"Shut Up, Karl...."

Will Rogers had it half right.

He once said “I am not a member of an organized political party…I am a Democrat.”

He could have just as easily have added Republican and it would have rung just as true.

I mention this only because, regardless of what people inside my sphere of life think, I’m really neither Republican or Democrat, nor am I pro or anti anyone in particular at any given time simply because of their party affiliation. And although I have, traditionally, found myself on the side of Democratic, as opposed to Republican, stands more often than not, I’ve always made up my mind about politicians on a case-by-case basis.

For example, I think that Lyndon Johnson was, ultimately, a failed President.
Democrat.

I think Ronald Reagan, while a poor role model (make the rich richer), was a successful administrator.
Republican.

Bill Clinton, while a poor role model (make interns), was a successful administrator.
Democrat.

Jimmy Carter, meanwhile, while a wonderful role model, couldn’t run a successful Starbucks, let alone the country.
Democrat.

All of which is my long-winded way of saying that when I offer that George W. Bush is, in my opinion, one of the worst presidents in the history of the country, it has nothing to do with his, or my, party affiliation.

I don’t need to know what model car I’m driving to know whether or not it’s a lemon.

And with gas prices what they are, thank heaven, because I don’t get to drive nearly as much as I did eight years ago.

But this little op ed isn’t really about Dubya.

It’s about his buds.

Enter Karl Rove.

If a man is judged by the company he keeps, then George W. Bush will have a lot to answer for when his judgment day comes along.

Because Karl Rove represents (and, I might add, with great pride and zeal) everything that is wrong with the system we use to elect presidents in this country.

Vince Lombardi once said “Winning isn’t everything…it’s the only thing.”

Compared to Rove, Lombardi is a nancy boy.

And I have neither the time nor inclination to shopping list all of Rove’s tactics.
If you want to read the playbook, just Google the guy.

Suggested search words: Karl…Rove…Antichrist.

If you use that last one, you may have to weed through a lot of stuff about Ann Coulter, but just keep scrolling.

What has my knickers in a twist, this morning, about the Rovenator is his quoted comment the other day that Barrack Obama is “arrogant”.

Excuse me?

And don’t assume I’m taking Obama’s side.

The campaign is young and he may, in fact, be the most arrogant person in national politics.
But for the guy who put George W. Bush in the White House to call anybody arrogant is a kettle being called black by the pot on a scale not seen in contemporary times.

And somebody should remind Karlboy that he’s on a slippery slope this time around if he’s even suspected of calling this guy black.

Karl Rove…meet Don Imus.

Meanwhile, back to the point…

I don’t know what I honestly think about Barack Obama at this moment.
And I don’t know what I honestly think about John McCain at this moment.

I want to listen and read and learn and ponder and decide for myself.

What I do know is that I don’t want to hear Obama, or anyone else for that matter, labeled anything by a guy who was instrumental in putting an administration in place that has left the majority of “average” Americans in social and financial distress and whose “legacy” will be talked about with the same low, embarrassed tones that the Hasslehoff family probably uses when the words “drunk” and “David” accidentally find their way into the conversation.

Americans are losing their homes, struggling to put gas in their cars, let alone pay their bills and are still sending their loved ones to fight and die in a “conflict” that, like the conflict that sank Lyndon Johnson, seems to be a well intended ship of state without a rudder or any sight of land expected in the near future.

And Karl Rove and the segment of America that supports him and his efforts are fatter and richer and moving on to write their memoirs.

It honestly wouldn’t surprise me to hear Rove say, at some point, “let em eat cake…”

That’s what arrogant royalty says, you know.

And this being the land of the free, the guy is certainly entitled to his opinion.

If he thinks Barack Obama is arrogant, then, by all means, he’s free to think it.

But the rest of should be free to make up our own minds about the kettle without hearing from the pot.

So, do your country one big solid, would you, Karl?

Shut up.