Bush still a factor, Rove warns

[AirborneSapper7]

Bush still a factor, Rove warns

President Bush, down and all but counted out by friend and foe alike just three months ago, is rising like a bloodied but unbowed prizefighter, and Karl Rove predicts peril for Republicans and their presidential nominee if they shun the lame-duck president on the campaign trail.

The president had been pummeled ever since Democrats retook control of Congress in January, but he has pushed ahead with his second-term agenda on issues ranging from opposing federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, pushing for peace in the Middle East and establishing security in Iraq. Some in his own party broke with him on the war, but as the "surge" takes hold and the president regains his footing — and with rising poll numbers, to boot — Mr. Bush looms large for Republican contenders next November.

"Nobody can risk looking disrespectful to the president without paying a price, and they need to understand that," said Mr. Rove, Mr. Bush's former top political adviser.

Republican strategist Scott Reed says that what the "White House critics fondly referred to as Bush's stubbornness" is beginning to pay dividends on a host of issues that voters care about, from the war in Iraq to a scientific breakthrough that shows embryos don't need to be destroyed for stem-cell research.

Still, some Democratic presidential candidates, most notably Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, have continued to run against Mr. Bush. But that strategy will likely miss the mark, Mr. Rove told The Washington Times yesterday.

"If the Democrats make this about, as they seem to be inclined to do, 'I'm not Bush, and I'll do everything different than Bush did,' the American people understand that Bush is not on the ballot," he said.

"I think it's one of the reasons why Hillary Clinton is not doing well against named Republicans candidates, because all she can talk about is how she's not Bush."

Hovering at a dismal 29 percent approval rating just as Gen. David H. Petraeus, ground commander in Iraq, testified before Congress on the surge in September, Mr. Bush has since jumped to 36 percent in a poll late last month.


Mr. Rove said the president just received the best possible gift from the House's most vocal war critic, Rep. John P. Murtha, who just returned from a trip to Iraq and stated flatly: "The surge is working."

"It was a remarkable moment last week when Jack Murtha, who said the war is lost, the surge won't work, comes back and says the surge is working. You know that there's real progress on the ground when the most ardent, acerbic critic of the president's policy says in essence, 'I was wrong,' " Mr. Rove said.

Mr. Bush was in serious jeopardy just a few months ago as several top Republicans began to criticize the Iraq war strategy, but the party has closed ranks since the success of the surge. Still, no Republican candidate has gotten too close to Mr. Bush: His name came up just twice in the most recent Republican debate in Florida. A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee said Republican hopefuls are fleeing the president.

"It's no coincidence that President Bush's name is barely uttered by the Republican candidates at debates or on the campaign trail," Stacie Paxton said. "The majority of Americans believe we're headed in the wrong direction and see the Democratic Party as the party of change. That's bad news for the GOP."

While that is true, Americans — especially Republicans, but Democrats, too — are more optimistic about Iraq. Seventy-four percent of Republicans — up from 51 percent in February — think there has been improvement in Iraq since the surge began, according to the latest poll by the Pew Research Center.

Democratic support for the war more than doubled, from 16 percent to 33 percent.

Other issues have added to Mr. Bush's resurgence. The president vehemently opposed federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, but scientists recently have been able to make normal skin cells act as pluripotent cells, doing away with the need to destroy embryos. Mr. Bush, who steadfastly refused to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was also roundly praised for his Middle East summit last month in Annapolis.

Congress, too, has aided the president's comeback — its approval rating is even lower than the president's, just 22 percent, according to the latest poll.

"He's frankly being helped by the ineptitude of the Democratic Congress on a whole range of fronts," Mr. Rove said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said the president's positive momentum will have an "enormous" effect on the 2008 election. "I can see a scenario where Iraq is something Republicans use for offense and not just defense."

Mr. Rove agreed.

"I think that the [Iraq war] critics are going to be seen as small-minded and petty and wrong, and the president is going to be seen increasingly as having made a tough but correct decision about adding additional troops," he said.

Mr. Bush called a press conference for this morning, something he does mostly when he thinks he's in a good news cycle. The announcement gave reporters a full day's notice — the first time in his presidency that he's given reporters that much time to craft their questions.

• Jon Ward contributed to this report.

http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 40060/1001

Karl Rove is an Incompetent Boob that is remembered by two terms that I will never forget

Bushes Brain
Turd Blossom

If he was Bushes brain I hope the lobotomy worked when he left the White house, because this is one corrupt and stupid individual that helped destroy the Republican Party.

He is so far up Bushes backside... George W. needs a glass belly button so Rove can see where he is walking

I think the term Turd Blossom is actually flattering to Karl Rove

and by the way... this is the most incompetent President and administration in all of the 200+ years of our countries existence

Oh my disclaimer: I am a Conservative Republican without a Party

[Paige]

this is the most incompetent President and administration in all of the 200+ years of our countries existance

Yes it is.

[gofer]

The dems can't seem to get it throught their head that Bush isn't on the ballot because they are always referring to him. People do get tired of that.

[corhanem]

pushing for peace in the Middle East

When did THAT start?