Senor Urgarti: You despise me, don't you Rick?
Monsieur Rick: If I ever gave you a moment's thought, I suppose I would.
Casablanca, 1943
Just as the disastrous Bush administration that Karl Rove advised achieved the opposite of its intentions when it lied us into the Iraq War, "Dr. Rove's" diagnosis of Hillary Clinton's 'brain damage' has just inoculated the former senator, former secretary of State, former first lady from future scurrilous right-wing attacks.
In a stroke (no pun intended) of Rooseveltian genius, an unnamed Clinton spokesperson playfully wished to assure "Dr. Rove" that Hillary was perfectly fine. Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, picked up the theme, and mocked Dr. Rove's own cognitive ability with regard to analyzing the last election.
Is it possible that the Democrats are actually learning how to take the offense in their battles with the Right, and instead of defending themselves, attack them?
The "Dr Rove" moniker, if repeated, will ridicule Karl Rove into irrelevance. No matter what the subject, it can now be, "is Dr. Rove as certain of this as he was of his diagnosis of Hillary Clinton's brain damage?" When he attacks those who believe the 97 percent of scientists who have concluded that humans are contributing to climate change, he can then be transformed into "Dr. Rove, Ph.D., or "Dr. Rove, meteorologist", or, "Dr. Rove, climate scientist." On issues of war and peace, may we introduce you to "General Rove"?
The late night comics will not be able to resist. It lends itself to too many jokes. Once one becomes an object of mockery (e.g., Dan Quayle), your public career is over.
Moreover, all of Rove's past lies can now be subsumed under the "Dr Rove" label.
I must admit that I thought this might happen when Rove made the outrageous claim that it was the Democrats, not him or the Bush administration, who pushed the Iraq War vote prior to the 2002 elections. He said it on Charlie Rose. I wrote a piece on it, and he did not repeat his claim. But, I had no ready moniker to use to mock him. Being a bald-faced liar who helped send 4000+ Americans and over 100,000 Iraqis to their deaths is not enough to be shunned.
Hillary would have done fine anyhow. As I pointed out long ago, the right wing's hatred for President Obama led them to praise both Bill and Hillary Clinton in an attempt to diminish the president. But, the Clintons now have reels of videos and binders of articles in which the same people who will attack them were singing their praises.
Nonetheless, what little vulnerability she faced is now, thanks to the Dr. Rove, completely vitiated. No matter what they try to say about her, it will be as true as her brain damage and the messenger will as credible as Dr. Rove.
Rove's mentor, the late Lee Atwater who was George H.W. Bush's hatchet man, recanted in his last days about his tactics of misrepresentations, lies and innuendoes.
Rove never will.
But, he can now suffer a worse fate because, as the richly deserved object of ridicule, no one will care.