October 15, 2004
Rove's Dirty Tricks
As the debates only helped Kerry, many observers expect to see Rove break out his traditional bag of crunch time dirty tricks in the next few weeks. Josh Marshall began a Karl Rove Dirty Tricks Watch writing:
Well, now that we've had the primaries, the convention, and the nail-biting debates, all that's really left now is the Karl Rove dirty tricks portion of the campaign, right?. . .
It'll be like a 'where's Waldo' thing: Karl Rove Dirty Trick's Watch. (For examples, see the Green piece.) Who will be able to spot Karl's dirty tricks first? Who has the sharpest eye? Sit back in your seat. Get out the popcorn.
Today he announces we may have our first entry:
A nasty flyer has turned up in Tennesse politics which depicts a handicapped athlete running on a track with George Bush's face pasted on.The text reads:
Voting for Bush is Like Running in the Special Olympics -- Even if You Win, You're Still Retarded.
The Traditional Values Coalition and other right wing operations in the South jumped on this fast alleging that Tennessee Democrat Craig Fitzhugh's office, which shares space with the Kerry/Edwards Campaign, was distributing this flyer.
Naturally, the campaign has vociferously denied this. They have no need for such a campaign nor does Kerry, despite being a politician, seem likely to stoop so low. Even if he were, it would make no sense considering the momentum is already on his side. Nevertheless, it leads me to ask: how can people support a candidate knowing that someone as unscrupulous and diabolical as Rove runs the campaign? Isn't there some proverbial phrase about birds of a feather? Surely Bush is well aware of Rove's modus operandi which must mean he endorses such dishonest, shameful tactics. Furthermore, such willingness to engage in dirty tricks implies that winning is the only thing that matters to such people. The means justify the ends. There is no concern for basic integrity or honor. Given that many of Bush's supporters consider themselves and Bush eminently (or, at least, striving to be) moral, how do they reconcile this to his history of Machiavellianism? Even if this particular instance turns out not to be Rove's handiwork, the mere fact that no one would be surprised if it were implies a clear knowledge of his penchant for such.
Well, it's hard to really comment on this because Kerry isn't exactly running a pristine campaign, even if it's nothing less than absurd to compare him to Bush/Rove.
As for neocon intellectuals, I really don't know. I recently came across this hostile article on Leo Strauss
http://www.logosjournal.com/xenos.htm
where the following claim is made...
Strauss said the way of the philosopher is the way of Socrates; of the pursuit of wisdom, of the good in itself. But the way of the world is the way of Thrasymachus. And the argument for justice that Thrasymachus makes in Plato’s Republic is that justice is helping friends and hurting enemies. And this is in fact the moral compass that Straussians adopt in the world. It accounts, partly, for the network that they have constructed. And when the friends are philosophers then that is a really good thing, but if they are not philosophers, well, that is the way the world works anyway—you help friends, you hurt enemies. It is a form of realism, but it is realism in the hidden interests of wisdom.
No, of course Kerry isn't running a pristine campaign. It would be naive to expect that of any candidate. Even so, the difference between his method and Rove's is so extreme as to make them ultimately uncomparable.
On a related note, see Saletan's latest...
http://www.slate.com/id/2108251/