Wednesday, September 15, 2010

GOP establishment takes a drubbing; Karl Rove drubs himself

It was an amazing bit of television. Almost instantly followed by an amazing bit of scoop.

Mere minutes after Fox News had reported the victory of conservative activist Christine O'Donnell over Establishment Congressman Mike Castle in the Delaware GOP U.S. Senate primary, former Bush Deputy Chief of Staff and Fox News consultant Karl Rove was in place on Sean Hannity's TV show to analyze.

Or…well…something.

The normally rational and analytical Mr. Rove had vanished. In his place was someone who looked like Karl Rove, sounded like Karl Rove…but spoke like the last guy out of the hoped-for-victory-party of the landslide losing candidate for Register of Deeds in NoPlaceville, Texas.

What on earth was Rove thinking? He was bitter, angry, cutting, demeaning, mean-spirited…and those were the nice things he had to say about O'Donnell. It's as if the scene were 2000 and an aide to the just-beaten-by-George W. Bush Senator John McCain took to the Hannity show and said:

"Well, Bush has had a drinking problem, has p….ed off any number of friends, reporters and others with his drunk-as-a-sot rich boy behavior, and that doesn't count that everybody knows he's dumb as a post. Which is why they gave him that baseball team as a favor to his father, and he dodged time in Vietnam because his father had the whole thing fixed. So this victory will be a problem for Republicans. Not, Sean, that we're bitter over this loss."

I have no idea what Karl Rove was thinking when he sat down in front of the Fox cameras to speak with Hannity. But I know this.

All by himself Karl Rove has just given Christine O'Donnell a huge leg up on this election. In seconds he has made her look like what Americans absolutely love -- the underdog who has been unmercifully unfairly treated by the powerful and well-to-do. AKA: What we call here at The American Spectator the Ruling Class. Or, if you prefer, The Establishment.

And now, Carl Cameron of Fox News is reporting the National Republican Senatorial Committee will not be helping the official nominee of the Delaware Republican Party for the United States Senate in her Senate campaign.

So, in other words, having helped the losing incumbent Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, the losing incumbent Robert Bennett in Utah, swallowed hard at the victories of Sharron Angle in Nevada and Rand Paul in Kentucky, the NRSC will not be helping O'Donnell because she beat the pants off a liberal Establishment Republican Congressman?

If this is true, there is but one question:

Is the Republican Establishment suicidal?

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