Former Bush speech writer, Matt Latimer, pens a column on Karl Rove's disdain for the new savior of the GOP, Rick Perry.
The inside baseball here is tantalizing.... but not quite tantalizing enough. If I were Latimer's editor, I would have thrown it back to him.
I've read the thing twice, and while, yes, I believe that this hatred exists, I still don't quite understand what the cause of it was.
As far as I can tell, the animus is based on three things (which are really all the same thing):
1) Perry has succeeded without Rove's blessing.
While one should never diminish the power of the petty dispute, this would seem to me to be so minor as for me to say that, no, I don't believe it. If it really is true I'd demand that someone who knows both parties (on or off the record) confirm this with evidence.
2) It's about money and succession.
Fine. And what are the details of this, please?
Yes, these sorts of things might be too insidery for the rest of the world to care. But that's the meat of great drama, isn't it? What money are we talking about? Who's money? The GOP's? The big donors? This whetted my appetite.
3) It's a plain old piece of Texas political muscle flexing.
As in, "You think you're in charge down here, Rick Perry? Think again!"
OK, maybe that's it. I understand that local political fiefdoms obey different rules in different ways. But one would think that a man like Rove, who ran a national campaign, wouldn't care so much about local Texas politics once his political showhorse (Bush) had left. I suppose that people as driven as Rove never forget the details. (It partly explains their personal success.) But I'd like to know more. I feel there has to be some incident that someone could point to.
The most perplexing thing about this, of course, is that Rick Perry is George W. Bush. (Perhaps without the breeding and with about 15 to 20 fewer IQ points.) One would think that this would be the kind of folksy Texan Rove would be behind with every fiber of his being. And maybe that's the biggest reason Rove can't stand him: The caricature is unbearable. (Which might explain why the Bush family hates him, too.)
