Posted on 08/13/2007 10:22:48 AM PDT by hardback
Mr. Rove's political influence has been historic, In 2002, the president's party gained seats in both the House and Senate in a first midterm election for the first time since 1934.
And in 2004, for only the second time in history, a president won re-election while helping his party gain seats in both houses of Congress; the other time was 1936.
Much has been made of John Kerry's ineptitude, but the senator won some eight million more votes than Al Gore did in 2000, and Mr. Rove claims Democrats outspent Republicans by $148 million thanks to billionaire donations to "527" committees.
The Rove-Ken Mehlman turnout effort was a spectacular achievement. If it did nothing else, that 2004 victory put John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.
A big debate among Republicans these days is who bears more blame for 2006. Yet even with a unified Democratic Party and the war, he argues, it was "a really close election." The GOP lost the Senate by its 3,562 vote margin of defeat in Montana, and in the House the combined margin in the 15 seats that cost control was 85,000 votes.
"The election was nationalized. It was always going to be about Iraq and the conduct of Republicans." He says Republicans who were linked to corruption or were complacent lost. His biggest error, Mr. Rove says, was in not working soon enough to replace Republicans tainted by scandal.
What about that new GOP William McKinley-style majority he hoped to build -- He says young people are if anything more pro-life and free-market than older Americans.
He recalls how Democrats thought driving the U.S. out of Vietnam would also help them politically. "Instead, Democrats have suffered ever since on national security," he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
‘His biggest error, Mr. Rove says, was in not working soon enough to replace Republicans tainted by scandal. ‘
Yep, and not getting rid of Arlen Spector, that idiot Linc Chaffee, and the airhead twins, Snowe and whatshername.
The repubs screwed up in too many places to hold power and part of that includes Iraq. Still, he helped keep Kerry out of office and that says a lot.
Pennsylvania is tilting left and the other two states are in New England which is infested with Dems. Even reliable NH is a Blue state and so how do you propose that he replace them with staunch conservatives?
Hey! I liked Rove if only because he had the moonbats crowing. Of course..... anyone that was or is associated with Bush is the death card as far as the liberal left is concerned.
No Thanks!
For whose who may not have seen it, here's Paul Gigot and his editorial staff calling us irrational for opposing the Senate amnesty plan and Michelle Malkin's retort:
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/06/07/new-vent-gorilla-warfare-against-the-open-borders-wsj/
Pennsylvania is tilting left and the other two states are in New England which is infested with Dems. Even reliable NH is a Blue state and so how do you propose that he replace them with staunch conservatives?
I didn’t suggest replacing them with ‘staunch conservatives’. As you accurately note, thats not possible.
But to continue rewarding those that take special pleasure in undermining your own administration is dumb. See Spector’s rants, or the latest thing to dribble from that idiot Snowe’s mouth....
Hey! I liked Rove if only because he had the moonbats crowing. Of course..... anyone that was or is associated with Bush is the death card as far as the liberal left is concerned.
Thats part of the reason I don’t see Rove getting involved with the coming campaign on behalf of anyone.
Because, staunch conservatives are WHO WINS in a battle against the leftist totalitarian socialists called the Demoncratic Party...
Santorum lost precisely because "The Pro-Life Senator" backed Arlen Specter so publicly.
No. Karl - you're biggest error was your arrogance in trying to force amnesty down our throats and calling anyone who disagreed with you as bigots who "hated brown people".
Now that your over-rated "genius" has given us Pelosi and Reid you will go on to undeserved seven-figure incomes lecturing similar Beltway buffons how to do politics. You will be living comfortably in your gated community in a million dollar home in Texas while the middle class trash nearby watch their lifestyle go down the tubes.
Not in Blue States they don’t. And, I am also not going to believe that Republicans threw Santorum under the bus simply because he supported Sphincter.
Indeed. Are we really supposed to believe that the electorate which put Specter in office voted against Santorum because he agreed with them?
Please. The media assassinated Santorum's intellect and character as aggressively as I've ever seen.
That and there was a movement afoot to get rid of Bush by proxy. Any Blue state Senators and Congressmen up for election pretty much paid the bill.
It wasn't that he supported Arlen, it was that he went out of his way to support Arlen, even going against Toomey in the primaries.
Santorum was a good senator in a swing state; they tacked a fat target on his back and then hedged their bets with the stuffed shirt son of one of the final Democrats I ever respected - the original Bob Casey
That’s all fine and good but Santorum got spanked badly in the general election and that wasn’t from conservatives staying home or switching sides.
The voters in those states are milquetoast...even the Republicans.
Why in the world would that type of voter vote in a strong conservative? Spector, Snowe, Chafee are about their speed.
‘Why in the world would that type of voter vote in a strong conservative? ‘
Because Islamofacists will kill them as well for starters.
The irony is radical Islamofacists will kill a liberal/moderate FIRST on ‘general principal alone’.
Guess how they view gays? Women that can read and drive, let alone hold a job, let alone hold public office?
Abortion? Name a liberal position, and the Wahabists see ‘Evil’ personafied. Their primary bitch is we allow Liberalism when you think about it.
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