You Know What That Makes Us?

Karl Rove is set to reveal a new class of big damn heroes:

Enemies of President Bush take heed: Karl Rove is set to name names.

The man widely credited with Bush's two presidential victories says his new book will include an accounting of those in Washington who never accepted the president as a legitimate commander-in-chief.

"I've got behind-the-scenes episodes that are going to show how unreceiving they were of this man as president of the United States," Rove told Cox News in an interview published Sunday. "I'm going to name names and show examples."

Given the reputation President Bush is leaving office with, I'm sure these guys are just quaking in their boots that they might be revealed as "enemies" of the administration.

Brother Outsider

Remarking on Karl Rove's ludicrous description of Barack Obama in terms of what type of country-club member he is, Christopher Orr remarks that "On the plus side, this presumably means Rove is giving up on the whole radical-Muslim-foreigner-outsider frame."

I understand that Orr is being a little tongue-in-cheek, but this is most certainly not what is going on here. Orr is making a mistake in assuming that either frame -- Obama as haughty country-clubber or Obama as scary dark outsider -- is intended to operate as a logical argument. Far from it. They are designed to plant seeds (or exploit latent seeds) about whether Obama is truly one of "us", as opposed to "them" -- and for that purpose it really doesn't matter who "they" are.

While the country-club set may be the ultimate insiders in one sense, they are certainly far removed from the experience of average Americans. To most voters, they are part of a "they" that are distant and mistrusted -- folks we don't want to have in charge of our government. And of course, scary dark hordes of foreigners occupy the same position: distant, inscrutable, and (in the eyes of conservative demagogues like Rove) always on the cusp of wresting control of the nation from good ol' patriotic Americans. It's obviously illogical for Obama to be both barely American and a member of the blue-bloods, but putting both those frames out there is quite effective at reinforcing a vague sense of "otherness", and Rove is savvy enough to know that.

Tee Hee

Ezra Klein on Karl Rove's claim that it was Osama Bin Laden's idea that we launch a preventative strike on Iraq:

You see, I too have long thought the war in Iraq was Osama bin-Laden's idea. What better way to unite the world against us? What better way to divert attention from the hunt for al-Qaeda? What better way to overstretch our military and reduce our flexibility? What better way to divide our society and embitter our politics? What better way to exhaust our treasury and degrade our capacity for international leadership? But whenever I have thought this way, I've assumed that there's no way George W. Bush is letting Osama bin Laden advise him on foreign policy.

Turns out I was wrong.

Cute.

Take The Gloves Off

John Cole comments on Senator Patrick Leahy's stated desire to question Karl Rove, Harriet Miers, and other top Bushies on the Prosecutor Purge: "Personally, I say we subject them to strict interrogation methods. After all, those methods aren’t torture."

What's good for the goose....