Rove is often described as a genius, but the record emphatically demonstrates just the opposite. He destroyed everything in sight, including the political party for whose would-be fortunes he willingly sacrificed all else, not least the things that matter most - peace, truth, democracy, integrity, decency, lives.
No, this was no genius, except in the most nefarious sense. The real genius was of the American Founders, who - with just this scenario in mind - built a political infrastructure that could hope to prevent Karl Roves from happening.
As it was, nearly every intended bulwark in that system, nearly every check and balance both inside and outside the government, failed to perform its intended function these last years, and Karl Rove - the smallest amongst us - ran wild for the better part of a decade, cutting a swath of enormous destruction in his path.
Green assesses Rove and the administration he drove as "an abject failure, a flaming disaster". Green tallies their accomplishments thus:
Turning a record surplus into a record deficit. Failing to defend the country against the 9/11 attacks. Failing to crush or apprehend the alleged perpetrators of that attack. Failing to win a war in Afghanistan. Launching a completely needless war in Iraq. Failing to win the war in Iraq. Destroying the American military. Failing to rescue an entire American city from destruction. The first president since Hoover to lose jobs on his watch. Wages stagnant. Gas prices doubled. Exacerbating global warming, the worst environmental crisis in human history, and undermining attempts by others to deal with it. Undercutting environmental standards on clean air and water. Leaving the Middle East in shambles. Shredding relations with historical allies. Producing the greatest trade deficit in history. Offering tax credits to corporations assisting them in exporting American jobs. Destroying legal and constitutional doctrines dating back as far as seven centuries. Allowing the assault rifle ban to lapse. Standing by while North Korea went nuclear. Tearing up treaties that have kept the peace for half a century. Undermining international institutions. And more, and more, and more. This is an astonishing, jaw-dropping record of disaster.
Finally, in addition to fucking up our country, RoveCo's crash-and-burn exploits may have done enduring damage to the only thing he ever really cared about - Republican Party dominance. If there is any semblance of reason, justice, or sanity in the political universe (and PAF is not entirely sure that any such semblance exists), Rove's party will face the supremely ironic worst-case scenario Green imagines for them: "It is by no means unimaginable that the GOP could now enter into a tailspin of mortal collapse over the coming years, ultimately joining the Federalists and the Whigs on the ash heap of American political party history."
