Karl Rove
August 13, 2007
Daniel Larison on Karl Rove’s picture of himself as a latter-day Mark Hanna:
Rove’s errors were not merely political, but stemmed from a misreading of the very McKinley years he claims to admire and that he wishes to imitate.
A more compelling comparison between the GOP under Bush and an early twentieth century center-right party’s fate might be the Conservative-Unionist government during the same period in Britain, which was thrown out in 1905 in a massive repudiation of the government. Like Rove’s strategy, the Conservatives and Unionists had ridden the wave of jingo nationalism of the South African War in the Khaki Election, which preceded their political collapse by a mere five years.
The Republican Party has, over the last couple decades, perfected an art of politics in which compromises are actively avoided, opponents are relentlessly demonized, and checks and balances are systematically weakened. (All of which is not at all like McKinley, who presented an affable, well-liked face for an agenda of behind-the-scenes plutocracy.)
The Karl Rove strategy worked for a while, but it’s hard to see how it can continue for the long-term, and it’s hard to see how the GOP can become a majority party again without major changes.
That’s not to say they won’t continue to win some elections, and they might even pull off an upset in 2008, but the electoral promise of militarism, tax cuts, and the demonization of liberals is limited. Rush Limbaugh isn’t getting any new fans. Is there anyone not already in the tank who’ll be persuaded by increasingly preposterous world-historical arguments about Iraq or Iran?
Fortunately for liberals opposed to militarism and tax cuts, the lesson the GOP has taken from 2006 was that they weren’t conservative enough. I’m guessing that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are smart enough to take advantage of this, and build an enduring Democratic majority.
August 15th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Why does compromise always mean the Conservatives need to back down?
I see nothing wrong with a stong National Defence and going on the Offensive against the Jihadists (which is what we are doing)
Tax Cuts are good thing they boost the economy and bring in boatloads of Tax reciepts. (Works every time it’s tried)
and as for Demonizing liberals if you don’t want to be shown for what you really are I guess that is true.