George W. Bush's political career has always been a ventriloquist's act. It's a classic illusion. Karl Rove smiles vacantly, all the while throwing his voice, and the Dummy-in-Chief moves his lips. Like all cheap stage tricks, people know how it works. But the illusion that the dummy is actually speaking is the essence of the entertainment, and so we stick with it. Most people keep listening to the dummy, watching the dummy, laughing at the dummy's jokes. Rove is speaking, alright, but it sounds like the voice is coming from dummy. If this is how the act has worked, why would the ventriloquist suddenly throw the dummy aside and start talking directly to the audience?
It's a sure sign of panic when the ventroloquist no longer trusts his dummy. If Rove is talking, Bush is losing. The illusion has crumbled.
The Dummy-in-Chief
Beyond the flu, explosives, and endless slaughter in Iraq, could the October clincher turn out to be the fall of Rove himself? Is there anyone who has more at stake in this election? If Kerry wins, chances are Karl Rove will be indicted. It's hard to think of a better motivating factor.
But what happened exactly?
Rove's Outing
Anyone remember last week when Karl Rove slinked off to congress to testify in the investigation? That's right, Karl Rove, twisted puppet master to the dummy-in-chief, was finally hauled up to testify for (alledgedly) putting the life of a CIA agent at risk. I'm not interested in whether or not he is guilty or innocent. What matters here is how this changed the dynamic of the election.
The testimony was the beginning of a process of bringing Rove out of the dark shadows of Dick Cheney's White House and onto the center stage of the election. And he took the bait. I don't know who orchestrated this effort against Rove (I suspect it was Carville), but it coincided with the exact moment that Kerry began his final turn towards the finish line.
Rove Calls Man of God A Liar
In the days that followed, most people were not keeping their eye on Rove, but clearly something was happening behind the scences. The Suskind article in the NYT focused almost entirely on Bush's style of leadership. While it condemned Bush for his mixing of religious ideology and totalitarian decision making, think about what else it did. It painted a picture of Bush as the probleml. There was no section devoted to Karl Rove, no more discussion of "Bush's Brain," no sinister shadow man behind the man. The dummy-and-chief was on his own.
Suddenly, Pat Robertson breaks onto the scene and acuses Bush of lying about casualities in Iraq. Amazingly, Rove doesn't wait to practice a line that can be thrown into the dummy's mouth. He goes directly to the press. "I was in the room," Rove said. "I heard differently."
This was a remarkable moment, not only because Rove was mixing it up with the symbol of the GOP evangelical base, but because Rove--the illusionist, the expert at staying invisible--suddenly announced that we should keep our eye on him.
This counterpunch from Rove was like a magician telling his audience "Keep your eyes on my right hand; that's the one I use to hide the ball." It was the moment of the illusion crumbling--the moment the most important member of the audience stood up and said, "If that dummy is talking, then he's a liar."
When a member of the audience attacks the dummy and the ventriloquist responds, there's trouble.
Chances are we won't know how much impact Robertson will have on the election, but many believe that Robertson's attack will undo a considerable portion of Rove's strategy to get out the evangelical vote. It's impossible not to notice the dwindling numbers at the Bush rallies.
Imagine an entire strategy based on one segment of the population buying into the act, then suddenly the symbolic head of that population stands up and calls the whole act a lie. This dummy is not a good Christian, Robertson was warning his flock. This dummy is a liar.
Rove Attacks Clinton
Today, Rove lashed out at Clinton in a sure sign of weakness:
Karl Rove, Bush's chief political adviser, spoke dismissively of Clinton's scene-stealing pairing with Kerry. Seven weeks after quadruple bypass heart surgery, Clinton joined Kerry at a Philadelphia rally that packed cheering supporters shoulder-to-shoulder along three city blocks.
"They had to roll Clinton out of the operating room and onto the campaign trail in order to basically help Kerry with the weaknesses he has among core Democratic constituencies," Rove said, taking liberties with his depiction of the former president as a near-invalid.
In the midst of a national panic wave amongst seniors--in the midst of a moment when most seniors are feeling that they are not being respected by this administration--this is the moment that Karl Rove choses to make fun of a former President because he has just had a medical procedure.
The illusion hasn't just crumbled, it's unravelled. It's about to explode in their faces and it's going to be ugly.
My guess is that there is a great struggle unfolding behind the scenes and the ventriloquist is feeling the heat.
Over the next week, how fast Bush sinks will correspond directly to how much Rove speaks.
I've never really been a huge fan of magic acts. But believe me, when the "Karl and his Dummy" act blows up for good in public--man, that will be the best ticket in town...ever.