Ginni Thomas and her conservative allies have launched a stealth attack on the GOP's top strategist.
-By David Corn
July 25, 2013- Groundswell, the recently created coalition of prominent right-wing activists and journalists, gathers weekly to coordinate messaging and plot strategy for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation." These sessions usually fixate on how best to battle the president, congressional Democrats, and progressive groups. But their 30-front war also includes something of a civil war: a fierce crusade against the Republican establishment and Karl Rove, the GOP strategist and Fox News pundit.
Rove is a regular topic of discussion—and frustration—at Groundswell's Wednesday morning meetings, according to the documents obtained by Mother Jones. At these sessions, and in messages shared by participants on Groundswell's Google group page, Groundswellers often gripe that the GOP's inside-the-Beltway crowd wants to marginalize the party's ideological die-hards and recruit, promote, and support political candidates deemed less strident and more electable. Rove especially ticked off tea-party-minded conservatives in February when the super-PAC he advises, American Crossroads, announced it was launching the Conservative Victory Project, which would try to block far-right candidates from blowing key races, as Missouri's Todd Akin and Indiana's Richard Mourdock did in Senate contests last year.
Yet as Rove kicked off this project, Groundswellers, in closed-doors meetings, initiated an effort to crush Rove, who they believed had helped shape a post-election post-mortem by the Republican National Committee that called on the party to temper its message to appeal to a broader swath of voters.
At the group's March 20 meeting, Groundswell participants reviewed the details of this vigorous anti-Rove endeavor, according to notes prepared after the session. This memo referred to a "two front war" to tear down the prominent GOP strategist who engineered the political triumphs of George W. Bush. Under the subject head "ROVE PROJECT," the memo reported:
Rove is still actively networking and building his financial capabilities, an indication that we are not yet being effective. His associates have quietly contributed to the drafting of the RNC document, Autopsy. The Autopsy Report…has drawn fire from the Tea Party, social conservatives and conservatives in general. It undermines the RNC platform…
The Two Front War: The two front war covers finances and reputation. Rove has relationships built over the last two decades. He must become toxic among the grass roots and among his base. His effectiveness has been called into question on Sunday talk shows and at CPAC. Regarding financing, the donors to his Crossroads [super-PAC] are public. They must be educated to the fact, Rove is not a conservative and his efforts are not effective.
Rove's position as party spokesperson was established as a result of the Bush election. Rove gained the title and the credit for being the "great architect." Fox has given Rove a platform and just renewed his contract. In truth, Rove no more represents conservatives then Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton represent all Blacks.
The memo cautioned that smashing Rove would take time: "Rove has been building his power base for decades. Change requires time and patience." It suggested "powerful messaging points" to use against him: "Rove does not speak for GOP like Sharpton does not speak for black community" and "Who put you in charge?"