It appears that Karl Rove is always a man to watch (but perhaps not so much to read, as his op-ed pieces in the WSJ tend to be un-insightful and one reads them primarily because of their author rather than to gain any real perspective, but I digress). Mr. Rove (who George W. referred to as “Turd Blossom”) clearly continues to be the country’s greatest political strategist and is the perfect model of a modern major Machiavellian (pardons to Gilbert & Sullivan). Much has been written about him and Ed Gillespie’s recent work thru the new political organizations American Crossroads & the American Action Network (National Journal & Rolling Stone.) The CEO of American Crossroads is former Chamber of Commerce executive Steven Law. American Crossroads was developed as a (essentially) shadow organization of the RNC, weakened by the leadership of Michael Steele (whom you might have run into if you have visited any Hollywood lesbian bondage clubs recently), it has received over $30 million in secured commitments from big money Republican donors that have been shunning Steels’ RNC. Rove is moving quickly to take full advantage of the recent “Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission” case in the Supreme Court that will allow corporations and non-profits to actively & directly participate in the election process. American Crossroads will apparently unite with fellow dark star The Chamber of Commerce by funneling money into the Chamber to be spent on key House and Senate races. Rove & Gillespie, “advisors” to American Crossroads, will be, according to operative Mary Matalin “making sure that everybody is expending themselves properly, as opposed to duplicating efforts or working at cross-purposes. That’s something that the committees and the campaigns really don’t do – legally cannot do.”
I have never been one for conspiracies, they always seen to me to be complex explanations of simple events, but the use of the word “agenda” in Justice Stevens’s dissenting opinion in the “Citizens United” case has haunted me. Does Chief Justice Roberts have an agenda to inexorably seal the landscape of American politics? There seems to be little doubt that Mr. Rove clearly sees that he is now able to set up an independent financial powerhouse fueled by corporate money and channel it directly into the election process, what heroin addicts’ call “mainlining.” He is no longer bound by those pesky 527 groups that, while useful, were not allowed to directly support a specific candidate. In setting up American Crossroads Rove and Gillespie (operating in “unofficial” capacities) simply side-step the RNC completely and move directly to support candidates that work for their wealthy corporate donors. I fear that even now as major corporations control so much of the public policy in our nation, the” Citizens United” case essentially seals our fate and becomes the final nail in America’s coffin. The amount of cash amassed at the boarder will crush any attempt to overcome this dreaded combination of power, influence and money. I am afraid this is not Star Wars where the small band of rebels can destroy the Death Star! To quote Republican strategist Ed Rollin’s: “Independent expenditures will play a very, very significant role. There are no rules anymore.”
Two big questions remain:
• Was this the type of legislation Chief Justice John Roberts was expected to accomplish when he was nominated to the court? Remember Justice Roberts, the architect of the “Citizen’s United” case, vowed to Senator John McCain to respect judicial precedence at his confirmation hearings and “Citizen’s United” is clearly not a case of respecting judicial precedence.
• And finally, where is the American public in all this? Where are all those ANGRY folks in the Tea Party movement who “want their country back?”
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