Book: Rove stayed close to gay stepdad
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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/090706dntexrove.7385659c.html
Book: Rove stayed close to gay stepdad
06:58 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 6, 2006
From Staff Reports
White House political strategist Karl Rove maintained close family ties with his gay stepfather even as he used homosexuality as a political issue to elect Republicans, according to a new book.
Mr. Rove, President Bush's chief political consultant and the architect of his re-election, made opposition to gay marriage part of a strategy to motivate religious conservative voters.
That paid dividends for the GOP in states like Ohio, which had a gay marriage ban on the 2004 ballot. Some Democrats have criticized Republicans for seeking to exploit opposition to gays for political purposes. Republicans said court rulings mandating recognition of gay unions pushed the issue to the forefront.
The book was published this week by Crown Books/Random House. In The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power , Mr. Rove maintained a strong relationship with his stepfather, Louis Rove, even after his parents were divorced.
The elder Rove, a geologist, left the family in 1969 in Utah when Mr. Rove was 19 years old. He moved to California, where he eventually retired.
The authors, Wayne Slater and James Moore, quote friends of the elder Rove as saying Karl was a loving and attentive son who periodically visited his stepfather in Palm Springs.
On these visits, he often shared dinner with Louis and his friends, who included other retired gay men in the community, according to the book.
Mr. Rove's stepfather suffered from respiratory ailments and died in July 2004. The younger Rove declined to comment recently other than to say there was a memorial service in California honoring his father.
The Architect was published this week by Crown Books/Random House. Mr. Slater is senior political writer for The Dallas Morning News and co-author of a previous book about Mr. Rove, Bush's Brain .
The new book examines efforts by Mr. Rove, a one-time Texas political operative who guided Mr. Bush's political rise, to build a lasting GOP majority.
It also reports that Mr. Rove in 2002 met with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff on a street corner near the White House to discuss having then Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas "clamp down" on a House member who "was not cooperating with a piece of legislation."
Mr. Abramoff told a colleague such a meeting was not reported on White House logs. The White House has sought to distance itself from Mr. Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
Mr. Rove said that while he recalls an accidental meeting with Mr. Abramoff on the street, it was not a formal meeting and that he hardly knew the lobbyist.
Also in the book:
• When Mr. Rove moved into his West Wing office, formally occupied by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, he called for a priest and two other Catholic leaders to bless the office in what one participant called "an actual liturgical ceremony."; Mr. Rove joked that the office needed to be purged of evil spirits.
• President Bush, whose political base includes the support of religious conservatives, once called Christian conservatives living in GOP-rich Texas' Williamson County "wackos."
• On the eve of his election as governor Texas, Mr. Bush told his campaign media consultant, Don Sipple, he had sought to avoid his father's political problems. "Don't underestimate what you can learn from a failed presidency," Mr. Bush said.
• Shortly after being elected president, Mr. Bush met with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who complained vigorously about Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The new president asked, "Are you going to kill him?"
Before Mr. Sharon could answer, Mr. Bush instructed the Israeli leader that he was not condoning assassination. "If he needs killing, I'll do it," the president said.
Book: Rove stayed close to gay stepdad
06:58 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 6, 2006
From Staff Reports
White House political strategist Karl Rove maintained close family ties with his gay stepfather even as he used homosexuality as a political issue to elect Republicans, according to a new book.
Mr. Rove, President Bush's chief political consultant and the architect of his re-election, made opposition to gay marriage part of a strategy to motivate religious conservative voters.
That paid dividends for the GOP in states like Ohio, which had a gay marriage ban on the 2004 ballot. Some Democrats have criticized Republicans for seeking to exploit opposition to gays for political purposes. Republicans said court rulings mandating recognition of gay unions pushed the issue to the forefront.
The book was published this week by Crown Books/Random House. In The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power , Mr. Rove maintained a strong relationship with his stepfather, Louis Rove, even after his parents were divorced.
The elder Rove, a geologist, left the family in 1969 in Utah when Mr. Rove was 19 years old. He moved to California, where he eventually retired.
The authors, Wayne Slater and James Moore, quote friends of the elder Rove as saying Karl was a loving and attentive son who periodically visited his stepfather in Palm Springs.
On these visits, he often shared dinner with Louis and his friends, who included other retired gay men in the community, according to the book.
Mr. Rove's stepfather suffered from respiratory ailments and died in July 2004. The younger Rove declined to comment recently other than to say there was a memorial service in California honoring his father.
The Architect was published this week by Crown Books/Random House. Mr. Slater is senior political writer for The Dallas Morning News and co-author of a previous book about Mr. Rove, Bush's Brain .
The new book examines efforts by Mr. Rove, a one-time Texas political operative who guided Mr. Bush's political rise, to build a lasting GOP majority.
It also reports that Mr. Rove in 2002 met with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff on a street corner near the White House to discuss having then Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas "clamp down" on a House member who "was not cooperating with a piece of legislation."
Mr. Abramoff told a colleague such a meeting was not reported on White House logs. The White House has sought to distance itself from Mr. Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
Mr. Rove said that while he recalls an accidental meeting with Mr. Abramoff on the street, it was not a formal meeting and that he hardly knew the lobbyist.
Also in the book:
• When Mr. Rove moved into his West Wing office, formally occupied by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, he called for a priest and two other Catholic leaders to bless the office in what one participant called "an actual liturgical ceremony."; Mr. Rove joked that the office needed to be purged of evil spirits.
• President Bush, whose political base includes the support of religious conservatives, once called Christian conservatives living in GOP-rich Texas' Williamson County "wackos."
• On the eve of his election as governor Texas, Mr. Bush told his campaign media consultant, Don Sipple, he had sought to avoid his father's political problems. "Don't underestimate what you can learn from a failed presidency," Mr. Bush said.
• Shortly after being elected president, Mr. Bush met with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, who complained vigorously about Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The new president asked, "Are you going to kill him?"
Before Mr. Sharon could answer, Mr. Bush instructed the Israeli leader that he was not condoning assassination. "If he needs killing, I'll do it," the president said.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
I frequently post articles and sometimes don't have a chance to comment or just put a quick blip at the top of the article to state my opinion. Then when I have more time later I'll add to the discussion that is already taking place.
But I will add to this post. Maybe people will see how they've been used by Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and company. Dick Cheney has a gay daughter, Karl Rove has a gay stepdad, they are both close to them, and yet they don't want them to have the same rights as other people? Of course that's bullshit. They don't care about gay marriage. They just care about playing to the fears of homophobic voters everywhere to conjure up votes for their party. Shame on them.
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
I really find this hard to believe, even though it's probably true. And if it is true, it should be getting much more media attention.
Thanks for posting the article, Open.
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
exactly... Cheney and Rove are looked up to by a large amount of people that have a problem with homosexuality. They could do more to help with the acceptance of homosexuality by making a few public comments about it than 1,000 gay parades or gay activists will ever do. But instead, they use the issue to drive fear into their political base to get votes.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Didn't seem like a waste when you were lambasting someone else. I've said before, as you have, I'd rather read your opinion here than a journalists, I can't respond to the journalist here, I can respond to you.
And it's really no effort at all. As you demonstrated as well!
Wow i have an admirer....all this effort for my opinion....i will give it you, you've earned it....but first i'd like to see the context of my quote. If it's not too much of an effort.
...
Close enough to where their genetailia made contact?
Hail, Hail!!!
One of the most intelligent posts I've seen in a while.
god damn that has become a buzzword these days. you can think that same sex intercourse or marriage is unnatural/invalid without being "afraid" of it. glad to see no one comes with their own thougths and just keeps recycling the same bullshit.
You dont think that the evangelicals and neocons that rove was targeting have a fear of homosexuality?
but to be fair... you could just say Rove was following the doctrine of "hate the sin, not the sinner".
No shit! Think whatever you like but stay the fuck out of my business. I'm not in anyone's bedroom telling them how unnatural their orgasm faces look. And for that matter, think about blow jobs...how unnatuaral is that? There's teeth inside a mouth for christ's sake! I don't hear a big debate on that one.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
-Oscar Wilde
I'm willing to leave that aside though. Like you, I say think whatever you want and act accordingly and leave everyone else alone.
CA just tried to pass a law something like mandating inclusion of Father/Father and Mother/Mother references in text books (Govinator vetoed it). If the gay lobby would leave my kids alone I'd give them some slack.
I understand it's tenuous, they're trying to shape opinions at a young age to defeat the hate. I'm all for sensitvity training as needed and sharing of lifestyles and what not. But legislation? Leave me and my kids alone, Uncle Bill and Uncle Amos can explain it all well enough!
I'm sure Father/Mother references are pervasive and frequent in text books. So if there is an occasional same sex family referenced I can't see a problem with that. If the parents have done their jobs correctly, the reference will go largely unnoticed by the kids.
Ok, maybe "fear" might not be the best word, does "concern" work for you? Rove & Co. have pushed consitantly pushed the anti-gay marriage issue out there to motivate the conservative base. If there wasn't a fear or concern that suddenly gay marriage would ruin the world, why have so many on the far right been motivated by it?
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
100 percent correct. unless you have my neighbors and their sex life is forced to be your buisness.
yeah unnautural is not a good word unless you believe it is a choice, which in most cases it is not. evolutionary dead end, sure.
people vote in the election they have before them, if they think marriage is a union between a man and a woman and want it to stay that way, they'll vote. I don't think its fear of "gay marriage ruining the world" as much as marriage not being the holy union they think it is. but that could be all worng cause i really couldn't care less about someone's sex life, sick of "fear" being used to describe every action people hear don't like.
that was my thought. Just b/c you feel that there shouldn't be gay marriage doesn't mean you will shun or not talk to gay people or family members; you simply have an opinion that they shouldn't be allowed to get married.
But i'll say the he may just be using gay marriage to "win" at politics.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley
Is there a government mandate that forces you to watch gay pride parades?
But my point is that I see over and over people writing that what goes on behind closed doors is nobody's business, except of course for the public parades of that behind the door activity.
when it hits you, you feel to pain.
So brutalize me with music.”
~ Bob Marley