By Lee Cary
By declaring Congressman Akin already defeated in the November election, Karl “The Architect” Rove has acted, again, as the G.O.P. Gatekeeper.
So, who appointed him to that role?
On Monday, August 27, Rove not only said that the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Missouri, Cong. Todd Akin, would lose to Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill, Rove predicted that Akin would lose by “the widest margin of any Republican candidate in modern history”.
This bashing of a Republican candidate is not new behavior for Rove.
Rewind back one election and recall that Joe Miller was the G.O.P. non-establishment candidate who beat sitting Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski in the 2010 Republican primary, and then narrowly lost in a recount, after Murkowski fought to reverse the election outcome.
Here’s how Rove referred to Miller’s victory on his website:
“Joe Miller’s upset victory in the Alaska Republican primary moves the Last Frontier from solidly Republican to leaning GOP in this week’s only change.”
That was hardly an encouraging word for Miller, or a ringing endorsement. Clearly, the Architect wasn’t too happy that Miller made it through the gate ahead of Murkowski. He called Miller’s victory, “The end of an era.”
The “era” to which he referred was that of the dominance of the Murkowski-G.O.P.-establishment family in Alaska. Sarah Palin had defeated Murkowski’s father to become the first woman governor of Alaska. And Karl doesn’t like Sarah.
On his website, Restoring Liberty, Miller recently posted an article by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee entitled “Who Ordered the Establishment’s Hit on Akin?” Huckabee vented his spleen in the piece.
“Who ordered this “Code Red” on Akin? There were talking point memos sent from the National Republican Senatorial Committee suggesting language to urge Akin to drop out. Political consultants were ordered to stay away from Akin or lose future business with GOP committees. Operatives were recruited to set up a network of pastors to call Akin to urge him to get out. Money has changed hands to push him off the plank. It is disgraceful. From the spotlights of political offices and media perches, it may appear that the demand for Akin’s head is universal in the party. I assure you it is not. There is a vast, but mostly quiet army of people who have an innate sense of fairness and don’t like to see a fellow political pilgrim bullied. If Todd Akin loses the Senate seat, I will not blame Todd Akin. He made his mistake, but was man enough to admit it and apologize. I’m waiting for the apology from whoever the genius was on the high pedestals of our party who thought it wise to not only shoot our wounded, but run over him with tanks and trucks and then feed his body to the liberal wolves.”
And let’s not forget Rove’s assault back in 2010 on the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat once held by Joe Biden. Concerning Christine O’Donnell’s chances of winning against her Democrat opponent, Rove said, “This is not a race we’re going to be able to win.”
Back then the Christian Science Monitor questioned his actions asking, “Why is Karl Rove taking shots at Sarah Palin and Christine O’Donnell?” We know why. Rove said Palin lacked the “gravitas” to become a Presidential candidate.
So here’s the question: From whence cometh Karl’s gravitas enabling him to graduate from George W. Bush’s “Architect” of election victories, to become the Gate Keeper qualified to admit only inspected, certified and branded Republican candidates into the upper echelons of the Grand Old Party?
Wasn’t it Rove’s handling of George W. Bush’s non-rebuttal against the viperous onslaught of liberal progressive criticism during Bush’s second term that helped get the junior Senator from Illinois elected President?
