White House political strategist Karl Rove yesterday confidently predicted that the Republican Party would hold the House and the Senate in next month’s elections, dismissing fallout from the sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley.
…"I’m confident we’re going to keep the Senate; I’m confident we’re going to keep the House. The Foley matter has impact in some limited districts, but the research we have shows that people are differentiating between a vote for their congressman and a member from Florida," Mr. Rove said, referring to the Republican who resigned last month after his sexually explicit online messages to former congressional pages were discovered.
President Bush has begun to paint this year’s election as a choice between strength and weakness on national security — and the stark differences will show Americans the true nature of Democrats, Mr. Rove said.
"It is useful to remind people what [Democrats] said and what they do. I think they have given us here, especially in the last couple of weeks, a potent set of votes to talk about. You had 90 percent of House Democrats voting against the terrorist-surveillance program, nearly three-quarters of Senate Democrats and 80 percent of House Democrats voting against the terrorist-interrogation act. Something is fundamentally flawed."…But Mr. Rove said Republican candidates still hold a huge cash edge over Democrats, which will give them clout in the final three weeks of the campaign. "This morning, I loved it: The [Associated Press] ran a story saying these Democrat congressional candidates outraised their Republican incumbents in the third quarter. Well, what they didn’t say was that part of the reason that they did is that we raised the money earlier so that we’d be able to deploy it," he said.
…Mr. Rove said history is on the Republican Party’s side, noting that 97.5 percent of incumbents have been re-elected since 1996. This time, he said, there are "significantly" fewer open House seats than the Democrats had in 1994, when Republicans swept to power under then-Rep. Newt Gingrich’s leadership.Early in this campaign cycle, Mr. Rove said the White House compiled a list of 80 Republican incumbents who might face difficulty. From there, top strategists made sure "that they all had a campaign plan, that they all knew that they had a risk, that they all went out there and raised a bundle of money, and that they had a plan that was measurable."
"As a result, that’s done a lot to get people prepared," he said. And, in some ways, the campaign is just beginning, Mr. Rove added.
"For most Americans, particularly the marginal voters who are going to determine the outcome of the election, it started a couple weeks ago," he said. "Between now and the election, we will spend $100 million in target House and Senate races in the next 21 days."
Who knows? Can the American election be bought? I doubt it. Here’s where I think the break point comes. He’s going to "spin" this piece"
"It is useful to remind people what [Democrats] said and what they do. I think they have given us here, especially in the last couple of weeks, a potent set of votes to talk about. You had 90 percent of House Democrats voting against the terrorist-surveillance program, nearly three-quarters of Senate Democrats and 80 percent of House Democrats voting against the terrorist-interrogation act. Something is fundamentally flawed."
We all know that this is his bullshit. He’s going to say Democrats voted against terrorist surveillance instead of Democrats voted against unwarranted domestic surveillance. He’s going to say Democrats voted against interrogation instead of Democrats voted against torture and detention without habeas corpus. This is where Democrats need to come out swinging, clarifying their vote, and howling about the spin, I mean howling at the top of their lungs!
Here’s what’s "useful to remind people" about, speaking of "fundamentally flawed" – a very bad idea war undertaken based on lies, with this outcome:
You are absolutely right. But, Mickey, will the Democrats do that howling or will they meow and play around like a litter of kittens. I’m not positive, though remaining hopeful. I also fear that the asnwer to your question about whether an election can be bought is…”Yes it can.” But like you, we hope it doesn’t happen.
[…] He followed that incredibly misleading line of crap by declaring that Democrats in both the House and the Senate "voted against this bill out of concern for terrorist civil liberties" and asking his followers to "take a stand for a stronger America by doing everything possible to ensure that these Democrats aren’t given even more power in Washington." Here comes Karl Rove’s advertised "spin" [see below]. He’s going to say Democrats voted against terrorist surveillance instead of Democrats voted against unwarranted domestic surveillance. He’s going to say Democrats voted against interrogation instead of Democrats voted against torture and detention without habeas corpus. It would be funny if it weren’t listened to by so many people. […]