Lesson from the Rove years

There are too many good pieces in David Frum's op-ed on the Rove legacy to choose just one.

Instead of seeking solutions to national problems, “compassionate conservatism” started with slogans and went searching for problems to justify them. To what problem, exactly, was the faith-based initiative a solution?

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Polarization, however, is Karl Rove’s specialty. He united his own base on one side — and united his opponents on the other. Al Gore and John Kerry each won 48 percent, the best back-to-back performance by a losing party since the 19th century. Play-to-the-base politics can be a smart strategy — so long as your base is larger than your opponents’.

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We were so mesmerized by the specious analogies between 1996 and 1896 that we forgot that analogies are literary devices, not evidence.

Clinton '08 as Bush '00

The Politico's Elizabeth Wilner argues that the Clinton 2008 campaign in many ways emulates the Bush 2000 campaign. New York Magazine's 'Hillary Control' made a similar case earlier this week, though in less certain language.

Yet Hillary does not have the mega-hold on key endorsements that Bush had in 2000 -- like those of 29 of 30 Republican governors that kept his head above water after defeats in the early contests.