Is he? Or is he working for the Washington GOP establishment and against Tea Party interests? That could mean any of a number of things. We all know his ties to the Bushs. We all know his antipathy toward Sarah Palin and Herman Cain. There's the story out there about his antipathy toward Perry but it was Rove who induced Perry to run for the agricultural commission spot in Texas. It's also suggested Rove lured Perry away from the Democrats into the GOP. Their suggested split came later.
Don't for a moment think Rove is beyond working with Perry or anyone seen by the GOP establishment as credentialed. He'll do anything - to anybody - in order to win over the Tea Party. Anything.
All the Cain supporters, that is.
You’ve made some really scary posts here today. I think you should ban yourselves from Free Republic until you can show some reason and detachment.
People here have said they’ll vote for Cain no matter what comes out about him.
That’s some kind of hero worship. Makes you look like Obama supporters.
Here, let me help you. The Establishment would like Romney to win. They encouraged both Cain and Bachmann to campaign while selling their books as a way to fracture the conservative vote and discourage Palin from running.
Before it was looking like that was enough to do the trick, they encouraged Perry in as well. Worst case, if they couldn’t get the primary voters to go for Romney, they knew Perry would play the game with them too.
Then Perry was a little too successful for a while and now Cain is a little too successful. The GOP Establishment planting half of the field in the race this year, and they’re not afraid of pruning back one that grows a little too fast or takes up a little too much sun.
The Romney and Perry teams are closer than they posture themselves to be, but both Perry team and Rove have been frothing at the mouth for the chance to cut Cain back. A guy with Perry and Rove connections would be perfect, but it sounds like they really lucked into the coincidence of his having been with the NRA.