August 16, 2007

Rove On Rove On Rush

Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh interviewed Karl Rove for thirty minutes in what may have been one of the more revealing moments in Rove's public life. Rove doesn't like to talk about himself; he even prefaced the interview by insisting that he's no good at navel-gazing. Rush managed to get Rove engaged in discussing how his experience differed from the narrative constructed by the media, which generated this retort:

RUSH: ... You've been the brunt of all kinds of assaults and attacks, personally and otherwise, along with the president. How do you guys deal with it?

KARL ROVE: Rush, you ignore it. I mean, if you have to wake up in the morning to be validated by the editorial page of the New York Times, you got a pretty sorry existence. So the best thing you could do is just ignore it, plow on, stay focused. The president is very good about saying, "Look, we came here for a reason. We have an obligation on the country," and press on by it. I'll be hyperventilating about the latest attack on him by somebody, and he'll say, "Don't worry. History will get it right and we'll both be dead." So it's a good, healthy attitude about how to take it.

About the White House and the work atmosphere:

ROVE: Well, look first of all, you need to put my job in perspective. I'm an aide to the president of the United States. There are a lot of other aides to the president of the United States. So the first and foremost thing to understand is that I'm a member of a team. In fact, you know, our day at the White House starts early, many times at 6:30 or six o'clock with meetings or breakfasts, but every day we have a senior staff meeting that starts at 7:30, and for the first four years of the administration, I sat around that table -- there are about 19, 20 people in the room who are the senior aides to the president, and for the first four years -- I started my day sitting between Margaret Spellings on one hand and Condi Rice on the other. I mean, I look around the table today and I see the people that I've been honored to serve with as colleagues and aides to the president, and they are a remarkable group of Americans, many of whom have made enormous professional and personal and financial sacrifices to serve their country and this president. I've been honored to be one of them. ....

Rove talks at length about the high regard he has for Bush as an intellectual and as a down to earth person. He doesn't spend a lot of time navel-gazing, but he does give a brief but fascinating look behind the scenes. Be sure to read the entire interview.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/tabhair.cgi/11465

Comments (16)

Posted by edward cropper | August 16, 2007 7:03 AM

What I got from this "interview" is that Rove left with a sore butt and Rush had sore lips.
Limbaugh for all his pretentious BS about being Mr. Conservative is and has been a water carrier for the Bush's since Bush the first.
He didn't grill Rove on why this administration has destroyed the Republican Party, screwed conservatives at every step of the way, from spending to immigration. Where was the White House when the Republican congress was wasting it's control with everything but meaningful reform and honesty in government?
Rush is wrapped up in himself and the lap-dogs who hang on his every word as if they are gospel. He and most of the other "super stars" of conservative media are a bunch of commercial coin chasers.
The interview was a love fest between two con artists.

Posted by Keemo | August 16, 2007 7:06 AM

I listened to this interview on Rush 24/7 last night. Refreshing & tasteful interview.

On the Rove subject:

A newsroom reprimand at The Times

Posted by David Postman at 03:26 PM

Seattle Times Executive Editor Dave Boardman wrote today in one of his morning notes to staff that there had been “an awkward moment at yesterday’s news meeting.” That’s the meeting where editors and other staff from throughout the newsroom talk about the stories planned for the next day’s paper. Boardman wrote in “Dave’s Raves (and the occasional rant)”

When word came in of Karl Rove’s resignation, several people in the meeting started cheering. That sort of expression is simply not appropriate for a newsroom.

It sounds like a conservative’s parody of how a news meeting would be run. (MM: Snort.) I wasn’t there, but I’ve talked to several people who were. It was only a couple of people who cheered and they, thankfully, are not among the people who get a say in news play. But obviously news staff shouldn’t be cheering or jeering the day’s news, particularly as Boardman points out, “when we have an outside guest in the room.”

And to think, we still have Liberals posting comments here denying the existence of biased reporting in the old media. Jeeez.....

Posted by Monkei | August 16, 2007 7:55 AM

I don't know what's worse. The fact that Rove almost single handidly destroyed the GOP and Conservatism, or that the GOP and conservatives have yet to realize it.

Posted by Rovin | August 16, 2007 8:23 AM

Edward:
"The interview was a love fest between two con artists."

How do those sour grapes taste Edward?

Keemo's illistration is just a small tip of the iceberg of the media bias that will be "frog-marched" out in full force in the coming months ahead. Rove's ROE will have changed at the end of this month. While many on the left had their meager moment to delight in the departure, reality may have set in when they realized that Rove's gloves will be removed by not representing this administration.

While you may think spending to immigration policies were the downfall of the Republican Party Edward, (and your partially right), try to swallow these same policies that the democratic party has embraced for 40+ years and add a tax increase that will devastate the growth that has been accomplished after 9/11. The real fox (con-artist) are in the hen-house (MSM). And it's a really BIG house.


Posted by hunter | August 16, 2007 9:30 AM

lol,
what a hoot. monkei, the poster child of lefty hack misanthropes and edward cropper, a sour ignorant twit, don't like the interview.

Posted by Paul L. | August 16, 2007 9:37 AM

What I got from this "interview" is that Rove left with a sore butt and Rush had sore lips.
Edward, when it comes to buttkissing nothing beats Keith Olbermann interviewing Joe Wilson.

Posted by filistro | August 16, 2007 10:43 AM

This blog entry has been up for hours and has 6 replies, of which only about half are actually about Karl Rove.

It's one of the most astonishing things I've seen in this astonishing political year, how instantly and completely Karl Rove has vanished. He's been gone.. what... 72 hours?... and he's already a footnote.

The giant is dead, and nobody cares.

Amazing.

Posted by Angry Dumbo | August 16, 2007 11:41 AM

When Carville says "base first strategy" he is projecting. : ))

Karl Rove says "feed the base" and its divisive and negative.

Skrew Them Daily Kos boy says "feed the base" and he is visionary and a leader.

No wonder old media is looking for a government handout.

Posted by dave rywall | August 16, 2007 11:52 AM

To suggest that it is wise to ignore everybody and plow ahead with one's agenda without scrutinizing criticism of the meat of the agenda is really, really really f**king stupid.

Posted by LarryD | August 16, 2007 12:41 PM

To suggest that it is wise to ignore everybody and plow ahead with one's agenda without scrutinizing criticism of the meat of the agenda...

Yeah, but you won't get that from the New York Times. Or anyone in denial about the jihadist threat. The New York Times and most of the rest of the MSM has made itself irrelevant at best.

Posted by TyCaptains | August 16, 2007 12:59 PM

Bush, intellectual? I thought this was the "reality-based" community?

Posted by Monkei | August 16, 2007 1:41 PM

what a hoot. monkei, the poster child of lefty hack misanthropes and edward cropper, a sour ignorant twit, don't like the interview.

Somehow your comments don't make it quite so sad that you still have not gotten it! Enjoy the 2008 election ... if there was only some way to dig up RR and run the Spock Genesis deal! I guess like anything else you need to watch as the party gets pulled down and dismantled before it can build itself up again. Once again GWB is the gift that keeps on giving and giving and instead of stumbling out of Washington into the sunset this guy (Rove - the architect of the only administration to not win a seat against an incumbent senator, congressman or governor - heck even Clinton won seats in the middle of an impeachment) wants to keep on attacking and quite frankly only 25 percent of the country (that would be you and the rest of the 25 percent of the wingnut establishment) are listening!

Your blindness is refreshing your personal attacks repetitive and boring! Keep up the slightly less than average work.

Posted by Bill M | August 16, 2007 1:47 PM

Well, the Rove interview confirms some things I've suspected. W has his head screwed on straight. He's confident in what he is doing and he's pressing ahead, regardless of the criticism from the left.

Think about this for a second. What would you rather have for a leader: someone who knows what needs to be done and does it, or someone who looks over is shoulder for approval before every step. The first is W; the second is Bill Clinton (and by extension, Hillary since she's touting her "experience" from when Bubba was president).

I know why the military like him. Anybody who's been there and done that recognizes a real leader. (Which is why Kerry didn't do so hot with the troops when he ran. The troops can recognize a phoney a mile away.)

There are some drawbacks to W, of course. When you are doing big things, your goofs will likely be big also. Risks of the game. But that shouldn't stop you from pressing on, adjusting as necessary.

I particularly like this line: "Don't worry. History will get it right and we'll both be dead." It's true in many, many ways. As W and I are within a year of each other, I won't be around to see the judgment of history (sorry folks, I doubt that any of us will), but 50 years from now, I suspect that W will be seen as one of our better if not great Presidents. Time has a tendency to put things into perspective, and that prespective will mark W well on the plus side of the equation.

Posted by unclesmrgol | August 16, 2007 2:20 PM

Rove woke up every morning validated by neither Monkei nor Dave Rywall. This got Rove a really big book deal.

Posted by Rod Thomson | August 16, 2007 3:14 PM

Dave, I agree that it is stupid to not think about what people say about you and what you are doing. W probably did that. The real issue is to look carefully at who is saying it. The sweat really drips when one respects the critic, especially when partisanship is not in play.

Posted by doubled | August 16, 2007 3:29 PM

This is typical of your basic lefty : "To suggest that it is wise to ignore everybody and plow ahead with one's agenda without scrutinizing criticism of the meat of the agenda is really, really really f**king stupid." (dave rywalll)

Notice how he bastardizes the real quote for his own selfish purposes. Rove never said he would ignore EVERYBODY, just the assholes who shit on everything the administration says or does.

They 'plow ahead' because that is what LEADERS do, not pander to the masses as dems ALWAYS do.

Post a comment