10-31-06, 8:54 am

The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power James Moore and Wayne Slater New York: Crown Publishers, 2006

Journalists James Moore and Wayne Slater received wide acclaim for their first book exposé of Karl Rove's role in the Bush campaign in 2000 and in the first term of the administration, Bush’s Brain. When the book was adapted into a documentary film in 2004, Moore and Slater’s fans made it into a minor hit. But as the authors of The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power say in the introduction to their newest collaboration, that early work only scratched the surface of who Karl Rove is, what his motives are, and how is mind works. Some details in The Architect proved to be such a bombshells, the authors told the New York Daily News in September, that Rove lobbied to have portions of it removed before publication.

While Moore and Slater concede that Bush isn’t the complete imbecile he appears to be, he isn’t an intellectual stud either. Rove is indeed Bush’s brain, and his legacy will be Rove's legacy. Rove put Bush into the White House and used and abused the political system, the media, rumors and lies, divisiveness, bullying, corporate cash, illegal maneuvers, and hypocrisy to keep him there. 'In a sense,' write Moore and Slater, '[Rove] created George W. Bush; gave him policies, politics, and strategies; and twice got him elected as governor and then twice to the presidency.'

The Architect uses insider interviews – from loyal Republicans to critical leftists – to narrate how Rove accomplished this prodigious task. Various chapters cover stories such as Rove’s orchestration of Ohio election machinations in 2004, including vote suppression, illegal pressure on members of Congress to support controversial bills, a smear campaign cooked up against Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame to cover up the truth about Bush’s rationale for invading Iraq, ties to the Abramoff and corporate corruption scandals, the promotion of wedge issues, and a Machiavellian distortion of reality in order to confuse and delude voters. The evidence shows, Moore and Slater argue, that '[d]emocracy to Karl Rove, is like a very large board game. The winner is whoever gets the most money and controls the message and dominates the game in perpetuity.'

While this book makes for chilling, if fascinating, reading, one particular example highlights the tortured depths of the mentality and chicanery of the message and method of the GOP under Rove's watch. Moore and Slater describe the issue of sexuality and marriage equality as the prime issue that fueled Bush's election victory in 2004. The Republican machine, through various hard right religious groups with benign-sounding names like the Traditional Values Coalition, managed to put anti-marriage equality (outlawing same-sex unions) referenda on 11 state ballots. Moore and Slater argue that despite appearances, these campaigns were orchestrated by Rove down to the minutest detail and financed heavily by the Republican National Committee. Appealing primarily to Christian fundamentalist conservatives, a group Rove saw as the largest section of the Republican’s base, a number of campaigns were launched to identify Democratic candidates with a frightening 'homosexual lobby' whose agenda would undermine moral values. Flyers depicting shirtless gay men embracing and talking about John Kerry’s goal to let immoral behavior destroy America appeared on the windshields of cars in church parking lots. Automatic telephone messages placed to thousands of numbers claiming to be from the Kerry campaign said a Kerry administration would make gay rights a top priority. Church groups and members were shaken down for millions of dollars to stop the homosexual agenda. The use of antigay sentiments to smear opponents or to get out core religious conservative voters wasn't new. Rove had adopted the tactic in Bush's gubernatorial campaign against Ann Richards a decade earlier. No other issue, Moore and Slater say, was as instrumental in deceiving voters, making sure they came out to support Republican candidates and, most importantly, helping Bush win a slim reelection in 2004.

Moore and Slater also point out the tragic hypocrisy of this campaign. Many Republican leaders and activists who have joined in this anti-gay campaign are either gay or have gay family members. Rove’s stepfather, whom he has professed to have deeply loved, was gay. Louis Rove passed away in 2004 just as Karl launched a massive antigay campaign to help his boss win reelection. Given his history, however, Rove’s expressions of love were probably politically calculated. It is unlikely that Rove personally shares the values of the voters he manipulates with his machine, having told one publication that he isn’t a believer.

Moore and Slater cite a number of prominent Republicans who were outspoken on antigay issues, but when their own private lives were exposed they were forced into early retirement. Indeed, there may be some truth to the old saw that those who protest loudest may be deepest in the closet. The authors even discuss at length several controversial campaigns by gay writers to 'out' gay Republicans who hypocritically supported Rove’s antigay campaign. (Moore and Slater fail to adequately talk about the deep concern in the gay community about forced outings of any gay person. Many view such campaigns as a violent acts that, rather than helping the cause of equality, mirror and may legitimize right-wing gay-baiting.)

In the end, Rove’s own supporters are mixed on the extent of his role in this vicious, mud-slinging style of politics, write Moore and Slater. Some deny that he could be held responsible for everything; others say that he so carefully managed the Republican campaign strategies from top to bottom that it is unlikely he wouldn’t have been behind every dirty trick, sleazy smear, or mean manipulation. From racist rumors about Sen. John McCain and his adopted biracial daughter in the 2000 Republican presidential primary in South Carolina to outing CIA agents, Rove is about winning at all cost, even to the point of destroying democracy. And even Republican voters have to question whether Rove’s America is the kind they want to live in.

In 2000, Rove forecasted an historical shift in electoral politics where the Republican Party and its right-wing ideology would elbow its way into domination of US politics and society – absolute power as the book’s subtitle suggests. Will the 2006 mid-term elections signal the end of Rove's prediction? There are only 7 days to snap him back to reality.

--Reach Joel Wendland at