The Washington Post does a story today to let us know Rove is "back". Okay. We knew that. They also give us Rove's 2006 campaign strategy:
Now Rove has the freedom to concentrate on preserving the GOP majorities in Congress, and an opportunity to purge the mistakes of the past two years. Based on recent Rove speeches and interviews with senior GOP officials, his plan for the midterm elections echoes the strategy he plotted out in 2002 and 2004, adapted to a new and more difficult environment. He hopes to make the election a choice between the philosophies of the two parties, especially on national security, rather than a referendum on Bush's performance. He also aims to stoke the Republican base with such issues as tax cuts, same-sex marriage and judicial appointments. Rove declined to comment for this article.Okay, we knew that too. Because, as the Post notes, it is the same strategy from 2002 and 2004. It's all Rove knows.
We know what's coming.
The question -- again -- is whether the Democrats are ready for it. Is the Democratic "brain trust" -- that cabal of consultants who helped bring us to the place where we don't have the House, we don't have the Senate and we don't have the White Houes -- prepared for this battle? Are they going to advise candidates to fight back? That crowd spends a lot of time preserving their power -- and their high fees. They better be playing to win this time. Josh Marshall and one of his readers pose good questions about the effectiveness of Democratic consultants based on that pathetic Lieberman ad.
Rove is not infallible. The GOP can be beat. Most Americans are on our side. But, the Democrats have to fight, hard.
UPDATE: Piehole makes a very, very important point in the comments: The Dems. can't just wait around to fight back, they have to PUNCH FIRST. That's right. They know what's coming from Rove and the GOP. Hit first hard.
