Kreepy Karl

dr. elsewhere here

Is it really such a seismic shift in the WH for Karl to lose his policy pets, seriously abused and mangled, this morning? Does this really represent a significant change?

It’s long been my opinion, for what that’s worth, that the biggest reason Karl’s role as senior policy advisor has been such a disaster is that the guy is not, has never been, and never will be a policy wonk. The notion itself is simply absurd. Karl probably cannot even spell policy; all he knows is politics. The guy is ALL about winning elections. ALL about raising money for …winning elections. ALL about framing every speech and staging every photo op for …winning elections. ALL about yanking any and everybody’s chain to get the bleating base shepherded for …winning elections. ALL about scratching backs and greasing palms and breaking knees for …winning elections.

When you’ll say and do just about ANYTHING in order to win elections, including ignoring policy as the driving force and motivator, then there are bound to be contradictions (building democracies and rejecting the vote?) and paradoxes (Harriet Miers???) and blind spots (er, ditch Social Security?) and incompetence (Katrina, helloooo!) and hubris (Iraq, Iran, unitary executive, etc.) and of course, unbridled corruption (well, all of the above, plus some).

Policy is, after all, the statement of intent to put principles into action. It is, in short, the moral manifestation of any organization. It should, in all cases, be embodied in the very existence of any organization (e.g., the Constitution); people may argue about the details, but that basic set of organizing principles should be simply a "given." And then groups can internally agree to disagree – with civility, one would hope – on the emphasis of priorities and the details of implementation. Public policy is about national conscience; it says, “This is what we care about.”

But Kreepy Karl only cares about …winning elections. So he has been happy to pimp for the “religious” right and corporate “America” [ed: MY America is NOT corporate, thank you very much], his sources for “moral” outrage and “quiet” money, the two key ingredients for his perfect election scheme. Oh, that and fixing the machinery, but that would also fall under the quiet corporate money category.

So why do I feel skeptical about what is being promoted as a demotion? The man still wields enough power to keep his post – and, one presumes, his security clearance and his salary and his facetime with the prez and a heard voice – just not his policy portfolio. All this despite the fact that he has been the “architect” of much of the dead duck catastrophe that is this lame duck presidency. Despite the fact that he remains under investigation for federal crimes (do check this out, as it points to new evidence that Rove is still a subject in this investigation). Despite the speculation that he was “turned” in that investigation and has been singing verse and chorus to Fitz all about the role of Cheney’s entire office. Despite the clear indication that Republican prospects for holding onto either house of Congress are facing the royal flush, as in toilets and not poker.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Republicans are suckin’ eggs, big time, and Easter is way over and so are some of the upcoming ’06 House and Senate elections out there, at least in essence. Bush’s numbers continue to dive, even after all those speechy tours, replete with all those candid questions and less-than-candid answers. Or maybe because of them. Not many candidates care to be anywhere near Chimpy, and various Republicans – military and not – are coming out publicly to trash his dirty little war and his disastrous economic decisions.

Yup, the “decider” is keeping Karl on because he has been bery bery good to him, winning all those elections. Karl knows getting money, destroying opponents, manipulating the media, and …winning elections. This time, though, it does appear the architect will have to morph into a major league magician. And dare we expect less from Bush’s Brain? Hardly. I actually shudder to think just what depths Kreepy Karl will stoop to this time around, especially given that he is now such a cornered rat with the stakes so high (if they loose, it’s the full Monty, folks) and the odds so low (Dems really could take back Congress).

Josh Marshall has an interesting angle on the whole pseudo-shakeup in the WH. He observes that "things are so bad at the White House, the level of denial and secrets to be kept, the self-bamboozlement and bad-faith so profound, that they just can’t manage to bring in any new blood."

Not only are there precious few out there who want to board their sinking ship (barrell bottom scraping for the guy who named himself a part of the "Brooks Brothers riot"), but they undoubtedly trust even fewer to keep all their very incriminating and dangerously dirty little secrets. Which leads to an important point in pondering this pseudo-shakeup: There will not be any major changes in positions that will require Senate approval; too much opportunity for exposed crimes. Take note of all the "loyalty" to Rummy, and to the fact that Snow has no replacement at Treasury, despite noise of his departure weeks ago. I know it doesn't carry quite the same fatality factor as a real mine field, but there is some gratification in trying to imagine just how they're going to navigate through all these many explosive messes.

See what happens when you ditch policy for power, Karl? Tangled webs and all those platitudes. At this point, you are literally going to have to pull any future election wins out of your sorry fat ass.