Newsweek on Karl Rove's "plans for a permanent GOP majority"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Rove Unleashed
For the past 30 years he's focused like a laser on George W. Bush. What does Karl Rove do for an encore? The plans for a permanent GOP majority

By Howard Fineman
Newsweek



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6596809/site/newsweek/

In modern times there has never been anyone quite like Rove, possessing such a long working relationship with and influence over a president—a newly re-elected one who will wield an expanded majority in Congress. "I've been searching for a parallel figure," said Marshall Wittmann, a political strategist and writer. "The closest is Bobby Kennedy in his brother's administration. But even that doesn't get it. Because as loyal as Karl is, his political ambitions extend beyond one family."

Indeed they do. One thing Rove will be up to, he made clear in a NEWSWEEK interview, is involvement of some kind in the race for the next Republican presidential nomination. Meeting with reporters only days after the election, he seemed to count himself out. "And 2008 is going to be left to someone who has a little bit more energy and interest than me," he said then. "This will be the last presidential campaign I will ever do." Last week he backtracked on that pledge. "I said that in haste," he said. "A lot of people in the White House told me that that was a really stupid thing to say. So let me say that I can't imagine spending two years away from my wife and son again, the way I did this time. But besides that, who knows?"

Translation: the Karl Rove Primary has begun—or at least Rove (and Bush) want the world to believe it has, if for no other reason than to dangle the possibility of help from (or the threat of opposition from) the Architect before the eyes of would-be GOP contenders and power brokers. "The president will be a lame duck soon enough," said a Republican strategist. "He can't afford to let Karl be one, too." Indeed, being seen as "close to Karl" is a sign among desperate Republicans of "election" in an almost theological sense. All the more reason for Rove to be slow about taking sides. "He won't actually commit for years," the strategist predicted.

On domestic policy, Rove has a theme at the ready: "the ownership society" he says the president wants to build. It's a bland phrase, but the ideas behind it are hardly status quo. One is to consider abolishing the income-tax system, replacing "progressive" (meaning graduated) rates with a flat tax or even a national sales tax or value-added tax. Another is to rechannel massive flows of tax money from Social Security to private savings accounts and into expanded medical savings accounts. Yet another is a crusade Bush and Rove have been pursuing since Texas: a national cap on damage awards in lawsuits. In all cases, Rove wants to force Democrats to defend taxes and lawyers. Trained in the ways of direct-mail targeting, he doesn't want to seduce the whole country, just an expanded version of what he's already got. He's aiming at fast-growing exurban areas, where small-business entrepreneurs—mostly Gen-Xers—tend to distrust the New Deal paradigm of government. "We want to pay increased attention to those vibrant small-business climates," says Rove.

[xultar]

1. Time to get the eff out of the USA, I'm not saying that KKKarl will be

successful, but that one man can even consider to force his agenda on the rest of us is not how the USA is supposed to be.

This is NAZI like shit people.

[Reality Not Tin Foil]

8. Bye!

I'll stay and help elect Democrats.

(Politics is WAAAAAAAAAY more than one or two elections, you know?)

[President Jesus]

2. 50.01% is hardly the bedrock of a multi-year majority

and how these humps are going to hold together a coalition of industrialists, christers, gun zealots, libertarians, imperialists, macho laborers, and farmers over the long haul is beyond me. Especialy with an absolute charismatic void at the center. It already appears to be unraveling.

Good luck Karl, you asswipe of history.

[ozymandius]

3. Good luck in prison.

When Bush/Rove are done gutting the SBA budget - essential to vibrant small businesses - perhaps the Plame Affair investigation will then gut this administration.

[leveymg]

7. 2008: A Debtorship Economy & Single Party Dictatorship

Rove plans to retire in four years. At this rate, so will many of the rest of us. The second Bush Administration will leave behind a country another four or five trillion in debt to foreign bankers, and with another twenty-percent of the workforce counted as entrepreneurs -- a nice word for the unwilling self-employed. Next step will be a sell-off at fire sale prices of the country's liquidable assets. Time to cash cow the Social Security Trust Fund.

Think the 2004 election proved the Red States are filled with a bunch of nasty, pissed off, fundamentalist crazies? Just wait. The U.S. is going to be increasingly feared and shunned by the rest of the world -- the Bush Administration is not finished demonstrating "shock and awe" abroad and expanding the Patriot Act at home.

Gee, doesn't that sort of parriah America sound more than a little like Germany in 1933? Are we beginning to see a historically-tested design for the future, here, folks? Wouldn't be too surprised if this outcome wasn't planned (or at least discussed) by the Dulles brothers, the Bushes and the other American Fifth Columnists as the Third Reich was falling six decades ago. Looks like the ghosts of Berlin may get their revenge, after all.

[Vogon_Glory]

4. The Flow of Capital and The Ownership Society

Karl Rove's plan for a permanent Republican Party majority depends on a very weak leg--the so-called "ownership society." The ivory tower notion is that such "wasteful" government programs like Social Security, Medicare, public education, and probably not a few national state parks and recreation areas will be "privatized" and the grateful voters will be so happy to have more jingle in their pockets that they will vote Republican into the foreseeable future.

While I could see how the wealthy and very wealthy (The real-life Thurston Howells of Gilligan's Island) might fall for this tommyrot, I'm surprised that even the middle class could fall for this claptrap. The "ownership society" paradigm ignores the little things in life like major and chronic illnesses, serious accidents, the cost of education, rising energy prices, and the rising costs of shelter, clothing, and food. The "ownership society" paradigm also ignores the effects of Gee Dubya's disastrous environmental policies and the consequences of them. Such trifles ignored by right-wing theorists will strip capital from the more prosperous middle classes just as it is now stripping capital from the middle and working classes.

The "ownership society" paradigm also studiously ignores the behavior of the American consumer today. Many, if not most, of our fellow citizens are carrying massive amounts of debt in the form of auto and appliance loans, mortgages, and credit card bills. We don't save--and not only is the advertising propaganda against saving, but if the average citizen started living more within his or her real means, they'd have to admit how poor they've become and that there is a widening gap between themselves and the political and economic elite.

The "ownership society" bushwah might have some more tenuous link to reality if more of our citizens were savers instead of spenders--but they don't seem to be changing their behavior. And capital, unlike water, flows uphill to the greatest concentrations.

I fear that a good chunk of the American electorate hasn't wised up to what's what. Many to the left of the GOP have--that's why they voted against a second term for Gee Dubya and the Banana Republicans. Even some on the Far Right are starting to wise up--although they're frantically arranging their facts and theories to put the blame on "liberals" instead of their fellow "conservatives."

Unfortunately, this realization is not going to occur to prosperous knee-jerk Republican voters or the greedier elements of the middle classes until the facts of life or a major economic downturn happens to them.

One of the things I'm still brooding about after the elections is that there's a lot of pain coming down, and no matter how deep my pockets may or may not be, there's little I can do by myself to stop it.

[StClone]

5. Rove fools 'em all, steals the vote

But he and Bush can not run a functioning government.

[Q]

6. I'm not so sure a 'functioning government' is what they want...

It's too damn bad that most Americans don't understand what these 'guys' are trying to do. The land of the free and home of the brave is possible ONLY when there is more than one party running the government.

But it seems they would gladly give it away to be able to say that Republicans are 'winners'.

[CBHagman]

10. Great analysis!

Indeed, most people do not seem to have grasped the long-term effects of the Bush policies, or even what the Bush policies consist of.

[Vogon_Glory]

16. Ahhh, But They Seem To Like Gee Dubya

Ahhh, but a lot of those voters seem to like Gee Dubya just fine. They take that look he puts on his face as sincerity, his churchgoing as true Christianity, and they think his job is "hard work."

Heaven have mercy on our American republic! Our fellow voters have abdicated their responsibility to stay informed, and now a major portion of our fellow citizens are going to get it in the chops.

[Reality Not Tin Foil]

9. I have one simple question...

Why don't we have James Carville on board countering this TOOL??

He's a proven winner and he doesn't mess around!! Exactly what we need!!

GRRRRRR!!!!

[Avalux]

11. Rove's plan for America

is old news. Unfortunately, not enough people have paid attention. The man is hell-bent on "permanently changing the course of American History" (his words). Anyone who doesn't think the election was stolen hasn't been paying attention. Stealing, cheating and lying are part of Karl's MO.

[vetwife]

12. Et too Bruta ! It will be their own party that brings them down !

The Republicans and dim witted dems who voted and lied and messed with the election will tick off enough moderates and it will be their own party that brings Rove, Bush, Cheney, and the right wing down and in the light. I feel this as strong as anything I have ever felt. I JUST KNOW IT ! Hide and watch and really watch dominoes start to fall. People tend to be self serving especially in that party and if they think (Like Watergate) they are linked to trouble, they will squeal like pigs. Saw it during Waterate. It will happen again. Rove can want all he wants. Their lies and corruption will be brought forth ! Take it to the bank !

[tngledwebb]

13. Four more years of Fascism will finish us.

Hope the rest of the world is watching.

[Kingshakabobo]

14. Striking resemblance

I can't help but think of this character every time I see Rove.

[LittleClarkie]

19. Esp. when you consider what happens to that character later on

The purity of real religion would blow his face off.

[RafterMan]

15. I heard this "permanent majority" stuff in '02

Apparently, the plan is coming along nicely.

[okieinpain]

17. oh, if we can get some leadership, this crap can be shutdown as

quick as they make it up. we need leadership, not some dope going around talking about raising taxes. don't even mention it, kerry got close but he ended up defending abortion, gay rights, and taxing the rich.

if asked about abortion, or gay rights, just reply those are state rights. are you going to roll back the taxes, just reply "NO". damn once you're elected you can do what you want, that's what the hell bush is going to do. GEEZ!!!!1

[Zynx]

18. That's a bunch of bullshit.

2004 was hardly a realigning election. Those are only seen if a candidate beats their opponent by at least a ten point margin.