Rovian logic. If the economy stinks for most Americans and portends to worsen before it improves – talk instead about illegal immigration, abortion, or something nebulous, like “character.” Whatever you do, don’t talk about the real world issues impacting real people’s lives – the issues your party is largely responsible for creating.
Talk about reforming politics in Washington as if your party has not been in total command of all three branches of government – and still controls two – for six of the past eight years. Talk about how you are the one to take on the Establishment even though you yourself are a pillar of that Establishment.
Talk nostalgically about small towns and families while vowing to continue the policies that are destroying small towns and families.
Above all, paint your opponents as unpatriotic and un-American while your party undermines the Constitution, runs roughshod over the rule of law and strains relationships with America’s traditional allies. You don’t need a comprehensive plan or vision for the country, you just need to lie compellingly about your opponents. Run on your biography, not the actual record, and invoke your stint as a POW at every opportunity – even when it’s irrelevant to the topic at hand.
If you watched any part of the GOP Convention you know that the Rove Playbook is still widely read and that Republicans are clinging to George W. Bush’s illusions. If the American electorate was more sophisticated and harder to dupe, the GOP would be packing bags, shredding documents and preparing to depart Washington D.C., because after eight disastrous years of Republican misrule, logic says there’s no way John McCain can beat Barack Obama.
Think about it. Is the Republican ticket running against Barack Obama and Joe Biden or are they running against the long, dark shadow cast by George Bush and Dick Cheney? The crux of the matter is that McCain and Palin must run against their own party’s disastrous record without turning off or alienating the party faithful.
It’s a trick worthy of Houdini, but it’s also a stage show the Republicans have perfected – after all, George Bush made it to the White House twice, which proves that American presidential elections are about images and emotions and distortions, not facts, policies or truth.
For the Masters of Deceit, Sarah Palin is a smart choice (even though her right-wing policy positions and staggering absence of experience make her a ridiculous choice) because she’s enough of a circus act to divert attention from the stiff old man she’s running alongside. The mainstream media took Palin at face value, got caught up in the hype and announced that Palin “electrified” the GOP convention and “energized” the base. Palin is good copy and next to the sclerotic McCain, the dull Fred Thompson and the rabid Rudy Guliani, who wouldn’t look fresh and chipper?
The disciples of Karl Rove will spend the next two months trying to induce gullible voters to forget the policy failures of the past eight years: a failing economy brought on by Republican blind faith in a benevolent Market God; two wars, one of them completely unnecessary; a failure to address America’s energy needs or come to grips with the serious implications of climate change; indifference to citizen concerns about the affordability of health care and higher education; and the erosion of Constitutional protections.
The cynicism of Karl Rove and the GOP would be amusing if it wasn’t deadly serious.
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