Karl Rove, the former GOP political Golden Boy who can still talk a good game but increasingly seems unable to play a good one, has swallowed the baited hook.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may not be many things (a viable candidate who could win a national election, a deep political thinker, a running mate who greatly helped Sen. John McCain in 2008, Fox News’ most popular personality when she was there, Roger Ailes best broadcast or political bud) but she is two things: (1)the Queen of Snark and Sarcasm and, (2)someone who gathers political force, publicity and celebrity by picking fights with people and exploiting resentments. So she baited a hook for Karl Rove and he took it.
Rove’s decision to respond is particularly fascinating since, as Howard Kurtz notes here, Palin seemed to be playing her CPAC talk this time for laughs. Expect Palin to be the subject on (increasingly tiresome) radio talk shows and cable talk shows due to a new battle between two Republicans who are no longer major powerhouses but sure can get ink and broadcast time.
First we had Palin say this at CPAC about Rove:
But Palin also turned on Republican leaders such as Rove, who President George W. Bush once called the architect of his electoral victories. Rove has recently said Republicans need to choose candidates who are more “electable” and less ideologically contentious.
“The last thing we need is Washington, D.C., vetting our candidates,” Palin said. “The architects can head on back to the great Lone Star state and put their names on some ballot.”
And Rove was clearly stung. Today on Fox News:
Palin said that consultants like Rove needed to “buck up or stay in the truck” so Chris Wallace asked, “Are you bucking up?”
“Well, first of all I live in Texas and not Washington. Second of all, look Sarah Plain should be agreeing with this. She didn’t support Todd Aiken and when he said the reprehensible things he said. she said he ought to get out of the race,” said Rove.
Rove continued that Palin endorsed in primaries and got involved in other races around so he didn’t understand what the problem was with other people doing the same thing. He defended his work for American Crossroads saying he doesn’t “take a dime from my work” with them and actually pays all of his travel expenses for the group out of his own pocket. “I’m thought Sarah Palin was about encouraging grassroots activity. I’m a volunteeer,” said Rove.
Rove is a mere “volunteer” and that’s just it?
A volunteer like Harry Schmidlap on Knollwood Drive in Orskiny Falls, NY?
DMML (that’s a new Internet code I’m debuting which means “Don’t Make Me Laugh.”) MORE:
Then he took a shot across her bow.
“I appreciate her encouragement that I ought to go home to Texas and run for office. I would be enthused if I ran for office to have her support but I don’t think, I’m a particularly good candidate, a balding fat guy. Second of all, if I did run for office and win I would serve out my term and I wouldn’t leave office midterm,” said Rove.
Sarah Palin: you’ve got another media moment. Now run with it…
But this is a serious political moment.
Palin — who Rove made it clear was never one of his favorites, and Palin most assuredly has remembered every single word and slight — is good at articulating what members of the existing conservative Republican choir think. So she was simply saying what many Republicans believe: Rove wasted a lot of fat cats’ money because he got terrible election results and he has all but declared himself the enemy of Tea Partiers by — brace yourself for this threat from Rove — saying he would create a group to support Republicans challenged by the far right so that the party can actually win.
If you say the goal above all is winning, then these days some on the right think tha can makes you a RHINO — or that you sound like Charlie Sheen.
Palin has always been a pro at capturing resentments, articulating them, and turning them into issues that excite conservatives.
Rove has always been a pro at finding a point where he can attack someone or find the perfect razor sharp zinger.
What is unusual is watching the two pros turn their political talents on each other.
He must be smiling….
Graphic via shutterstock.com
UPDATE: In its losers and winners at CPAC, The Politico lists Rove as a loser:
A year ago the Republican strategist might have gotten standing ovations at this meeting. This year, as the face of the loathed GOP establishment, he was whacked around like a piñata.
Speakers didn’t even need to name him to generate boos.
“The Architects can head on back to the great Lone Star State and put their names on some ballot,” Sarah Palin said Saturday, referring to the nickname given Rove by George W. Bush.
Phyllis Schlafly, the social conservative activist who followed Palin, said Rove would be fired if he was a football coach.
“He had almost $400 million to spend on the election last year, and he ran TV ads for 31 candidates and only elected seven of them,” she said.
Brent Bozell, founder of the right-wing watchdog Media Research Center, told the crowd that Media Matters – his left-wing rival – called Rove a Republican “voice of reason.”
“The last thing the GOP needs is for the anti-conservative professional political consultant class infecting its ranks,” Bozell said.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.