Myths that must die: Karl Rove is intelligent

[ColbertWatcher]

I don't know how or when that started, but it's gotta stop.

He is sneaky, manipulative and has a good memory. But those qualities do not equal intelligent.

I'd say he is more of a sociopath than anything. Oh, and not all sociopaths are bright, much less intelligent.

For anyone who has ever met or known a truly intelligent person, you know there is a certain amount of eccentricity, and maybe a hint of madness, along with a certain sense of their own abilities and knowledge of where they fit in the world.

Rove is as lacking in eccentricity as he is lacking in wisdom.

He is nothing more than dedicated to his own special world view.

[SoFlaJet]

1. fucking ay

he is no boy genius-he only knows how to win one way-by cheating and smearing and lying and stealing, OK that's 4...no brilliant strategist he

[ColbertWatcher]

4. You described a sociopath! n/t

[SoFlaJet]

9. I want to see him doing fucking time CW

for the Alabama Guv deal-only wait until about 9 months from now to try and do anything so he can't get pardoned

[ColbertWatcher]

12. He has certainly earned his place in prison...

...for any number of crimes.

[SoFlaJet]

17. and hell

.

[zonmoy]

22. you mean a republican.

i suspect they are the same thing now days.

[ColbertWatcher]

23. Touché. n/t

[SeattleGirl]

2. I've never thought that. I don't buy into the "Karl Rove is a genius" meme.

I could absolutely go along with the "Karl Rove is a sociopath" meme, however.

He gets away with the shit he does because he hides behind Bush's skirts, and the M%M and the Dems on congress, for the most part, refuse to call bullshit.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. He gets away with it because the GOP-controlled media...

...keep repeating it.

Oh, and they seem to equate "good memory" with "genius".

[PCIntern]

6. Hey no fair!!!!11

I beat you by 2 minutes, but you cleverly posted as a reply to a reply so your post looks like it came in before mine and I just copied yours!!!

Ya wanna get into a big PM fight about this!!! HEY!!!

Just kidding of course...but I'm going to say that people have picked a fight with me during the last 2 months for a whole lot less than that.

:hi:

Great minds think alike!

[PCIntern]

3. Funny you should post this...

I was just thinking before dinner that after watching the video with the banner reading 'War Criminal' that Rove was no genius. A complicit media whose members were either afraid for their jobs or being blackmailed in some fashion facilitated the stream of obvious lies which emanated from the mouths of these 'folks'.

Did I use the past tense? I'm so very sorry...my apologies.

Still going on full speed...

Edited to Recommend (already kicked of course!)

[pinto]

7. LOL. That 'permanent Republican majority' delusion sure hit reality...

:kick:

[Posteritatis]

8. The myth of his *omnipotence* has always bothered me more

I see levels of manipulation and depths of conspiracy and so on and so forth that at least border on the supernatural and generally exceed it for the guy. Even Goebbels wasn't as adept as Rove is claimed to be at times. I don't get it. If he was half as capable as is often claimed, we wouldn't be having threads like these in the first place.

[PCIntern]

10. I think that had been a spelling error...

the word should have been 'impotence'...but is was transcribed inappropriately by the same group who wrote 'celibate' instead of 'celebrate' many many years ago.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. The GOP never outright claim omnipotence...

...they claim parts of the omnipotent pie.

First they are more patriotic than everyone else, then they're smarter than everyone else, next thing you know: they're holier than everyone else!

They're more omnipotent by degrees.

[applegrove]

13. Yup. Doesn't take intelligence to play outside the rules of normal decent human interaction.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. True, it's as if...

...he was raised by some alien species and brought to earth to test their outer-space neo-con agenda.

But not in a good way.

[applegrove]

18. Yup.

[Jakes Progress]

36. Not genius but moral free

I had an on radio argument once with one of the authors of Bush's Brain. They kept saying how brilliant Rove was. They didn't like him but wanted to imbue him with an aura of braininess. He was a picked on dork from high school who developed into a sociopath. I don't use that term loosely. Look up the definition. It fits him (and Bush) to a tee.


If you are being chased and you escape by driving your car up onto the sidewalk where you get away but in the process crush a dozen children at the bus stop, that is not brilliance. It is not adhering to the rules that society recognizes as necessary for the world to work. You can't say a sociopath is brilliant because he thinks outside the box. He thinks outside of humanity. If we don't jail him for the next hundred years, we should at least neuter him to keep from spreading his disease to the gene pool.

[ColbertWatcher]

41. "He thinks outside of humanity" Nicely put. n/t

[applegrove]

47. Yes. Nicely put.

[Warpy]

15. Too many people equate ruthlessness with intelligence

because you can get a lot done in politics if you discard morality, decency, humanity, and manners along the way.

That's all he's ever done, made a living by throwing out all that makes us civilized while allowing thieves and cheaters to wreck the country.

[ColbertWatcher]

16. Good point.

And I love your signature!

[bemildred]

19. I'm with you. I've been gnawed on here a number of times for saying that. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

24. ???

For saying that he is a genius?

Or for saying he isn't a genius!?

[bemildred]

26. For saying he's not a genius.

I think "moron" or "idiot" was the word I used, but it's been quite a while.

[ColbertWatcher]

28. Amazing.

People gave you guff for calling an idiot an idiot.

Color me shocked.

Shocked, I tell you.

[Mike03]

20. Yes, and to that can we PLEASE add, "George Bush is intelligent"? I'm sick

to death of seeing people make that assertion here.

[ColbertWatcher]

25. How frightening!

Someone has said Dubya is intelligent?

LOL

I didn't know http://www.wikiality.com/Harriet_Miers">Harriet Miers had an account with DU!

[Feron]

50. Thank you!!

Bush has the brain power of a Tic Tac. Just because he has surrounded himself with spinmeisters and Poppy's friends does not make him some sort of genius.

And you don't have to be a genius in order to apply political technology.

[Aristus]

21. If he were a genius, he could get his candidate to win by running on the issues.

Smear tactics are not works of genius. They are the works of people too stupid to run on the issues.

[ColbertWatcher]

27. I think you've nailed it here...

...Rove has always "advised" republicans, and no candidate he advised has ever been really worth a vote.

All he has is his dirty tricks.

And if you look at them, they're really all the same.

He really isn't even that original in his dastardly deeds.

It's always the same:

make the candidate look like a victim, blame his opponent.

[TheWraith]

29. Agreed.

I actually think that Rove is moderately bright in terms of coming up with spin, but he's far from the evil genius that people often credit him with being. His skills come mostly not from intelligence, but from being completely amoral.

[ColbertWatcher]

31. But his spin is formulaic...

...nothing is really original.

He makes his candidate seem like a victim, and blames the opponent.

Every. Single. Time.

One need not be bright to repeat the same behavior over and over if there is always a reward.

Although, I do agree he is amoral.

[Snarkoleptic]

30. He's a low rent pimp & thug with no morals and low self-esteem.

We've all known people cut of this cloth.
They are true sociopaths with a "Win at all costs" approach.

[Canuckistanian]

32. Yeah, you got a point there

I used to think that Rove was pure genius, especially after the '00 election and the Rather "forged document" affair.

Brilliant, I thought. Using a FORGED document to obscure and discredit REAL and CREDIBLE information. He must have some brainpower behind that piggy face.

But since then, I've observed the clumsy way he's handled the Plame incident, the Don Siegelman framing and just the way he generally deports himself.

He ain't no genius.

He a low-level operative with a photographic memory of anyone who's slighted him. And he has a LOT of big guns protecting and backing him up.

He's rather pathetic.

[ColbertWatcher]

33. Well said, In the mordern-day world of mafioso politics...

...he's a fat hit man.

But, instead of being hired to kill an opponent, he is hired to "hit" the mark with lies and propaganda.
What a good republican he is.

[Skittles]

34. THANK YOU

Mr. Rove's "genius" is that he is able to do things on a normal basis that would turn the stomach of any decent person :puke:

[NJSecularist]

35. Sorry, I disagree.

Karl Rove is a crook. He deserves to be in jail. And while he may not be intelligent generally, he is one of the smarter minds that politics has seen in a while. I agree with him about virtually nothing, but the man is very intelligent in his ability to put together a cohesive and simple message for a candidate and then applying it. He is very talented in his where-with-all about what it takes to win an election. I hate the man's guts, but don't take that away from him. He is very gifted in the game of politics.

[ColbertWatcher]

37. Smarter is still not intelligent...

...that simple message you speak of is nothing more than:
"My candidate has been assaulted/victimized/bashed by his opponent!'

This requires no intelligence at all. In fact animals do it and they do it instinctively. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possum">possums)

The master of the republican spin trade is http://www.wikiality.com/Dr._Frank_Luntz">Miss Frank.

She's actually more of a queen than a master, while Karl is nothing more than a hyperactive sycophant.

[NJSecularist]

40. Sorry, I disagree.

He is intelligent at one thing. Politics. You don't get that far by not being intelligent. He has a mind for the game.

Please stop making me compliment Karl Rove. :puke:

[ColbertWatcher]

42. But, what is politics?

Is politics only winning? Is winning only zero-sum?

No one is making you compliment the republicans. But, seriously.

One can get far by being a sociopath. Many a CEO has done it, and intelligence was not involved.

Karl Rove is not intelligent. He has succeeded in politics, because so little is expected of him in any other field. Say, statesmanship, diplomacy, leadership.

[NJSecularist]

43. What is politics?

He is a political advisor. He has won numerous gubernatorial and congressional races. He has also won 2 presidential races. You don't do that by luck. Or by being stupid.

What is politics?

1) Developing a message for your candidate.
2) Allocating your money and resources well.
3) Having a good political organization.
4) Putting together a candidacy for your candidate that accentues your candidate's best qualities.

Karl Rove is very good at his job of being a political advisor. Perhaps the only thing he is good at.

[ColbertWatcher]

44. But, does that necessarily mean he is intelligent?

What is politics?

4) Putting together a candidacy for your candidate that accentues your candidate's best qualities.

4. Rove has never done this. He has always made his candidate out to be a victim of some imaginary slight he has manufactured himself.

How can low expectations ever be the best quality for a candidate?

How can patriotic ever be the best quality for a candidate when you lie about your opponent's military service to distract from your own candidate's lack of service?

The only thing Rove has been good at in your formula is exploiting the obedient GOP base. When the party says "liberals hate America" the base says, "give how much money, Jesus?" How can Rove be intelligent for being involved in that?

Election fraud, manipulation, and who knows what else are not signs of intelligence.

[Peace Patriot]

38. How much intelligence does it take to pre-write the narratives for stolen elections?

I've always thought this about Rove and his ilk. If you have all the money in the world, and the Supreme Court in your pocket, and corrupt political machines wherever you need them (Florida, Ohio), and all the fascist corporate news monopolies on your side, printing whatever crap you fax over, and CBS execs suppressing negative information because "it's in our interest" that Bush be 're-elected,' and then, in addition, you get voting machines run on "trade secret" proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls, fast-tracked all over the country without a whisper of objection from the corrupt Democratic Party leadership, and you also know what low-minded, racist, gay-hating, raghead-hating, 'sieg heiling' portrait you want to paint of the American people....

...how hard is it to write the P.R. "story"? It takes a certain low-level mechanical ability, like hunting clipped wing quail. Also, cruelty, callousness and the aptitude of a congenital liar. No moral center. Complete cynicism. It doesn't take intelligence or talent to operate in such a manner. It might take some survival skills--low cunning, ruthlessness, how to keep yourself on top of the heap, and how to prevent anyone discovering just how stupid and talentless you are.

[ColbertWatcher]

39. Well said!

Love the Cheney ref too!

I would only change "Bush" to "GOP". Other than that, bully for you!

You win an internets!

[caligirl]

45. Love the post. your brilliant.

[mmonk]

46. Is he in jail or has he been held accountable for anything?

[ColbertWatcher]

48. Not with a GOP DoJ. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

49. Compared to the average American, he's a fucking genius.

[ColbertWatcher]

52. HA! Nah, funny, but no. n/t

[Hekate]

51. "Rat-like cunning" is my hubby's way of putting it. nt