With the revelations this week about the illicit emails and text messages former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent to underage pages, one has to wonder how the right will respond in the long-term? What has been their modus operandi when found to be in the wrong? One can only surmise that the extreme right-wing is already scheming and plotting the best way to spin this story the other way. Let’s call these people graduates of The School of Karl Rove. The School of Karl Rove has been particularly merciless on victims. Ann Coulter, who holds an endowed chair at The School of Karl Rove, ripped apart a group of women who were left widowed by the tragic events of 9-11-2001. In her book, “Godless: The Church of Liberalism,” chastised a group of four women from East Brunswick, NJ, who were pushing for improvements in how the government guards against future attacks. Coulter said the four were acting, “as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them.”
Amazing. Did these women not get the memo that The School of Karl Rove, the extreme far right of the Republic Party, owns 9-11, that they are the only ones permitted to benefit politically from the tragedy? Did they not realize that the terrorist attacks only happened to those living on the far right? Coulter further called these women, “The Witches of East Brunswick,” and said they were “self-obsessed” and enjoying their husbands’ deaths.
So why The School of Karl Rove, and not The School of Ann Coulter? Rove’s been at it longer. He’s more refined, and brought such activity to national politics in ways that former D.C. politicians never dreamed of. Consider the following from his past:
But Rove acknowledges that, in 1970, he used a false identity to gain entry to the campaign offices of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon, who was running for state treasurer. Once inside, Rove swiped some letterhead stationery and sent out 1,000 bogus invitations to the opening of the candidate’s headquarters promising “free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing.”
“It was a youthful prank at the age of 19 and I regret it,” Rove says.
But most who know him say this was Karl Rove showing his true colors early on. What The School of Karl Rove did to former Senator Max Cleland D-GA, triple amputee, should never be forgotten. Cleland volunteered for duty in Vietnam in 1967. On April 8, 1968, Mr. Cleland was wounded in a grenade explosion, lost both legs and his right arm.
Forward in time almost 4 decades. Senator Cleland was up for re-election against Republican Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss, a graduate of The School of Karl Rove, slandered Cleland in an ad that challenged the senator’s votes on the formation of the Department of Homeland Security. Recall that the far right owns 9-11, and this ownership gives them exclusive right to use it to advance their own political careers. The text of the ad follows:
“As America faces terrorists and extremist dictators, Max Cleland runs television ads claiming he has the courage to lead.
“He says he supports President Bush at every opportunity, but that’s not the truth.”
“Since July, Max Cleland voted against President Bush’s vital homeland security efforts 11 times.”
“But the record proves, Max Cleland is just misleading.”
The issue the ad was referring to was in 2002, civil service protections for Homeland Security employees, which President Bush opposed and Cleland supported. The ad did not point out that Cleland supported the creation of a Department of Homeland Security before President Bush did. Remember, the Bush Administration was not on board with the creation of the department after 9-11.
Ann Coulter weighed in as well at the time. She wrote that Cleland should not be referred to as a war hero, since he lost his limbs in a routine non-combat mission.
And it worked.
Which brings me to Rep. Mark Foley, and the “unidentified teenager” who was the recipient of Foley’s advances. How long will his identity remain a secret? How soon until his name and face are revealed in a FOX News Special Report? How long until his reputation is sullied in the national press, until Ann Coulter turns him into the predator, scheming to ruin the reputation of a United States Congressman who remained head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues until he was forced to resign in disgrace because this of this scorned lad? How long until Foley becomes hero and victim?
Even now, current students and graduates of The School of Karl Rove are planning their next move. Stay tuned to FOX News.