Rove - not defeated...

A very interesting article/interview with Karl Rove is in this week's Time, that sheds some continuing light on the man who is Karl Rove.

I don't like the spin and the manipulation that happens in politics, yet it doesn't seem that aspect is going to fade away anytime soon. Even most of those who hate Rove acknowledge his skill. Some of the interesting parts of the online article by Mike Allen:

"Abramoff, lobbying, Foley and Haggard [the disgraced evangelical leader] added to the general distaste that people have for all things Washington, and it just reached critical mass."

"Iraq mattered," Rove says. "But it was more frustration than it was an explicit call for withdrawal. If this was a get-out-now call for withdrawal, then Lamont would not have been beaten by Lieberman. Iraq does play a role, but not the critical, central role."

Rove, who is Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Adviser to the President, had long been warning in speeches that Democrats suffered defeat in 1994 after ossified thinking and an entitlement mentality took over the party: "What I was trying to say was: What happened to them could happen to us," he told TIME.

The Republican get-out-the-vote program Rove helped invent precluded even deeper losses, he says. "People were talking 35, 40 or more and it didn't happen," he said. "There were a number of elections which were supposed to be close and ended up not being close."

I'd have to agree with the belief that while a large number of the American public is very unhappy with the way the war in Iraq and the larger war on terrorism is going that is not the largest focus. I saw that personally here in Ohio where the economy, our educational system and health care seemed to be more of what people were primarily concerned with. Even what has been referred to as the "culture of corruption" and ethics seemed to weigh more heavily on the minds of Ohio voters. So while most everyone I know wants our troops to come home, I think the message was more of "we don't feel you are listening". It appears that message has at least been partially received despite the small attempt to attribute this to something that has a historical pattern.