Posted on 11/06/2004 9:02:42 PM PST by crushelits
As Air Force One made its final approach to Andrews Air Force Base on Tuesday afternoon, White House senior adviser Karl Rove juggled a telephone, a pen and a piece of paper, anxiously copying down the first wave of exit polls that showed President Bush trailing John F. Kerry.
"I saw this look on his face and then the phone died," said White House communications director Dan Bartlett. "He said, 'Not good.' " It was, Bartlett added, "like a punch in the gut."
At that point, years of planning and preparation appeared in doubt. Skeptics in the Democratic and Republican parties believed the strategy created by Rove and the rest of Bush's team was about to come crashing down.
Had that happened, it would have put Bush in the history books with his father for having been denied a second term after achieving a 90 percent approval rating, and relegated Rove to the long list of strategists whose theories and assumptions have been undone by the voters.
"I was sick," Rove said in an interview as he talked about those moments on the president's plane. "But then angry when I started seeing the numbers. None of them made any sense."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It was sure smart of KR to get the Swift Boat Veterans and POWs organized against JF Kerry
as well as motivate all those millions of Evangelicals that he said didnt vote last time to vote this time as well as all the Catholics...
David Brooks quite convincingly shows that Bush didn't win because of the "Evangelicals" coming out, but by ALL Republicans coming out in force. Rove's strategy was to get ALL Republicans to come out and vote, while Kerry focused too strongly on just the battleground states.
Admired, disparaged, respected and feared, Rove joins an elite cadre of political strategists who can claim two presidential victories. Bush's adviser can now look toward the goal he has pursued since he was an obscure direct-mail specialist in Texas: the creation of a durable Republican majority in Washington and across the country. |
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White House communications director Dan Bartlett, left, and Karl Rove don Halloween outfits mocking a recent hunting trip by Democrat John F. Kerry. Bush aides have seen Rove's goofy side, but he has been strict with anyone not fully supporting the president publicly.
History is filled with great people who would have been obscure if one particular event in their life had gone a different way. But it did. So deal with it.
I saw that look many years ago on the face of an eager young UT graduate student, recently employed by the Texas Republican Party, who showed up with his young wife at the "will call" table of a fund raising luncheon when he was told that his name was not on the list of people who had tickets waiting. Karl's come a long way since then.
Rove on Meet the Press tomorrow FYI
> It was sure smart of KR to get the Swift Boat Veterans ...
Well, keep in mind this is WaPo talking.
They are unwilling to consider that Kerry lost because of
Kerry (or Clinton). The explanation has to lie elsewhere,
and Rove has been a convenient figure they can spin as the
sinister mastermind.
I agree with your observation. Rove theory alone would have
lost. It took:
- SBVFT & POWs (that Rove would have preferred be quiet)
- Evangelicals self-organizing (beyond any Rove effort)
- Astonishing Kerry gaffes that Rove could not control
- Usama bin Laden injecting himself into the campaign
- and a bunch of other stuff at the margin that was not
part of The Architect's grand strategy
Republicans voted as if their lives depended on it because their lives did depend on it.
I mostly am not a KR fan. But, there was a phenomenal GOTV effort. I live in Liberalville, MO. You can't sling a dead cat around here without hitting a liberal-- they're everwhere. I mean hardcore commie type liberals too. But, the Repubs kept coming by to make sure we were going to vote. They had to have mined the appropriate DB's to know that we subscribed to conservative magazines or something. We were the needle in the proverbial haystack, but they found us!
Karl Rove had nothing to do with the Swiftboat vets. They were their own group, organized by themselves with absolutely no ties to the Bush campaign. More than a few of them are democrats. They were united against Kerry, not necessarily pro-Bush.
Yes. Our lives did depend on it. Now, only if KR would see the folly of illegal immigration.
I truly don't believe that Rove organized any Swiftboat Veterans. I think the Swiftees had their own agenda. It was not even Pro-Bush. It was "anybody but Kerry".
In my opinion, God heard our prayers and let all these things work in unison. God is the Supreme Architect! President Bush is the vessel for a time as this.
You must be from St. Louis...LOL. I'm from Missouri also, Mid-Missouri. Our county voted 71% for Prez. Bush.
It must be extremely painful for Kerry, Edwards, their teams, the media and the collective DNC to realize that they had their arses handed to them by a meak guy who looks like Elmer Fudd.
You know your successful when the entire media establishment loathes you. Carl Rove's "strategery" is one of brilliance.
It's days later, and I still have a smile on my face...
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