Friday, February 18, 2005

Why people don't mess with Karl Rove

If Rove isn't connected with the Gannon/Guckert affair, look for someone else to take the blame and take it HARD.

The Rove Treatment

In 2002, Ron Suskind wrote an article about George W. Bush's chief political advisor Karl Rove (whom The Economist once dubbed "de facto head of the Republican National Committee, vetter-in-chief of Republican candidates, linkman between the White House and the conservative movement, and a one-man ideas factory") for Esquire magazine. "Eventually, I met with Rove," he recalled. "I arrived at his office a few minutes early, just in time to witness the Rove Treatment, which, like LBJ's famous browbeating style, is becoming legend but is seldom reported. Rove's assistant, Susan Ralston, said he'd be just a minute. She's very nice, witty and polite. Over her shoulder was a small back room where a few young men were toiling away. I squeezed into a chair near the open door to Rove's modest chamber, my back against his doorframe.

"Inside, Rove was talking to an aide about some political stratagem in some state that had gone awry and a political operative who had displeased him. I paid it no mind and reviewed a jotted list of questions I hoped to ask. But after a moment, it was like ignoring a tornado flinging parked cars. 'We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!' As a reporter, you get around — curse words, anger, passionate intensity are not notable events — but the ferocity, the bellicosity, the violent imputations were, well, shocking. This went on without a break for a minute or two. Then the aide slipped out looking a bit ashen, and Rove, his face ruddy from the exertions of the past few moments, looked at me and smiled a gentle, Clarence-the-Angel smile. 'Come on in.'"

["In visiting the White House frequently from February to April [of 2002]," Suskind recalled, "I interviewed much of the senior staff, as well as the First Lady. No one would utter so much as a word about Rove... When I'd mention Rove, the reaction was always the same: 'I can't really talk about Karl.' It was odd; it was extraordinary."]

Rove, Karl ["Turdblossom"] (1951- ) American political strategist [noted for his bipartisan policies and calculating Beltway power-games]

[Sources: ronsuskind.com]

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