Voices
HOWARD
FINEMAN
HUFFINGTON
06.17.12
SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (ROVE)
Our Political
Ringmaster,
Large and
In Charge
KARL ROVE TOLD ME that he was
going to be too busy to talk much.
It was true. He had a hit on Fox to
prepare, and a piece to write for
The Wa ll Street Journal (“Due in
35 minutes,” he said.) The Super
Pac he had founded was airing a
new ad, featuring shattered glass
and a list of the president’s “failed”
promises. Rove had two speeches
to give, traveling to do, Pac donors to woo and calls with friends
throughout the Republican realm,
including folks at party committees
and in Romney headquarters.
Once known as “Turd Blossom,”
later as “the Architect,” Rove, at
61, is more powerful than ever: a
ILLUSTRATION BY JULIEN PACAUD
multi-dimensional, 21st century
version of a 19th century Party
Boss. Specifically, he is the reincarnation of Mark Hanna for our
own corrupted, McKinley-style
era, in which Gargantuan Money
again is paralyzing our politics.
“Karl has a lot of sway,” says
former RNC Chairman Michael
Steele. “Not swagger, but sway.
He’s Svengali.”
Long ago, a party boss operated
in the shadows. But now, in the
age of Twitter, cable television and
Super Pacs, a party boss operates
Howard
Fineman
is editorial
director
of the
Huffington
Post Media
Group