Karl Rove isn’t officially affiliated with any of the GOP candidates, but if you listen to him, it’s becoming increasingly clear he has a favorite. We’re not the first to notice, but Karl Rove seems firmly in the Mitt Romney camp. What’s more, he’
- From: "`...@...'" <robert.tex.harmon@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2011 16:05:41 -0800 (PST)
Karl Rove isn’t officially affiliated with any of the GOP candidates,
but if you listen to him, it’s becoming increasingly clear he has a
favorite. We’re not the first to notice, but Karl Rove seems firmly in
the Mitt Romney camp. What’s more, he’s goes on TV a lot to lob
attacks at just about every other candidate.
Rove has taken a stab at just about every candidate other than Romney,
and on Tuesday it was Newt Gingrich’s turn. With multiple polls
showing Newt Gingrich surging in Iowa, Rove took to Fox News, to
undermined the former speaker:
“If in the polls newt is leading by 10 or 11 or 12 points going
into the Iowa caucuses and doesn’t win by that margin people are going
to say, well, he didn’t meet his mark. That is a challenge for
somebody who has not built organization.”
Basically, Rove is framing the Iowa caucuses in such a way that, even
if Newt wins, a victory by less than 10 points is interpreted as a
loss. Rove’s point is that Gingrich has “momentum” but no
“organization,” which means he is likely to underperform relative to
his poll numbers, and thus that he’s all fluff. If Newt does win Iowa
on January 3, expect Rove back on TV making the same argument.
Add Tuesday’s appearance to a long list of attacks against everyone
but Mitt that TPM has been tracking for months now. As each candidate
rises and falls, Rove is there to swat them away.
Since Newt’s rise, Rove has dedicated the last week or so to naming
Newt’s flaws. Way back in October, and well before the infamous Libya
flub, he questioned whether Herman Cain was “up to the task.” And when
Rick Perry was considered a serious threat to Romney, Rove was quick
to point out that Perry’s position on Social Security, which he called
a Ponzi scheme, was politically “toxic.” (Rove would know, seeing as
he was an adviser to Bush when he tried to privatize Social Security,
but that’s beside the point). Perry was up-and-coming, and Rove tried
to scare supporters away.
It’s one thing for Donald Trump to play Republican king-maker, but
Rove’s approval comes with a lot of cash. Rove runs the super PAC
American Crossroads, which shares a board member with Romney’s own
super PAC, Restore Our Future — a connection that both Crossroads and
Romney’s camp has denied is meaningful. Either way, the Rove primary
is an important one to win, and while Gingrich may be surging in Iowa
and South Carolina, it seems he’s got a long way to go on this one.
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