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The Man Who Elected Barack Obama
The American Spectator ^ | APRIL 4, 2010 | Joseph Shattan

Posted on 04/05/2010 6:08:23 AM PDT by RobinMasters

When I served as a Senior Speechwriter in George W. Bush's White House, Karl Rove was the bane of my existence. The rule was that no speech could ever go to the President without its first being reviewed by Mr. Rove, and since Karl was an extremely busy man, he often didn't call in his comments to the Speechwriting Office till eight or nine in the evening. By the time these comments reached me, they often seemed hopelessly cryptic and unintelligible, yet somehow I had to figure out a way to work them into my draft without offending all the other big-shots whose comments I had previously incorporated…And all the while, of course, the President was waiting for his speech.

But despite the grief he caused me, I am one of Karl Rove's biggest fans. Karl is a truly nice man -- modest, personable, and extremely approachable -- yet you couldn't spend more than five minutes with him without recognizing that you were in the presence of a towering intellect. But having just read his memoir, Courage and Consequence, I am forced to conclude that Rove, perhaps more than anyone else, was responsible for the election of Barack Obama in 2008.

Let me recount a bit of personal history by way of background. About four years ago, around the time when Democrats were heatedly charging that Bush had "lied" about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction in order to build a case for war (after all, they argued, if the weapons had existed, why weren't we able to find them after liberating Iraq?), I was having lunch with Dr. Laurie Mylroie, one of America's leading students of terrorism in general, and Iraqi terrorism in particular. Laurie was beside herself with anger.

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: clapper; gwb; lauriemylroie; mylroie; rove; sada; sniff; syria; tangotango; wmd; wmds
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To: An American!

Good for you to remind all of this...
This info is a perfect example of the dissembling of the MSM since Nam that ill serves the country - they should be brought up on charges of treason for the cover-ups...


21 posted on 04/05/2010 6:34:02 AM PDT by matginzac
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To: stephenjohnbanker
Bush came across as a kid at the controls. In retrospect I think most people believe there were ways we could have dealt with Iraq and Afghanistan without physically occupying them and carrying out these long drawn out nation building efforts. I think one of the biggest mistakes he made was disbanding Iraq's army and police forces. It took years for us to build these up again from scratch rather than cleaning them up.
22 posted on 04/05/2010 6:34:07 AM PDT by Average Al
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To: RobinMasters
Why was it so tongue-tied, so unsure of itself, so unwilling to answer its critics? Didn't anybody in the White House realize that if the Democrats' charges went unanswered, they would fatally undermine the entire case for the war?

I always said that Bush's biggest fault was his unwillingness to defend himself. And this goes for just about anything.

Also Rove's plan to out-democrat the democrats when it came to spending was a bad idea too.

23 posted on 04/05/2010 6:35:01 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: LS

I *sigh* with you !!!
Incredible how some spend time trying very hard to marginalize themselves....


24 posted on 04/05/2010 6:35:06 AM PDT by matginzac
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To: Judges Gone Wild

The election was lost long before that.


25 posted on 04/05/2010 6:36:25 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: stickywillie
As I recall, the WMD were shipped to the “Beeka Valley” in Syria, and it was talked about all over the internet. Jet planes were uncovered from under the sand, and a huge find of yellow cake uranium was even found and shipped to Canada, according to a CNN Article.

I remember seeing satellite photos of Russian trucks, over 1400 in one convoy alone, heading out of Iraq and into Syria weeks prior to the invasion. Now, those photos are nowhere to be found. Similarly, there was an article in the local Chattanooga newspaper that said 4000 tons of partially enriched uranium was shipped out of Iraq to the Oakridge Y-12 plant. The Oakridge employee who leaked the information was reportedly dismissed. Now, that article is nowhere to be found, although other FReepers in the Chattanooga area also remember reading the article. The banking collapse and sub-prime mess should have been hung around Barney Frank's neck, especially with various statements Frank made in the years prior about Fannie and Freddie "not being in crisis". This entire thing stinks to high heaven if you axe me. WT*, indeed!

26 posted on 04/05/2010 6:37:30 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (Stop the insanity - Flush Congress!)
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To: Judges Gone Wild

The person most responsible for obama’s win was Mike Huckabee. His strong anti-abortion message took Evangelical Christian Conservative Primary votes away from Fred Thompson, and by splitting those Conservative votes, it left mclame standing, and 15,000,000 Conservatives stayed home in November because they couldn’t stomach mclame.


27 posted on 04/05/2010 6:38:42 AM PDT by stickywillie
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To: An American!

Beceause that would have been partisan.


28 posted on 04/05/2010 6:38:57 AM PDT by Obadiah (ObamaCare = VA hospitals for everyone)
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To: LS

McCain was the final nail in the coffin.


29 posted on 04/05/2010 6:40:24 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Support our troops....and vote out the RINOS!)
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To: RobinMasters

I’m no fan of Karl Rove, but the man who elected Obama is none other than John McCain.


30 posted on 04/05/2010 6:41:32 AM PDT by exit82 (Democrats are the enemy of freedom. Sarah Palin is our Esther.)
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To: Neverforget01
John McCain was the Bob Dole of the 21st Century.

Yep! McCain was yet another example of how the Republicans nominate the next guy in line. The election was lost when McCain won the nomination and I said so at the time.

31 posted on 04/05/2010 6:41:48 AM PDT by Thermalseeker (Stop the insanity - Flush Congress!)
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To: An American!
Yes. Search online for WMD Bekaa Valley.
32 posted on 04/05/2010 6:43:36 AM PDT by Sisku Hanne
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To: RobinMasters

The unpopularity of the war and the “Bush Lied” theme was huge in the 2006 election. It was catastrophic, but wasn’t George W. Bush President of the United States at the time? You would think he had a political thought of his own and did not wait for Rove to pull the string.


33 posted on 04/05/2010 6:44:06 AM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: boycott
I also blame idiot Republicans for having open primaries allowing independents to pick McCain, the candidate most to blame for Obama’s win.
34 posted on 04/05/2010 6:44:22 AM PDT by Neverforget01 (The problem is the doing, not the talking....Gov Haley Barbour)
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To: catman67

You hit the nail on the head. Bush’s loyalty (like his father’s with Dan Quayle) were laudable, but not politically helpful.


35 posted on 04/05/2010 6:44:39 AM PDT by lazlohollyfeld
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To: An American!
Bush did let it be known the WMD’s were in Syria.
In fact Bush gave Syria a warning if WMD’s were used, Syria would be held responsible.
36 posted on 04/05/2010 6:44:56 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: LS
I'm basically with you. I do think that Rove/Bush deserve the blame to this extent: W was so intent on restoring dignity and class to the presidency, after The Nameless One had dragged it down to the moral gutter his own soul inhabits, that he failed. He was busy being classy and above the fray, when he should have realized that defending his agenda was part of waging the war on terror.

Much as I hate to say it, it's a lesson he could have learned from The Nameless One: the importance of an effective instant-response squad, and continual campaign.

Having said all that, I blame the voters, period. Though the MSM did its best to get 0 elected, reasons for rejecting him weren't in secret code under a rock at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

37 posted on 04/05/2010 6:45:09 AM PDT by BibChr ("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
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To: LS

There was considerable discussion about this on FR at the time. As I recall, many of us, myself included (and you), could not understand why the administration didn’t counter the ‘Bush lied’ attacks. There was considerable circumstantial evidence available to the public at the time about a Syrian connection.

The administration had substantial knowledge judging by this article (Rove was aware...), although this lonely speechwriter was apparently clueless. Yet what do we have when the President’s political adviser asserts lone responsibility for not countering the disinformation? There surely had to be any number of others who had the President’s ear, who could have made the case. It just seems there’s more to this yet.


38 posted on 04/05/2010 6:45:49 AM PDT by bcsco (Obama: Hokus Pokus POTUS)
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To: boycott
George Soros - economic terrorist that should be sent to Malaysia for trial. We demand other nations send us terrorists against the USA but we harbor terrorists like Soros. I am sure that there are other nations that would want him on trial.

Soros acts like he gives a damn about the poor but yet he cause economic havoc against poor nations.

Soros also moved the HQ of his business to the Bahamas so that he wouldn’t have to pay USA taxes. The punk wants so much influence on this nation but doesn’t pay its taxes. Soros is a major advocate of decriminalization of drugs. The place where he has his business located is known for its drug money laundering.

Soros pulls the democrat parties wagon with organizations like moveon.org and several other extremist left groups.

How hard would it be to deliver Soros to Malaysia, with a small militia led by Dog the Bounty Hunter? I'd donate to that effort!

39 posted on 04/05/2010 6:46:23 AM PDT by JimRed (To water the Tree of Liberty is to excise a cancer before it kills us. TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: LS
try blaming the boob McCain, who refused to run a race.

McCain is a boob.

The conservative part of this country did not nominate him. Too many were allowed to cross over during the primaries.

I lived in Indiana then, and my primary vote meant nothing.

This country needs a national primary day or 4 regional primaries, otherwise, we will be saddled once again with a McCain or Dole.......token candidates, no chance to win.

40 posted on 04/05/2010 6:50:13 AM PDT by Kakaze (Exterminate Islamofacism and apologize for nothing.....except not doing it sooner!)
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