Associated Press
I imagine there are some fascinating behind-the-scenes conversations taking place in the political world this morning, but the chats I'd especially like to hear are the ones between the most generous Republican donors and the party officials who didn't deliver.
Precise estimates vary, but by all accounts, Republican casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, for example, invested tens of millions of dollars in the 2012 cycle, including writing several large checks to Rove's Crossroads attack operation. Rove effectively told Adelson and other hyper-wealthy donors, "Give me your money and I'll deliver the election results you want."
The checks came. The victories didn't.
With Republicans already in control of the House, Crossroads, Restore Our Future, and related groups seemed to think it was simply a matter of finances -- if they could raise the necessary resources, they could "carpetbomb" Democratic candidates, win the Senate, and take the White House. Democrats wouldn't know what hit them.
It wasn't a bad theory; it just failed miserably. President Obama appears to have ended up with 332 electoral votes, and the Democratic majority in the Senate got bigger, not smaller. When Rove's phone rings today, and angry billionaires want to know what kind of return on investment they received, I honestly have no idea what he can say to justify such widespread failures.
Over the summer, Rachel talked to Harvey Weinstein, and asked about Democrats getting swamped by millions from the far-right. The co-founder of Miramax Films and the co-chairman of the Weinstein Company replied:
"I'll give you an example of two movies that I distribute. I spent the exact same amount on both movies. One movie was called 'The King's Speech.' It grossed $140 million, won a few Oscars, including best picture and did sensational based on its budget.
"The other was called 'Our Idiot Brother.' We spent the same amount of money and the movie grossed $25 million. Not bad for what we paid for it -- you know, OK, a little bit of profit.
"To me, Romney is 'Our Idiot Brother' and Obama is 'The King's Speech.' You can spend all the money in the world, if you've got a bad product, it doesn't matter."
Four months later, Weinstein's quote looks even more sensible than it seemed at the time.
Rove and Adelson can buy a lot of airtime, but they can't buy an electorate that thinks like they do.
Postscript: Incidentally, maybe now would be a good time for the political establishment to reassess Rove's purported genius. He very nearly blew the 2000 race; he oversaw his party's 2006 debacle; and he was still insisting Romney had a shot fairly late last night. Maybe "The Architect" isn't the brilliant tactician he's been made out to be?
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The snake oil salesman drank too much of his own potion. It' a bitch when reality trumps spin. Rove, please feel free to leave and take Norquist with you.
They want their money back, Karl, you little pissant.
If Rove answering to his contributors is half as satisfying as the sight of him loudly arguing on the air with FoxNews because they had called Ohio, it will really be something.
His meltdown and humiliation on his own network was the most Schadenfreudelicious thing I've ever seen.
Karl's been asking for this ass-whuppin' now for 42 years. The longer it took, the better it feels to give it.
With any luck, Sheldon Addledson will now become the indicted criminal and later convicted felon he was born to be. And just like that other old Jewish gangster, Meyer Lansky, I don't think the Jews in Israel will let him get shelter there from the whuppin' that's comin' no matter how many newspapers he founded and apartment houses he built on stolen land.
People such as Adelson and the Koch brothers don't take failure lightly.
Could this be the final farewell to turd blossom?
with Paul Ryan winning his congressional seat what are the chances he will be the new Speaker of the House. Does that scare you as much as me?
Maybe we will get luck and Rove will leave the country :)
Hey Fredo, Godfather wants a meeting.
lost an old friend this morning, she called me, said she was afraid for the elderly...really? said the country is really in trouble, that obama has run our debt up to 16 trillion, like he spent that money? i said no, obama's portion was less than one fourth of that, that bush, and the interest on it....then she started talking about "him" being born in Kenya, that was it, i told her she was crazy, should take a pill, and never call me again...was I too harsh?
Surprising it took that long, and you sound like you even used polite language.
No. I've found that there is no reasoning with people that live in their own conservative bubble. I got a scathing e-mail from my brother this morning telling me "So how does it feel to be hated, as in Obama hate....like the 50% that voted against you and your classless, godless society. Nice job!" I've tried rational arguments over the years but his detailed comebacks just come down to "welfare moms drive pink Cadillacs filled with gov't cheese wheels." He told me this morning our conservative father would be rolling over in his grave to which I reminded him that Dad's still in the urn in the garage. I haven't heard back from him yet..
NO you were not to harsh. You might follow up your conversation with a note telling her to stop listening to FOX news and Rush@#$%. She is brainwashed poor thing. I would tell any friend the same thing.
I would reassure her that Obama will protect SS and Medicare and not to worry about it any more.
the one good thing from this ridiculous election is that it got some money out of the useless bank accounts of these billionaires and into the economy. I wonder, will Rover decide to blame the billionaires too, saying that they didn't give enough or that hmmmm, they weren't "really" behind Romney? Conspiracy theories from losers are always fun.
Yeah, just think off all the shiny new News Trucks and Doppler Radars those swing-state local stations can buy with Adelson's millions.
American Crossroads Lipstick company.
Painting pigs since 1999. Ask for it by name!
It seems that Sheldon Adelson and Karl Rove's Crossroads were able
to fool to some of the People, but NOT all of the People. Although
Rove's theory of "carpet bombing" the Democratic candidates seems
feasible, it had one problem. The Democrats were NOT about to give up
without a fight. If the Democrats had done nothing, Rove's theory would
have worked. As to the very flawed Romney, it was the Conservative
policies that destroyed any chance of Romney winning. Romney's flaws
only served to exacerbate the conservative policies that have never
worked since these Republican policies were implemented under Reagan and
further enhanced under Bush junior. America has finally wised up to
these bad policies of the Republican Party. No amount of money can
changed the perception of just how bad these Republican policies have
been to America, the Middle Class, and the working poor.
See Karl
See Karl spend Koch Bro's Money
Spend Karl Spend
See Karl lose election for Romney
Lose Karl Lose
See Karl Run for his life from Angry Koch Bro's
Run Karl RUN!
NICE! LMAO!!
"This organization will not tolerate failure, Mr. Rove."
Wrong: Romney Only lost because he was not enough Of a
"Backwoods Bad Ass, who wants a Marriage like the bible says so....” I
mean a Marriage like King David, Like Solomon, with 700 wives and 300
concubines…..We the Backwoods Bad Asses of Amerika, will never compromise OUR
Principles…
Upside -- the Weinstein comment is both accurate, and compelling.
Downside -- to the extent that it -is- accurate and compelling, there won't be much support from conservatives (possibly some moderates and liberals) to revise campaign financing any time soon.
Rove has his genius reputation for two reasons
1: He loves using dirty tricks to sway elections. Republicans love using dirty tricks to win elections. Ergo, Republicans love Rove. QED
2: Rove "very nearly" lost the 2000 election, but he also, in the eyes of the GOP, saved it. Snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. No surrender. Everything the GOP was able to build out of 2000 was because of Turd Blossom's tenacity and mendacity. He'll always have a seat at the table.
For "explaining," read "cashing an epic paycheck & laughing all the way to the bank."
The Right is increasingly less a political movement & more a marketing platform.
In terms of gross net profit, Obama's re-election is a dream come true for Rove, Norquist, Morris et al ... they make more money & get more audience share pandering to the paranoia of "Low Information Voters" with Obama as POTUS than they would with Romney. It's becoming obvious which way that conflict of interest is panning out, & that's very bad news indeed for the GOP. Best of all, there's an excellent chance that the Right's narrative for 2012 will be that the Romney/Ryan ticket wasn't extremist enough, leading to a slate of candidates in 2014 that make Allen West & Michele Bachmann look like Bernie Sanders ... & the terrified rubes will stay in their BS Bubble, immune from any inkling of reality, guaranteeing Rove & his ilk a safe source of income.
Last night, while Karl Rove was on Fox News trying to stop their call of Ohio for Obama, he said that he just got off the phone with someone with Romney's campaign.
I thought that PAC groups (such as Rove's) were prohibited by law from coordinating with the campaigns.
GOOD POINT.
Big Money, against Truth-Policy-informed Electorate
God Bless the Little Man and what a Woman.
I think the fact that the republicans are associated with Rove speaks volumes. Rove should have been indicted and tried in the Valerie Plame case. Rove is a crook and a dirty trickster, and for the republicans to be intimately associated with him does speak well for the republicans.
This win shows the republicans that there are many more Americans who don't have bank accounts with endless zeros. We live paycheck to paycheck if we have them.We care about our neighbors . I keep hearing whites voted for Romney that may be the case in 23 of the states but not all. We just told the republican machine " The Presidency is not for sale". Love President Obama!!!!
Love that headline.
Rove can also suck on that long awaited "bag of dicks". That little piggy can go "Weeeeeee" all the way to Hell! Oh yes, and Ann Romney and her sociopathic, elitist, idiot husband can suck on some of those too!
Yea!!!!
As tempting as it is to view the results of this election as a rejection of the influence of big anonymous money, I believe it is very dangerous to do so. The question should not be whether big money changed the results, but rather how much it changed the results, and more importantly whether we want to allow it to do so. Rove & Co. will most certainly be doing that analysis, and will be around for the next election to sway it as far as they can.
The next time the Right might have a slightly better candidate (wouldn't be hard) and the bump a few billion gives may be enough to make a difference.
We should not dismiss Citizens United as ineffective; we should kill it now while the annoyance factor of endless commercials is fresh in our minds. Put Karl out of business! I would really like to see TRMS take this up, and maybe get some momentum up to fix this thing before it really bites us.
Oh, and Rachel; thanks a ton.
Rove will just claim that it was all cover to reelect the House of Represenatives.