Watching Karl Rove sink should be pure pleasure. But our knowledge that he's only a part of the problem diminishes the glee. The stain remains on our democracy. The beat goes on.
Exhibit A might be the American Crossroads organization, with strategist Karl Rove, among others, at the helm. The superPAC backed seven losing candidates and just two winners.
The social welfare advocacy group Crossroads GPS did slightly better: 19 losers and 7 winners. Spending by the two groups totaled about $277 million.
Karl Rove has been defending the record of both groups. On Fox News last week, he said that President Obama's victory would've been bigger if the Crossroads TV campaign hadn't leveled the playing field.
He also said the Obama campaign played dirty with its TV ads.
"The president ... succeeded by suppressing the vote," Rove said on Fox News.
Rove said the president's campaign did that by basically painting Romney as "simply a rich guy who only cares about himself."
It's certainly true that the Obama campaign portrayed Mitt Romney as exactly that. Of course, starting a year earlier Crossroads GPS had begun running ads depicting the president as inept or sleazy. ...ME, NPR
The knowledge that the superpacs supporting President Obama are doing just fine may seem like appropriate revenge on the world of Adelson, Koch, and world of international corporations' influence on our vote, but the success of Priorities USA Action isn't really a triumph for our side.
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