Gone but not forgotten: Karl Rove's legacy of using the powers of government for political gain is presumably alive and well. (AP)

By Dan Froomkin
froomkin@niemanwatchdog.org

There are lots of ways that President Bush and his loyalists can entrench their people and policies in such a way that a Democratic president won’t find it so easy to reverse course. I’ve examined some of those in the first four parts of this series.

In part one, I focused on Iraq, Iran and the military; in part two, I examined ways Bushies could burrow into the federal agencies; in part three, I looked at the possible effect of pardons and judicial appointments; in part four, I suggested a closer look at what Vice President Cheney is up to.  

But let’s not forget the obvious: The best shot Bush loyalists have at averting a rollback is getting John McCain – and as many congressional Republicans as possible -- elected in November. Despite some divergence on issues like global warming and Guantanamo, McCain is in lockstep with Bush on most major issues including Iraq, tax cuts and health care. Furthermore, he’s much less likely to air Bush’s dirty laundry.

Q. How far are Bush aides going to using their executive branch powers to help Republicans in November?

We can reasonably expect the Karl Rove-trained political appointees throughout government to be coordinating and staging official announcements, high-visibility trips and declarations of federal grants in a way that helps McCain and the GOP as much or more than legally possible.

For a refresher on how Rove did this in 2004, study How Rove Directed Federal Assets for GOP Gain, Washington Post, Aug. 19,  2007:

The staging of official announcements, high-visibility trips and declarations of federal grants had to be carefully coordinated with the White House political affairs office to ensure the maximum promotion of Bush's reelection agenda and the Republicans in Congress who supported him, according to documents and some of those involved in the effort….

To lead the charge, Rove had his "asset deployment team." It comprised the chief White House liaison official at each Cabinet agency. The team members met -- sometimes as often as once a month -- to coordinate the travel of Cabinet secretaries and senior agency officials, the announcement of grant money, and personnel and policy decisions. Occasionally, the attendees got updates on election strategies.…

[A]dministration officials said .. the essence of Rove's approach [consisted of]  making sure that political appointees at every level of government pushed a uniform agenda in key media markets and on behalf of White House-backed candidates. That meant resisting the natural tendencies of the federal bureaucracy to cater just to congressional purse-string holders, officials said.…

The White House briefings also frequently identified key media markets where Republicans most wanted their message out. A Post review of trips announced by several Bush Cabinet members during the 2004 election showed that their travel fell neatly into the markets listed on a slide included in briefings that year.

Another way to help Republicans win in November would be to make it harder to vote. Establishing barriers to voting, such as the Indiana Voter ID law recently upheld by the Supreme Court, disproportionately affects Democratic voting blocs, such as minorities and the elderly. Rampant voter fraud, the ostensible motivation of those who favor restrictive voting rules, has repeatedly been proven to be a myth.

Q. In the run-up to the election, what kinds of cases are being pursued by the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division? Is the section trying to make it easier or harder for people to vote? Is it pursuing voting rights cases or voter fraud cases? Is the White House pushing states to tighten their voter identification policies or purge their voter rolls?

Dan Froomkin is the deputy editor of the Nieman Watchdog Project. He is also Washington Bureau Chief for the Huffington Post. E-mail: froomkin@niemanwatchdog.org

Comments

Submit a comment - Jump to bottom of list

civilian Posted by Jim Kough 06/13/2008, 01:44 PM You forgot the easiest way - stage, or allow to happen, a terrorist attack that would "require" Martial Law. Or, we could start a war with Iran. Or...

another Concerned American Posted by Philip H. 06/13/2008, 03:37 PM Dan, thanks for a great series and good reporting over at the Post. Too bad the media, the much ballyhoo'ed Fourth Estate, is as compliant as Congress with all Bush and Cheney have done. Sadly, I don't think Cheney will give up the reigns of power easily.

Tinfoil hat thoughts about election cheating Posted by Bukko in Australia 06/13/2008, 09:14 PM Add me to Civilian as far as tinfoil hat dark conspiracy notions about what the Bush Crime Family might do to cheat an election. (And I mean "tinfoil hat" in a good way.) In addition to attacking Iran to divert attention from President Cheney's other failures, and/or declaring martial law "due to the present emergency," what about a good old-fashioned billion-dollar propaganda campaign? There were billions of dollars stolen by mrecenary contractors in Iraq. I'm sure that not all of it went into Cheney's Dubai bank accuounts. You think the neoNazi-cons just let Erik Prince and his ilk steal that money out of the goodness of their black little hearts? Everything that KKKarl Rove does has an electoral angle. How much of the stolen billions will be funneled into Rethuglican campaign commercials? A saturation-blitz of repetitious ads will "catapault the propaganda" even if they're lies. Worked for the Swiftboat liars. 527s and similar groups don't have to show where their money came from. HELLOOOOO! Ari Fleischer. In a year when the U.S. economy is imploding and ad buys at TV/newspapers/radio/Internet are crashing, you think media companies are going to look askance at cheques that clear? Maybe it won't work. Maybe enough of the American people are so fed up with the way the U.S. has crumbled that they won't be fooled again cubed. (2004 was "fooled-again" squared.) But if a propaganda campaign using stolen billions doesn't work, going all extra-Constitutional on America's ass is always an option. So you gotta ask yourself, Civilan, Dan, anyone else -- what are YOU going to do when you hear that the bombs are dropping; that the election has been "delayed"? Are you going to write a lot of angry blog posts? Are you going to hit the streets and demonstrate? Do you know which streets to march on, what groups are organising? You need to have a plan before it happens, or otherwise you're going to be caught flat-footed. Personally, I had my eye on a Marine recruitment office near my house, and the closest Wal-Mart. But I'm a peaceful man at heart. Throwing Molotov cocktails through windows and looting to make a point is bad karma. That's part of the reason I emigrated. But hey, it's going to be great fun watching it unfold in the U.S., like seeing a train wreck from a distance. Good luck! I think you're gonna need it.

Chief Posted by EOD 06/14/2008, 08:34 PM People like Bukko and his suggestions are why SWAT has sharpshooters. Submit a comment - Jump to top of list