I suspect this damage control attempt by the old dons is too little, too late for the Greedy Old Perverts. The smarter members of the plutocracy will switch their support to the DLC [aka "Vichy Democrats"], to reinforce the DLC against any possible takeover of the Democratic Party by actual populists.
Off topic--LM, I found a way to make visible the invisible ink used in sections of the old '70s-vintage STARFLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL. It says that eka-lesbium is formed when delta rays bombard warp-degraded dilithium, but eka-lesbium quickly undergoes K-capture to become celebium, which then alpha-decays to become dikironium. 
Hmmm....maybe celebium resembles silver in appearance and/or chemistry, and so some future Tolkien-buff scientist(s) named it after "celeb" [pronounced "keleb"], the Sindarin word for silver? 
Oh, yes, yes, yes, LM. This is EXACTLY what I came up with yesterday as I tried to think what in pluperfect hell was going on (with all manner of ideas from the progressive blogosphere.)
Then, I realized that Mr. Baker was standing in the wings at that very moment, smiling....
I'd sleep better at night if I knew Baker was behind this. I can't escape the feeling that there is a Plan behind all this. :-/
I can't escape the feeling that there is a Plan behind all this. :-/
Oh, there may be a plan behind it, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be successful. After all, Rove had a plan for 2006.
Leave the garotte.
Take the cannoli.
Good riddance to that motherfucker.
Yeah, Rove's usefulness to Dubya is at an end - he can't help him win any more elections, and he's also becoming a liability for Mr. 25% in terms of his divisiveness.
I would think that Rove, for his own little ass, also knows that it's better to get out early if he wants to continue his political operative career - though I would guess that he would sit out the 2008 cycle because it's too much of a lost cause now and because he's too toxic.
My Christmas wish - now that he's out of the White House, perhaps he has lost that executive privilege shield and we can indict his sorry fat motherfuckin' ass!
Good piece LM, but I have a little quibble.
The only reason the GOP had the MD governorship for the last four years was because minorities slacked on turning out so to say they controlled anything is a bit of a stretch.
That office was essentially on loan to them.
Besides, a party that is in control doesn't have to resort to carting in homeless people from 200 miles away to advertise that their best candidate is a Democrat to win a tight race.
Hell, I didn't know the MDGOP was nearly broke until I read your post. Those fools are so irrelevant to the politics in this state-outside of the backwards confederate flag waving rural areas that is, and yes Carrol County I'm talking to you-that they could have billions in their war chest and they'd still lose.
Oh and P.S., if they go broke does that mean that we can sell off their assets in some kind of government bankruptcy auction?
How much do you think we could get for Michael Steele's soul?
Nothin' to add to that.
Nothin'.
Olberman should read it; every syllable of it, on his slot.
Killer stuff; LM. :o)
I don't want to read about how savvy and cruel these Gilligan's are; I want to read the truth:
That they could fuck up a can of peaches. And have.
With all those people pushing him out the door the only thing Rove could still control was the exact timing of the announcement. And that may have been his last little political dirty trick.
As you said, all the Republican 08 candidates are desperately fleeing Bushville, Romney as fast as any of them. With the straw poll in Iowa, Dogwrangler Mitt finally had something to crow about and what happens? Karl sings his swan song and pushes Mitt right off the front page.
That would be a pretty small, petty, vindictive, mean thing to do, of course. But I think our boy is up to the task.
great post lm. especially the parts about o.j. at the klan rally and rove following the wounded beast with klaxons and spotlights. now turn your talents on that buffoon fraud thompson. please.
mr. bigstuff:
Oh, I'm working on something special for Ol' Paw Rugg, have no fear...
If Rove's demise is a result of the activities of behind-the-scenes operators like Jim Baker................ well, it's bit late if they were/are attempting to salvage something for the Bush II presidency. The train of history left that station a long, long time ago.
Bollox, at this point, I think it's about keeping the GOP elephant out of the sausage-machine of history.
Tanbark,
Fair point, but I thought Baker (and friends) were loyal to the Bush family first........ the GOP being a distant second.
Flanker:
"Ken Doll" Ehrlich also was able to sneak through because Kathfuckingleen insisted on her running mate being Adm. Chas. Larsen, a Republican, to bolster her so-called nine-eleven cred, instead of the black Democrat she was being urged to asked. Additionally, remember, Kathfuckingleen got only tepid backing from former governor Schaefer, who was still having a temper tantrum because outgoing Gov. Glendening refused to turn on a water fountain Schaefer'd built on the grounds of the governor's mansion in honor of his girlfriend. (Maryland had been in a severe drought, and Glendening ordered all state agencies to conserve water; Schaefer typically thought "his" fountain should be exempt. Schaefer's mis-endorsement of Kathfuckingleen was a sort of payback.)
It DID rain on Election Day 2002, but not very hard. But too many of us black voters did stay home to punish Townsend for the Lt.-Gov. snub, and more than a few fell for Steele's BS and crossed over to the dark side.
No ground game?
LM, the Religious Right ruuuuuuvs Rove! They provided the beefy offensive linemen and tailback. Bush won the 2004 election because of the Religious Right ground game.
As far as sitting out 2008 ... sociopaths don't quit sociopathin' unless someone physically stops them. If a candidate doesn't choose him, he'll choose a candidate -- just like he did with Shrub. "Do you see this kingdom before you? It will all be yours if you pledge loyalty to me."
In other news:
CBS is tryin' to do rehab on Imus and his racist bullshit, to slip him in the back door, and get back some of his room-temperature-IQ listeners, and his sponsors. (Hint, hint, y'all...:o))
It righteously pissed me off, to see that.
But just now on the DellNewsPage, I read where Kia Vaughn, one of the Rutgers lady basketball players that Rutgers called "nappy-headed-ho's'" is sueing Imus and CBS for slander and defamation.
That makes me feel better. :o)
I hope, a year from now, she and the rest of the Rutgers women have a celebratory shoot -around....using Imus' financial scrotal sac.
It was Cheney, I'm sure. Like Goebbels trying to consolidate his power till the very end Cheney has convinced Bush that Rove was an obstacle to victory. Bush has never listened to Baker, why would he start now?
On the CBS and Imus situation - it should be seen as CBS being too fucking stupid to sign Imus to a fat contract, knowing he was controversial, and now having to pay him for breaking the contract. Nothing more and nothing less.
It is NOT a vindication of Imus' position. This is chump change for CBS, really.
But I would really love it to see the Rutgers women sue the shit out of CBS and Imus. Maybe Imus can "share" some of his severance with the basketball team.
What Randy said. Maryland is about 30% black and the Democratic Party here is about 45-49.99% black. Townsend's decision to run screaming away from any possible association with a black elected official meant that she was too stupid to govern. Probably twelve to fifteen elected black Democrats in the state would have been reasonable choices for Lieutenant Governor. She picked an academic Republican from the Naval Academy whose name no one knew and whose name no one has heard since.
Townsend had never won an election in her own right, had no base and did not support the Democratic brand while arrogantly expecting it to support her. Her campaign committed campaign malpractice like charging money for yard signs when Ehrlich got the early jump and avoided that sort of stupidity.
Also, Ehrlich played it smart, conducting very successful outreach to Maryland's large Jewish community, even setting up a semi-campaign "headquarters" at a famous Pikesville bagel shop. This damaged Townsend behind her expected lines, forcing her to play defense where she should have been collecting major financial support.
Davids: He should start listening now, because Baker, and Wall St., and a TON of old GOP money, and a goodly part of our military, and most of the Fortune 500, in short order, is going to be saying to him (with daddybush nodding his sad approval):
"Mr....uhhhh...preznit; you can stay the course, and preside over the near elimination of the republican party, or you can man-up and start the process of you AND Cheyney leaving office before the thick of the campaign, in which case you will still be eligible for some sinecure of a boardroom job.
In fact, if you DON'T do the right thing, you'll be spending one FUCK of a lot of time cutting brush in Crawford. And your "preznintial library" is going to wind up at Mooseturd University, in Anchorage, Alaska."
David, we haven't BEGUN to see the pressure that bush and Cheyney are going to be under. :o)
I PROMISE you, it's going to be a pure-assed delight to watch the GOP shitstorm that's coming down on their heads. :o)
As I keep telling my buds: We just need to keep warning about them starting WWIII, as part of the waronterrr, and keep reminding the american people of who knocked up Rosemary, and of who should pay the political child-support for the little horned one now so bloodily frolicking in the mesopotamian sandpile.
The rest of it will take care of itself.
Oh. If the democrats in congress don't start helping with this, and if they don't stop bending over and spreading their cheeks, then, for starters, we should all send Cindy Sheehan
$20 to help her get rolling at unhorsing Pelosi. :o)
Tanbark, I don't think so. Cheney's mind is impossible to read but he's so rich he's not going to have any worries about money. Bush will take this war to the bitter end. He's going to leave Washington on Jan 20 2008 with a smirk on his face and a "so long suckers" on his lips. Neither of them care for the party or the nation.
If the congressional Republicans get desperate enough to force a showdown then something might change but until then think Berlin '45. The strategy is to take everyone down with them.
David, it aint a matter of how rich they are. They love their standing and identity in the GOP, and THAT is going down the shitter as we speak.
Also, it's not IF the GOP congers get desperate enough; it's WHEN.:o)
As we all know, our MSM are frontrunners first, and real news reporters last. And some of them are already starting to turn on these assholes. Once that shows signs of becoming a real dogpile, watch how fast the goopers muster up the Goldwater Swat Team. :o)
I now have 100 bucks out, in $20 dollar bets, that Cheney and Bush won't last until the election. Actually, only $80 on that one. The other $20 is that Condi will be gone by the end of May.
Keep an eye on Gordon Brown. He may sever Blair's poodle-leash sooner than we think. And when THAT happens, there won't be any way to spin it for anything but what it is. Their leaving will be a catastrophe for the warpimps.
I'm thinkin' that the Brit military is very close to telling Brown how the hog ate the cabbage, relative to continuing to use them for ass-covering duty for george bush and the republican party. And if the Brit brass goes completely off the reservation, ours may not be far behind. I've read that some of Petraeus' field-grade ponyos are starting to call him: "Betrayus".
John Howard's party in Australia, is also at some risk. When the Brits leave, likely, the Aussies won't be too far behind.
No; this is all hanging by a thread, and the republican party is going to have to do some SERIOUS grovelling just to keep enough seats in the coming election for a good group-grope with the senate and house pages. The grovel is going to include dumping Cheyney and bush, in that order. :o)
My main worry is whether Cheney will get his wished-for-war on Iran before leaving. The departure of Rove may actually have removed one of the sticks keeping the whole avalanche sliding down the hill--who else is Bush talking to these days?
And it would be loverly if Baker el al could pull a Mike Tyson on Cheney and the rest of the neocons, totally trash them, and move the whole slimy mess of their chattering little corpses off stage into the dustbin. But I'm worried that the business/financial side of the Republicans are going to be preoccupied with the mortgage meltdown.
Anyone who really supports the continued existence of Israel would be giving Kristol and the rest of the neocons a sharp boot in the rear. Because if the US attacks Iran, chances are high that that will be the last bravura military adventure before the US economy collapses (can we say Straits of Hormuz, guys?). If the US collapses, how long will it be before Israel goes under as well? (They may do the Samson gambit and take down the rest of the Mideast out with nukes--but that doesn't seem to be a very good policy for long life and being left alone, especially if your big brother protector is now out of the picture.)
big deal... with democrats like the one we have, who needs republicans?
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