Karl Rove, Thief And Dirty Trickster From Wa-y-y-y Back

Karl Rove, Thief And Dirty Trickster From Wa-y-y-y Back

READ MORE: Karl Rove, George W. Bush

True, this is old news, but given the political season I couldn't resist.

I was poking around the Wikipedia entry for Bush senior advisor Karl Rove when I happened on this gem:

In the fall of 1970, Rove used a false identity to enter the campaign office of Democrat Alan J. Dixon, who was running for Illinois State Treasurer, and stole 1000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead.

Rove then printed fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing," and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters. Rove's role would not become publicly known until August 1973. Rove told the Dallas Morning News in 1999, "It was a youthful prank at the age of 19 and I regret it."

Here's what at a few other folks Rove has countenanced later besmirchment campaigns about were doing the same day that Rove broke into Dixon's office:

John Kerry - already a three-time Purple Heart Winner- was in the Naval Reserves, Kerry's Purple Hearts earned during his voluntary tours of duty in the Navy contrasted with Rove's artfully dropping in and out of college to outfox the draft.

John McCain - who Rove allies would personally smear in the South Carolina Presidential Primary 30 years later- was three years into his captivity behind enemy lines in Saigon. Maybe there was free rice, but certainly no free (or paid) beer, food or girls.

While Rove entered Dixon's office on his two feet, future adversary Max Cleland did not have comparable physical mobility. A triple-amputee for two years by then, - hurt in the same war that Rove artfully dodged- Max Cleland was planning a run for the Georgia Senate on the day Rove broke into Dixon's office. It would be more than three decades in the future when operatives thought to be countenanced by Rove would imply that Cleland was an unwitting ally of Osama- helping Cleland lose his U.S. Senate seat.