Rove’s View of How Obama Won

Shouldn’t Rove be in prision by now?

Percentage of popular vote
2004
Bush 51 to Kerry 48
51 – 48 = 3
2008
Obama 53 to McCain 46
53 – 46 = 7
Electoral Votes
2004
Bush 286 to Kerry 252
286 – 252 = 34
2008 (MO still to be decided)
Obama 364 to McCain 163
364 – 163 = 201

Someone sure has a good opinion of himself. And Rove downplays Obama’s victory margin here, but wasn’t Bush crowing about a “powerful mandate” and “political capital” after his ’04 win?
This guy does not deserve to have his crackpot analysis seen by the public…
http://www.political-buzz.com/

2% more than GWB had 2004, not 1.5%.

Obama won because he was better able to communicate his message. He appealed to moderate Republicans like me, who were on the fence prior to the conventions. He reached out to us and made us feel like we had a voice. McCain pandered to the Far Right Conservatives, who have little in common with most Americans, and in doing so, alienated a large voting block that may very well have voted for him. I am tired of being ignored by the Republican Party. The party is NOT made up of just Far Right Conservatives. In the end, I had to vote for someone I felt could heal the rifts in the country, not drive us farther apart.

He’s right, except for the part about the FEAR and SMEAR tactics.
Oh, and the part about right-wing divisive culture war tactics.
And the part about continuing disasterous trickle-down economic policies.
And the pro-business/anti-environmental thing.
And the focus on shallow narrative theatrics in place of intelligent substance.
HMMM …
HE’S WRONG.

Rove is IRRELEVANT.
He is the one who said that Obama was lazy and we all know that is not true.
Why isn’t Rove in prison?

Obama won because he did not listen to any of Roves commentary on FOX

I agree with the disagreement of that sentiment.
Or to put it another way, Rove is talking out of his %$£.

From these coments it does not appear that Hate politics are over or that we are going to heal the divisions in our country.

Karl sounds like a community organizer! The concept and practice of “getting out the vote” has been around a good deal longer than Karl Rove has.
There are those who didn’t need to rely on distortions, distractions, divisiveness and lying in order to do get out the vote.

Obama won because:
1) his entire camp was disciplined
2) he stuck on one message of CHANGE
3) he thought through on VP pick
4) he didnt focus much on negative
campaigning
5) he showed calmness on tackling
problems
6) his 50 states strategy paid off
7) he communicated frequently with
supporters through internet
8) he managed contribution flow very
well
9) he did very well on all 3 debates
10)he was aware which groups to target

cotton: ” His margin of a win is far less than the media would have us believe. ”
His “margin of a win” is a FACT, very simple to grasp numbers that have been painstakingly counted and are publicly reported. It is not a matter of opinion or a matter of spin. Look at the numbers, reality, and think for yourself!
Obama: 66,602,400 votes, 364 electoral college votes
McCain: 58,164,693, 163 electoral college votes

Concerned in OH: “0bama won because him and his surrogates made everyone think they’d be a racist if they didn’t vote for him.”
Well, that makes the GOP look even more foolish for not having a single black member in Congress. When they are that disproportionately white (about 13% of America is Black, and about 9% of the Democratic Congressional caucus is black) they left themselves wide open. Republicans don’t even have a single token black member of Congress to deflect such a simple strategy.
(Although to be truthful, your silly theory is absurd – no one knows if you’re ‘racist’ when you cast an anonymous ballot. This is the corner stone of the Republican’s usually-successful Southern Strategy that carried them for over two decades.)

Maybe rove & cheney can share the same cell. A federal judge told cheney not to destroy any of his records, so things should get interesting after Jan. 20th. 01-20-2009 The END of an ERROR…

Rove should be wearing a orange uniform with numbers printed across the back.

If Palin is a “cancer on the Republican Party” (thank you, David Brooks), Rove is a cancer on the American nation.
By saying Obama won by adopting Bush’s methods Rove is simply trying to give himself credit. David Axelrod, in fact, repudiated Rove’s strategy of activating the base and playing the electoral math to win by one or two swing states. Obama won by about 200 electoral votes and, while not quite pursuing a 50 state strategy, won by opening up new states as battlegrounds, and challenging the Republicans nearly everywhere.
Rove’s statement is just silly. He’s done. And yes, he should be in jail.

Rove is correct, but his answer is not responsive to the question. The Obama campaign certainly turned out the vote, just as the Bush campaign did. That, however has nothing to do with whether the vote constituted a repudiation of Rove’s POLITICS, which it most certainly did.

Fittingly, Rove gets it WRONG right from the first line. Obama did nothing even remotely close to, “adopting the methods of the Bush campaign”…Yes, they were organized, but they captured the electorate though a message of true change and something Rove knows NOTHING about—postive messages. Rove brought the dirt to the party and his minions took over McCain’s campaign and basically impoded it. Now we have Joe the Plumber, Palin the 2012 candidate…Please, just go away. This woman has such an inflated sense of entitlement, it is cringe-worthy. I say, to ahead, cut your own political throat by letting her continue to lead the party around by the nose. Unbelievable.

R Mutt | Nov 13, 2008 1:06:45 PM
Thanks for the great laugh! I loved it and needed a good belly laugh! Thanks.

Can we stop pretending Karl Rove is a political genius now? He never managed to deliver an electoral/popular victory as decisive as those of the Democratic Pres. Candidates before and after Bush.

Turdblossom’s Math? We all recall Rove’s 2006 Math, why would we expect Rove’s mathematical skills to improve in just two years.
Being the ultimate spinmeister Rove even had his flock believing Bush was thee master wordmeister. His next gig is competing against Palin on “Are You Smarter Than A Fith-Grader?”
Alaska and Texas are the US largest states but no one will ever confuse them to be the most intellectually honest.

The only one who should be in prison is your “former” drug using (which is illegal btw) president elect. One of the primary reasons he won is that he bought your vote (which is illegal) with his phony pledge (a confidence game for sure) to give you a tax cut (even though most of the governments income tax revenue comes from the 5% he wants to tax more). So he is going to steal money from one group who rightfully owns it and gives it to another group (hmm sounds like transfer of stolen property which is also illegal BTW).
What about his pal Tony Rezko (one of Obama’s Senate campaign finance committee members)? Rezko was indicted on charges he solicited kickbacks from companies seeking state pension business under his friend Gov. Blagojevich (another crooked Democrat friend of Obama’s). Obama bought some land from the Rezko’s on the cheap (you say he received property bought with illegal funds). Oh that such a fine legal scholar to be involved is so much illegal activity.
Oh BTW I would not expect that $1000 dollar bribe check yet (he won’t be able to pay for it after he tanks the economy the rest of the way). You Democrats’ were so easily duped by someone even slicker then Slick Willie Clinton. I would be laughing really hard right now if it was not for the dire straits that you bone heads put us in during the next 4 years!

so… for those of you who always criticize jake about his political point of views and attack him for not being an unbiased journalist – remember, this is a blog, not a news report… the point is for him to make comments and for his readers to distinguish whether they agree with him or not… so in a sense, you are clicking to read his blog because you ARE wondering what he thinks and you can make your own opinion… maybe some of you are just too old or not up to date with current culture to be able to distinguish the difference between a blog and a news article….

I would like to think that those of us who were smart enough to make the educated decision to vote for Sen Obama know that it was an election run by the Obama Team; not in any way Rove’s.

Rove’s 2004 methodology was repudiated by the majority of the electorate, who unequivocally voted against divide and conquer, extreme partisanship and the blame game. Such outlandish claims lead ignorant but passionate people to believe things like Obama was a terrorist, Obama was Arab, and Obama would destroy America. I wonder what those people are thinking now that McCain and Palin praised him and called him an honorable American?

He is half right.
The power of Suggestion, The power of Persuasion. Powerful motivationing Speeches with code words and using them repetitively. Using those Code words in vast Advertising, Every where 24/7 in your face. Getting the youth to spread your word and propaganda.
Mind conditioning, Mind manipulating, Mind stimulation Constantaly, Taking the people down, Telling them what they were to think, what they were to feel, then Building them up appling hype and staging shows and promises of Change and a better life.
Giving them an a common enemy, bush and the government. Instilling in their minds anyone not for you was the enemy and evil. Protraying yourself as Superior and the Only One who care and Only one who could ever help them
Inoculating them into the cause and the sect of Obama followers.

Smillykat | Nov 13, 2008 1:54:55 PM
I’ve got some news for you! NO ONE can BUY AN ELECTION because if you don’t have a ‘quality platform’ and your message is not seen as sincere, it doesn’t matter how much money you have to spend, it won’t help one iota much less buy you any votes. So get over yourself and realize Obama won because “we the people” voted for him and btw, no one paid any of us for our votes. You children need to grow up!

I am pretty sure I do agree with Rove…

>>>>>I’ve got some news for you! NO ONE can BUY AN ELECTION because if you don’t have a ‘quality platform’ and your message is not seen as sincere, it doesn’t matter how much money you have to spend, it won’t help one iota much less buy you any votes. So get over yourself and realize Obama won because “we the people” voted for him and btw, no one paid any of us for our votes. You children need to grow up!<<<<<<<<
Why…you obviously haven't!

What’s wrong righties? What part of LANDSLIDE don’t you get? It’s time to get over it. We won, you didn’t.

One big difference, George Bush didn’t have the mainstream media acting as a public relations arm of his campaign as Barack Obama did.
Other differences: 1.) George Bush never lied about his “commitment” to public financing as Obama did. 2.) George Bush didn’t collect millions of dollars in campaign contributions of $200 or less, as the Obama campaign did, by disabling the mechanism that requires the names of the credit card holders match the credit card number being used to make a donation. And disabling this feature allowed many people to make multiple donations which figured prominently in Obama’s massive windfall of contributions. But, prepare to wait until hell freezes over before you hear as much reported by the public relations arm of our new president-elect, the mainstream media.

I am sure no one had Karl Rove on their mind when voting. If they did they need to get over it. Obama won because of the ecomony. If a Democrat was president, McCain would have won. In my lifetime whenever there is a recession that president’s party loses the white house ie Carter, Bush I, Clinton, Bush 2.

The only one who should be in prison is your “former” drug using (which is illegal btw) president elect. One of the primary reasons he won is that he bought your vote (which is illegal) with his phony pledge (a confidence game for sure) to give you a tax cut (even though most of the governments income tax revenue comes from the 5% he wants to tax more).
Posted by: Scott | Nov 13, 2008 2:07:17 PM
————–
You need to understand, tax cut or tax increase are not the problem – it’s a symptom. Our Dearest Leader employed a classic Marxist Class Warfare against its own people. He pandered a group of people, the 95% that he called the Middle Class, and made them to hate a other group of good citizens, the 5% that he basically labeled them the bourgeoisie society worms.
The hatred that he has generated within one Class of the people against another group of the same people is for years to overcome, far more difficult than the color of his skin.

>>>>>I’ve got some news for you! NO ONE can BUY AN ELECTION…………
Posted by: RBR | Nov 13, 2008 2:35:44 PM
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Are you sure? Remember ACORN? It is happening now in several states that having voter recounts, even votes found in trunks of cars HUM……

Bush is on the radio right now talking about the economic crisis and how “our aim should not be larger government” . ..
This from the man who governed in this fashion:
REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
$421 Billion OVER BUDGET (2002)
$555 Billion OVER BUDGET (2003)
$596 Billion OVER BUDGET (2004)
$554 Billion OVER BUDGET (2005)
$574 Billion OVER BUDGET (2006)
Shut up George. You’re a phony.

And for those of you saying an election can’t be bought – open up your eyes and read! ACORN has one man, alive by the way, that they registered 72 times! 72 TIMES! In the same office. Now why wouldn’t you catch that? You didn’t want to…that’s why. ACORN, supported by OP by the way (do your research) made a HUGE impact on getting him elected illegally. And watch – you will see 2 or 3 million illegals made into citizens and put on the dole by 2012 so he can be assured of those votes – just wait and see! And we will be supporting many many many more of them by then!

Monica, I know those numbers for the six years of Republican rule of White House, Senate and Congress are hard for you to fess up to – they are a disgrace.
Especially in a party like the Republicans who repeatedly lie about being for ‘small government’ when they’re setting new records for GROSS overspending.
And yes, as John McCain the Republican candidate for President said, “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” . . . that was the Republican party line . .. a certainly not the truth at all.

good point bkm… it is sometimes hard to determine whether some journalists are blogging or trying to report news… but with respect to most of jake tapper’s blogs, he’ll report something, make a comment on how he feels, and then ask what other people think.. he’s not saying “this is what i think and that’s the only way it can be”… what he’s trying to do is convince people to be critical.. to think, do i agree with him, or do i think he’s full of crap… and though this is not journalism in the sense that he’s only reporting the facts, it’s intended to get people to think instead of just listening… and at least the way i see it, he’s not reporting his opinions as facts, he’s just giving his thoughts to see who agrees or disagrees…

self-serving lies.

Obama did not win, the Republicans lost. This is still a center right nation, which will never accept Obama’s left-wing politics.
That being said, the Republicans of yesterday do not exist anymore, leaving voters with no real Republicans to vote for.
What we have is a crop of politicos that have grown up winning seats, and the presidency, by throwing red meat to the base. This only worked as long as Republican officerholders retained the values of fiscal responsibility, small government, low taxes, and honest government. They could give voters a reason to vote for them (e.g., small government) while giving voters reasons not to vote for the other guys (e.g., abortion).
Republicans kept winning as long as the brand was intact. But, once in office they did not maintain the Republican brand. They were corrupt, and they let the government grow.
Arguably there are still large numbers of voters who would love to vote for Republicans, if only they could find some. Sadly, Republicans of old have disappeared.

If that is all he said and taken on surface value, then yes, I do, Jake.
You’d have to explain in more detail why you don’t to have a conversation.

Actually, I think Obama’s campaign borrowed more from Karl Marx than from Karl Rove. Logos, class and race warfare, platitudes and attitudes…

pefros;
You just don’t get it…our economy fell in the toilet with this democratic congress with the ‘four stooges’ dodd, franks, reed and pelosi in charge just this year “2008″, period. They knew about Freddy and Fannie…they were solvent, remember how Barney and Maxine Watters reacted. Of course you don’t, they were not republicans.
The fault lies with the democratic congress.
Oil prices have dropped, but with obama and no offshore drilling, see how the oil prices will rise. Obama is not for offshore drilling, but it appears that he just might be in the pockets of what he calls “Big Oil”. You democrats are like trying to explain something to little children. The little children listen and learn more.

Monica,
america is known around the world as having the best politicans money can buy.
I just hope Pres elect will stick to his promises and take from the rich (Oprah and the hollywood elite) and give to the poor. (us)
I’m still waiting for my $1000 and the gas card and my mortgage pmt.
Posted by: usa | Nov 13, 2008 4:32:58 PM
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Oprah will probably be in obama’s cabinet,making sure we get get all the “free stuff” we have been promised, and crying on strangers shoulders. Just look under your seat and you will find your prize, oh, but don’t forget you will have to pay taxes on it.

Monica, I know those numbers for the six years of Republican rule of White House, Senate and Congress are hard for you to fess up to – they are a disgrace.
Especially in a party like the Republicans who repeatedly lie about being for ‘small government’ when they’re setting new records for GROSS overspending.
REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT
$421 Billion OVER BUDGET (2002)
$555 Billion OVER BUDGET (2003)
$596 Billion OVER BUDGET (2004)
$554 Billion OVER BUDGET (2005)
$574 Billion OVER BUDGET (2006)
And yes, as John McCain the Republican candidate for President said, “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” . . . that was the Republican party line and the Bush mantra as well . .. and certainly far from the truth.

I think Rove is right with one exception: The exception is that Obama expanded the Dem base by pulling in the Hispanic vote. So he did more than just rile up the base.
But in general, I think Rove WAS right. Bush had a remarkable get out the vote effort and Obama did too. Just because the media didn’t cover what Bush’s campaign was doing (e.g., driving nursing home patients to the polls, using churches to excite fundies and get them to the polls, etc.) but covered everything Obama’s campaign did in detail doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. (This is one reason many Dems were so shocked by the 2004 results)
Moreover,the MAIN reason the Obama versus McCain popular vote (53% vs. 46%) difference was greater than the popular vote difference between Bush and Kerry (51% to 48%) is that a large number of Republicans (probably the conservative base) sat home rather than vote for McCain. From what I understand, they see him as an apostate: a RINO if you will. So yeah, I think in general, Rove got it right. Both men did a great job getting the vote out of their core constituents. Although Obama should be commended for significantly expanding the Dem base with the Hispanic vote.

I’ve got an idea!….Let’s take one-part Palinspeak and add it to two-parts Rovespeak…Maybe we’ll get a coherent AND factual thought!….Of course, there is a chance that we’ll just get a Whiskey Sour.

OMG, Cottonn is right..look at the Illinois Lottery for the Evening pick 3 for November 5th. Wow…pretty weird! Most people just need to read the New King James Study Bible and just read the book of Daniel. It explains it all very clearly. So far the only thing off about this guy is that the AC is supposed to be a man of the military as he will be able to actually slay people. The charmisma is there…the religious background is there, the hidden agenda is there. I’m ready! Are any of you?

George Bush handed the presidency to Obama by starting a financial panic. Obama will now be blamed for all of the failures of the Bush administration.
It’s a plan, not a mistake.
Carolyn