But those accounts fail to capture the enduring dark cloud that Karl Rove has cast over the American political landscape. His grim legacy is certainly not about public policy (about which he cared little) or even about winning and losing (about which he cared a great deal). No, the indelible mark of Karl Rove is the permanent transformation and debasement of American politics itself.

For the details, see:
“The Base Politics of Karl Rove.”

I bet HIS campaign machine will go after Rudy with both barrels (when and if the need arises) too! :o)

Re: Giuliani:

Hillary’s campaign can be fierce and ruthless if and when necessary. Her machine is made up of significant portions of the Big Dawg’s old War Room.

That’s probably what Giuliani likes about her and it’s the first thing I’ve heard him say about her (and her campaign).

But, sometimes ya need less ‘fier’ and more ‘ruth’. Rudy has neither, but ALL the Democrats do.

Who doesn’t think Rudy is a one-act fear-monger? What do we do after that entertainment wears off? He’s not fit to be mayor of New York City.

rwcole @ 61

…
If someone doesn’t counteract this flood of bullshit, by the time congress ends it’s recess, this fucker will be all over and we will be nicely funded for another year of war.

There is already a 10% increase in the number of Americans who think that the surge is working….

Who is paying any attention to this? Not congress apparently.

We need to be pushing back on this as much as possible. …

Glenn Greenwald has a piece up today.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/g…..index.html

It’s about Democratic foreign policy wonks defending their own (i.e. Will Marshall of the DLC) who got Iraq so wrong. …

http://atrios.blogspot.com/200…..2435738364

Most of the creepy hypocrisy embodied by Marshall can be found here:

Of course, as the opposition party, Democrats have a responsibility to hold the White House accountable for the painfully high price we’ve paid in Iraq, the thousands killed and wounded, and the billions of dollars spent. But they must do so in a way that makes it clear they are rooting for America to succeed in Iraq.

As Greenwald points out, politicians like to cite the “experts” in defending their views. The problem for the Democrats is that a lot of their experts are cheerleaders of the war. This is great if you are Hillary Clinton. Indeed the above quote could have been written for her.

If we do not counter the current propaganda campaign now, September could see perfunctory hemming and hawing and then a continuation of the Iraq surge disaster.

Our success in Iraq, as you and I see it, is long lost. For now our only success will be to get completely out of there, so we can rest and rebuild our military.

After that we’ll reassess who our enemies are or might be and how to deal with them. Now Republicans should be in the room for that analysis and it’s not clear whether any DLCers should be either.

Sometimes leadership is knowing when to cut your losses or to change direction.

Oh just great. This is way off topic but was posted by the Mpls. StarTribune this morning:

“The federal highway official responsible for the rebuilding of the collapsed Interstate 35W bridge was dismissed in 2002 as chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority after his leadership of Boston’s controversial “Big Dig” tunnel project came under fire.”

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1360930.html

Oh man, can’t we catch a break from these guys anywhere anyhow?

“leadership” like that we can do without.

A female with powerful influence in the Catholic Church?? Oh no, never, simply not possible!! The Catholic hierarchy rewrote history to make her a prostitute. The purported reason for the rewrite is that Church rulers were not sexist, they just wanted to demonstrate how Jesus could reform sinners. Yeah, riiiiight. Of 12 male apostles, only Judas was vilified, but the only woman who had a strong presence in Jesus’s life had to be recast as a sinner. Not just a run-of-the-mill sinner, but a sexual sinner.

This sordid tale of character assassination pretty much sums up why I am a FORMER Catholic. That and centuries of misogyny.

Another one of Lieberman’s good ideas….
snip
India would like to expand its nuclear weapons program, and Joe Lieberman think it’s a terrific idea. Lieberman, during a three-day visit to India, endorsed the Bush Administration’s position on India’s nukes when he said:
“I will do everything I can to help see [the U.S.-India nuclear deal] through the United States Senate.”

In short, Lieberman thinks we’re all pretty stupid. Neglecting dynamics of the region, and making this all about “Iran.” Energy and Arms I suppose, are supposed to “secure” India’s “cooperation.”

I’m an Edwards supporter. I was focusing on Hillary’s campaign machine, and not on her campaign issues, some of which I don’t support.

And since you’re not a Clinton supporter, you should have said that ANY of the democratic candidates would do the same well-deserved hammering of Giuliani that you so proudly avowed SHE would do.

Because, IF Giuliani could skin through to the nomination, you can bet your ass, Edwards, or Obama, or whomever, will go after him at least has hard as Hillary, especially since, as I pointed out (and as you ignored) they haven’t shared with Rudy the same views on some rather important issues as has Clinton.