Karl Rove resurfaces with more of the same "campaign style" sleaze tactics for the new year. Strategizing about how to reverse Bush's political free fall, younger aides admirably urged more candor about setbacks in the Iraq war.
The resulting strategy was a schizophrenic mixture of shifting tones and a balancing act between Rovian below-the-belt attacks on war critics and a "humbler assessment" of Iraq progress, or lack thereof.
Could it be that Rove is losing some of his brainiac power over Bush? Or maybe just some of his brain cells?
The resulting mish-mash strategy worked to the extent that it boosted Bush's dismal polls ratings by a few points and reversed the downward spiral. But, from an administration point of view, the polls are far from pretty and Bushco's worries are far from over.
Burn out of top aids seems to be another problem, with Andrew Card rumoured to want out. Rove, still under the microscope of Fitzgerald's Plamegate, has a questionable future.
The real problem is, it's all a sham. It's all just a "strategy"-- an ad campaign--designed to change minds about a man and a neo-fascist policy that haven't changed and have no plans to change.
To a population raised on advertising, it seems a good number of us are sufficiently brainwashed into believing the BS propagated by unethical marketers. Bush is basically one big infomercial--promising us the world and delivering nothing.
In the real world, once you waste your money on the advertised cosmetic promising to "give you a face lift without surgery" or the exercise equipment promising to tone your whole body in 10 days -- you won't be fooled again.
Or will you?
Guess we'll have to wait until the next poll results to see.
PHOTO: BROOKS KRAFT/GAMMA FOR TIME
Read more: Bush Team Rethinks Its Plan for Recovery - Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei - Washington Post
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