{"id":12569,"date":"2007-08-17T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2007-08-17T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/12569.html"},"modified":"2007-08-17T09:00:45","modified_gmt":"2007-08-17T13:00:45","slug":"karl-rove-champion-of-the-little-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/karl-rove-champion-of-the-little-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl Rove: Champion of ‘the little guy’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Gerson, Bush’s former chief speechwriter, came under fire this week, when Matthew Scully, Gerson’s former speechwriting colleague, blasted Gerson in a jaw-dropping piece<\/a> for The Atlantic. Scully tries to destroy the Myth of Gerson entirely, characterizing him as a phony, self-aggrandizing, shameless publicity hog who took credit for work he didn’t do.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, there was probably more interest than usual in Gerson’s latest Washington Post column, published today, his first since the publication of Scully’s piece. Would Gerson dazzle us and prove that his alleged brilliance is legit?<\/p>\n

Not so much. The former speechwriter devoted his piece today<\/a> to praising a different former colleague: Karl Rove.<\/p>\n

Rove’s main influence on the Republican Party has not been a series of tactical innovations but a series of strategic arguments. In this way, Rove is the opposite of a cynical political operator. He is not only a partisan for George W. Bush but the most serious, tireless advocate of Bushism.<\/p>\n

First, Rove argues that Republicans win as activist reformers, in the tradition of Lincoln, McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. “We were founded as a reformist party,” he said in our conversation this week, “not to be against something, but to help the little guy get ahead.” The models he cites are 401(k)s and the mortgage interest deduction — government policies that encouraged individual wealth and ownership.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’ve got to be kidding me. Rove is the opposite<\/i> of a cynical political operator? He’s a champion of the little guy?<\/p>\n

Gerson’s credibility comes under fire, and he writes this<\/i>?
\n
\nKevin Drum tears apart<\/a> Gerson’s evidence.<\/p>\n

[Gerson’s evidence for Rove’s passion] is…wait for it…the mortgage interest deduction and 401(k)s? In case you’re wondering, the first is an outgrowth of the generic interest deduction that was included in the very first income tax legislation nearly a century ago (and was originally aimed at businesses, not home mortgages) and the second is a program that was accidentally created in 1978 under a Democratic administration and then put into its current form by a benefits consultant with a nose for loopholes. The IRS under Reagan didn’t shoot down the idea, but that was about all they had to do with it.<\/p>\n

This is Rove’s model for the Republican Party’s great activist tradition of helping the little guy? Two programs that that were (a) accidental, and (b) not proposed by Republicans in the first place? What’s the problem? Couldn’t he come up with any actual examples of Republicans helping the little guy?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, no. He probably couldn’t.<\/p>\n

I’d only add that Rove, the hero of the working-class, also helped push an agenda that opposed a minimum-wage increase, undermined labor unions, and lavished tax cuts on millionaires.<\/p>\n

I’ve always had the sense that the Washington Post hired Gerson as a columnist because of his reputation as an accomplished speechwriter. Gerson could be for the WaPo what Safire was for the NYT<\/p>\n

But this was predicated on Gerson having actual talent. I can’t help but wonder if the Post is having second thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Gerson, Bush’s former chief speechwriter, came under fire this week, when Matthew Scully, Gerson’s former speechwriting colleague, blasted Gerson in a jaw-dropping piece for The Atlantic. Scully tries to destroy the Myth of Gerson entirely, characterizing him as a phony, self-aggrandizing, shameless publicity hog who took credit for work he didn’t do. With that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}