newt; politics
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To: newguy357
Subject to opinion? Maybe like "the sun rises in the east" is subject to opinion.

Uh, okay. :::rolls eyes:::

81 posted on 05/31/2007 1:44:47 PM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: WashingtonSource
I didn’t know Condi has a penis

She has man hands, too.
82 posted on 05/31/2007 1:50:36 PM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Put illegals on ICE)
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To: CutePuppy
Thanks for updating my views on the Contract with America. But on the Reagan Democrats I don’t see ideology as the way to recapture their hearts in 2008.
83 posted on 05/31/2007 2:05:08 PM PDT by ex-snook ("But above all things, truth beareth away the victory.")
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To: padre35

Too weird, your reply to me didn’t show up in the my posts page; must have been too many. I just came back to this thread and saw it.

What I think of Rove has nothing to do with Newt; it started the day after Nancy Pelosi became next in line for the prez after Cheney. I never thought that could or would happen. While Newt was brilliant in 1994, his personal life is slightly better than bubba’s.


84 posted on 05/31/2007 2:14:55 PM PDT by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: reagan_fanatic

Yeah, Reagan put illegals on ice, didn’t he? Gave them straight across amnesty with no border enforcement.


85 posted on 05/31/2007 2:16:17 PM PDT by jrooney (The democrats are the friend of our enemy and the enemy of our friends. Attack them, not GW!)
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To: CutePuppy
Rove is not really a strategist in the correct sense of the world, he is an excellent tactician. Many people don't understand the difference. Think Clinton machine, a lot of tactical "victories" combined by ideology but without overarching sense of strategy.

Good tactician executing a flawed or wrong strategy can do more harm than bad tactician executing good strategy. Think 2006 "all politics is local" GOP campaign which only played into Schumer-Emanuel hands, as they "out-conservatived" conservatives.

Newt is a strategist, so is Condi, in a true sense of the word. Maybe it's because they are historians.

How could I go against someone named, "CutePuppy"? Oh, I remember, I prefer cats.

I don't care whatever term you want to use for Rove, he failed miserably. I also think Bush is to blame as well for seemingly relying on Rove's flawed advice.

I don't know whether Newt or Condi are great Strategerists but I do like Condi although I think she will never be able to drain the cesspool in the State Dep.

Newt has his good points but everyone that says character matters in regards to Rudy has to be able to apply that to everyone and that includes Newt. I don't expect people to be perfect (well one man) but I don't like hypocrites and Newt is a big one.

86 posted on 05/31/2007 2:23:45 PM PDT by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: Lx

Well, we agree on Rove, Bush, Condi, and cats (I like them too, and most of them are cute, though I prefer the company of other puppies).

And we mostly agree on Newt... though I am probably giving him more slack - for trying, and by comparing him to most of current GOP or conservative “leaders”.


87 posted on 05/31/2007 2:45:26 PM PDT by CutePuppy (If you don't ask the right questions you may not get the right answers)
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To: ex-snook
I don’t see ideology as the way to recapture their hearts in 2008.

Fair enough. We'll disagree on this point, and Newt (and I) may be wrong on this as a winning strategy. I just wanted to correct the impression that Newt wants the party to move to the "center", when he is really trying to move the conservatives from the "center" back to the party and increase/recreate conservative majority in the party.

Regards.

88 posted on 05/31/2007 3:00:18 PM PDT by CutePuppy (If you don't ask the right questions you may not get the right answers)
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To: jrooney
Yeah, Reagan put illegals on ice, didn’t he? Gave them straight across amnesty with no border enforcement

Are you inferring that I unquestioningly supported everything Reagan did while in office?

Wrong. I disagreed with several of his positions, including immigration.

The difference is in the 80's, immigration was a crisis - today it is a catastrophe.

Could it have been handled better back then - yes. Should Bush get a pass for his disastrous 'handling' of the illegal immigration problem we face today?

Absolutely #*$%*&@ NOT!
89 posted on 05/31/2007 3:19:53 PM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Put illegals on ICE)
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To: MEGoody

Sorry, no time to explain any more obvious facts of life to an idiot.


90 posted on 05/31/2007 5:17:15 PM PDT by newguy357
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To: MEGoody

Sorry I’m a jerk. Have been sleep deprived. But I know that isn’t a good excuse.


91 posted on 05/31/2007 6:28:12 PM PDT by newguy357
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To: newguy357

Uh, okay. :::rolls eyes:::


92 posted on 06/01/2007 9:50:41 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: MEGoody

Might want to get your eyes checked. Something seems to be amiss.


93 posted on 06/01/2007 11:57:53 AM PDT by newguy357
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To: newguy357
Might want to get your eyes checked. Something seems to be amiss.

Yeah, they tend to roll when someone posts something ridiculous to me.

94 posted on 06/01/2007 2:02:27 PM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: MEGoody

No, it is probably medical. One of two possibilities:
-Epilepsy
-You’re a teenager
I’m guessing both.


95 posted on 06/01/2007 2:15:41 PM PDT by newguy357
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To: newguy357

Nah, it’s just a reaction when someone posts silliness (like you just did) :::eye roll:::


96 posted on 06/08/2007 10:02:17 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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