I haven't read Bob Woodward's book "Plan of Attack," but in it Karl Rove describes that he was more worried about facing Howard Dean than John Kerry, at least when it came to debating the war in Iraq. John Nichols highlights this in a recent article: [LINK]
Noting that Rove believed the war in Iraq was turning into "a potential negative" for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, Woodward wrote, "Previously, Rove had claimed he was salivating at the prospect that the Democrats would nominate former Vermont Governor Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential race. But Dean had imploded and Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat, had won 12 of the first 14 Democratic primary contests and it looked like he was headed for the nomination."
What did Rove have to say about this development? "'The good news for us is that Dean is not the nominee,' Rove now argued to an associate in his second floor West Wing office. Dean's unconditional opposition to the Iraq war could have been potent in a face-off with Bush. 'One of Dean's strengths through the primary was he could say, I'm not part of that crowd down there.' But Kerry was very much a part of the Washington crowd, and he had voted in favor of the resolution for war. Rove got out his two-inch-think loose-leaf binder titled 'Bring It On.' It consisted of research into Kerry's 19-year record in the Senate. Most relevant were pages 9-20 of the section on Iraq."
Woodward explained that, "Rove believed they had Kerry pretty cold on voting to give the president a green light for war and then backing off when he didn't like the aftermath or saw a political opportunity. Whatever the case, Rove sounded as if he believed they could inoculate the president on the Iraq war in a campaign with Kerry."
"Rove," Woodward observed, "was gleeful."
Now think back to this news story from July 2003: [LINK]
Talk about lining up the competition. President Bush's chief political adviser has seen the possible presidential candidates among the Democrats and has found one he apparently thinks his man can beat: former Vermont governor Howard Dean...
As a dozen people marched toward Dana Place wearing Dean for President T-shirts and carrying Dean for America signs, Rove told a companion, " 'Heh, heh, heh. Yeah, that's the one we want,' " according to Daniel J. Weiss, an environmental consultant, who was standing nearby. " 'How come no one is cheering for Dean?' "
Then, Weiss said, Rove exhorted the marchers and the parade audience: "Come on, everybody! Go, Howard Dean!"
I know Rove is supposed to be an evil genius, but this ploy of his had all the sophistication of a schoolyard bluff. Some of us Dean followers commented at the time that this was a feint. But many were the Democrats, pundits and bloggers who took the parade incident as evidence that Rove really wanted to face Dean. Ergo, choosing Kerry or Edwards would be "safer".
Of course Rove would have tried smearing Dean in many other ways. But if the Dems had joined forces behind Dean, there would have been no occasion for the "scream" and things might have gone very differently.
By the way, Woodward's book has been available since April 2004. In all the months since the Kerry campaign never developed a good defense to the "flip-flopping about Iraq" smear.
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