The Curveball of Karl Rove

“To be successful,” Rove explains, “an attack must be perceived as both fair and relevant, backed with credible evidence, and launched at the right time.” The half-truth here is “credible evidence.” Rove means evidence that only appears credible, evidence that sprays fast enough and drips far enough to resist removal from the popular mind even when the whole truth comes out later on.

Just starting to read Ohio’s Kingmaker: Mark Hanna, Man and Myth and then the latest NYRB brings another must to read in Karl Rove’s memoir - Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.

If you are still undecided whether to spend next 600 pages with Karl Rove make sure to read NYRB’s piece, The Curveball of Karl Rove. The book will sure shed light to many things that have been in the headlines during the last decade and open up Rove’s special relationship to George W. Bush that is actually often compared with Hanna’s relationship with McKinley. And as Rove is also an admirer and student of Hanna’s career, (e.g. Billionaires for Bush. The Nation. July 21, 2003. ”It’s not for nothing that Karl Rove describes Mark Hanna as his political hero”.) the two books probably create interesting parallel if read together.