NPR: Rove Dispenses Advice to Republicans

Rove Dispenses Advice to Republicans

It must be hard to be a former guru. Just ask Karl Rove. The natural inclination is to continue to dispense advice, especially when most of it (not counting the 2006 mid-term elections) has been pretty good. (That probably why he also has a new sideline as a columnist for Newsweek.)

Rove returned to the fold on Wednesday, speaking at the Republican National Committee's Annual Winter Meeting's opening session in Washington, and gave out some advice on how Republicans can beat Democrats this fall.

NPR's David Welna reports that Rove told the audience that they need to "hang in there<' that there is still a lot campaigning to come. Rove says that, unlike the Democrats, the GOP's candidates are all ready from the same script, even if they occasionally disagree with each other. He did express some concern about how that message is being disseminated.

"We have great proposals ... but our candidates have to get out there and better articulate them."

He also chided Hillary Clinton's finish in Michigan, where she was the only major candidate on the ballot. "She's running against nobody, and nobody gets 40 percent of the vote," Rove quipped.

When David pointed out to a GOP official attending the meeting that Rove didn't mention his former boss, President Bush, once in his speech, she said that was unfortunate: "He is a great president, we should be mentioning him more."

But Wisconsin GOP executive director Mark Jefferson says Bush is not being unduly ignored.

"Elections are about looking forward, not the past, said Jefferson. "He'll have a great legacy but 2008 is about what we'll do looking forward."

11:11 AM ET | 01-17-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I'm sorry, what did that criminal say? Oh, yeah - I DON'T CARE.

Sent by RG, Tampa, FL | 12:20 PM ET | 01-17-2008

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