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Who is the last person on the planet that Barack Obama should take advice from? Naturally, the person that Bob Schieffer asks on Face the Nation, Turd Blossom himself, Karl Rove. Seriously, this guy is an advisor for the McCain campaign, he's the architect of one of the nastiest and most partisan campaigns in the history of the country and for some reason, Schieffer thinks it's legitimate to ask him his thoughts on Obama's VP pick. Why?
Rove tries to spin this that if Obama selects a governor like Kaine from a red state, it's a political choice, rather than a presidential one, because all Obama is focused on is the electoral votes. Okay. Because Cheney was a real presidential choice...oh wait, Bush didn't make the choice. Cheney chose himself. That's thinking big and broad.
What cracks me up the most is Karl Rove's attempt to diminish Kaine as a VP candidate:
I didn't say I thought he ought to, I said he probably would pick a Red State Democrat, because I think he's going to make an intensely political choice, not a governing choice. He's going to view this through a prism of a candidate, not through the prism of President. That is to say, he's going to pick somebody that he thinks on the margin will help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He's not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities as President. Well, with all due respect again to Gov. Kaine, he's been a governor for three years. He's been able but undistinguished; I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done.
And this differs from GWB's tenure as Governor of Texas how? Oh that's right, the Governor of Virginia actually works more than the constitutionally weak Governor of Texas. And how did GWB distinguish himself, other than putting more people to death than all the rest of the states combined? By failing at every other business he started.
Talk about appealing to the low information voter.
Transcripts below the fold
SCHIEFFER: You have said in the past that Obama should probably pick a Red State Governor, someone like Tim Kaine that we just heard just a minute ago, from Virginia. Gov. Kaine seems to think Democrats really can carry Virginia this time, but you think that state's going to be in play?
ROVE: I think it's going to be in play, but let me clarify. I didn't say I thought he ought to, I said he probably would pick a Red State Democrat, because I think he's going to make an intensely political choice, not a governing choice. He's going to view this through a prism of a candidate, not through the prism of President. That is to say, he's going to pick somebody that he thinks on the margin will help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He's not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities as President. Well, with all due respect again to Gov. Kaine, he's been a governor for three years. He's been able but undistinguished; I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. Again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California, Aurora, Colorado, Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona, North Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town. So if you were going to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, you know what, I'm really not first and foremost concerned with is this person capable of being President of the United States, what I'm concerned about is can he bring me the electoral votes of the state of Virginia, the thirteen electoral votes of Virginia.