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J. Edgar Rove? Bush's Brain Claims He Kept Loyalty File On GOP Rep
Did Karl Rove compile a "loyalty file" on former GOP congressman Tom Feeney? That's what Rove himself has reportedly claimed.
Politico reports on a chance encounter at Charlie Palmer's Steak last night between Bush's brain and Jason Roe, a former chief of staff to Feeney, the Florida congressman who was defeated for reelection last fall*.
Roe walked over to the table, "I'm Jason Roe."Rove: "Oh, the famous Jason Roe."
Roe: "I don't know that I'm famous but I'm Tom Feeney's former chief of staff and I'm offended by your comments on Fox about Tom. You guys wouldn't be in the White House without Tom. And you made these really degrading comments about him that offended a lot of people."
(Sidenote: Tom Feeney was the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives during the whole Bush/Gore 2000 recount.)
[TPM Ed Note: Last November, Rove said on Fox that the GOP incumbents who had lost their seats "were people who had not done their homework and hadn't gotten ready for a tough race." He named Feeney specifically, who he said "had a bunch of ethical issues raised and then voted against the rescue package.]
Rove: "Well, I have a file on the things Tom Feeney said about George Bush."
Roe: "That says more about you than me that you kept a file on Tom Feeney. This guy was so restrained in his desire to criticize the President -- even against this staff's advice."
Rove: "I have a file."
Roe: "I'm right here, tell me to my face what's in that file."
Rove: "I'll send you the file."
Roe: "Well I hope the file is the beginning of the conversation and not the end. I would love to disabuse you of whatever you think of Tom Feeney's loyalty from this file."
Rove: "If you keep talking over me this conversation's going to end right now."
Then a lady came over to fill up Rove's water glass, breaking up Roe and Rove and Roe returned to the bar. Rumor has it Rove was waiting to have dinner with former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman.
Of course, Rove wasn't wrong that the Abramoff- and Stanford-linked Feeney had his own "ethical issues" which we've chronicled avidly here at TPMmuckraker.
But did Rove really just admit that he kept a file of Feeney's criticism's of George Bush? If that's true, he almost certainly didn't stop at Feeney -- there were plenty of Republican lawmakers who were just as outspoken as Feeney, if not more so, on the subject of Bush's failings. Who else did Rove have files on?
I suppose this ranks on the lower end of the list of acts of political hardball that Rove committed over the course of his career. But it's pretty Nixonian -- not to say Hoover-ian -- nonetheless.
* This sentence has been corrected from an earlier version.
Josh
Zachary
I bet the file was opened no later than 2003.
Remember the anecdote about Feeney reported by The Hill at the time of the vote on the Medicare drug program -- you know, the one Denny Hastert kept open for three hours to get the desired outcome?
Bush himself called to try to twist Feeney's arm, but to no effect: “I came here to cut entitlements, not grow them.”
“Me too, pal,” said the president, who then hung up.
April 10, 2009 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
This seems silly. Why wouldn't Rove keep track of where politicians stood on issues relative to Bush stances? Any competent politician needs to know such things at least as background, but cannot possibly keep everything in his head. So people make lists and keep files.
That's different than the FBI doing the same thing. It would politicize the FBI. But Rove's position was intrinsically political.
April 10, 2009 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree. There are too many real issues to get steamed about. Karl Rove's scrap books of other republicans isn't one of them.
April 10, 2009 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
The real surprise is why Feeney's aide -- or anyone else who has been conscious for the past eight years -- would expect Karl Rove to tell the truth about anything.
April 10, 2009 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
See Tom Betz's comment below.
Despicable, hypocritical liars like Rove should be called out on every opportunity, and I appreciate Zach and other bloggers doing so. If you don't agree, move on to the next post instead of defending the indefensible.
April 10, 2009 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
"If you don't agree, move on to the next post instead of defending the indefensible."
Ironic! The brain of Bush is alive and well within you!
April 10, 2009 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're the one saying we should just ignore Rove. So go ahead, ignore him. And this post.
April 10, 2009 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does this surprise anyone? It shouldn't. I would be surprised if Rove didn't have a file on every single member of Congress regardless of party.
April 10, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
WHY IS ANYBODY SURPRISED BY THIS?
If outing an undercover CIA agent was "fair game" to him just because her husband dared to write an editorial, why would anybody even doubt that he has files on whoever he perceives as "marginally disloyal"?
Karl Rove is an alumni of the "Lee Atwater School of Political Ethics".
Motto: NOTHING is out of bounds if it happens to help our cause.
April 10, 2009 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't Rove just charging the White House with keeping an enemies list? Well he is an expert. I would not be surprised if rove had had access to the wiretapping apparatus. When the news was coming out about that, I thought rove would be collecting communications on everyone to get more dirt. You have read Bush's Brain haven't you?
April 10, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not to defend creepy Karl, but I would think it is pretty common for political operatives to keep files on the major players and their relevant public statement. I'm sure most news organizations do the same.
April 10, 2009 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let us not forget this bit of Rovian hypocrisy.
Obama’s keeping score, but Rove keeps files.
April 10, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Poor Karl can't even find a bit of peace when he's out on a date.
April 10, 2009 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks Tom. I was afraid I was the only one who caught that. I wonder if they retired to one of their hotel rooms after a nice dinner?
April 10, 2009 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly! Another example of Rove projecting his own political policies on the Obama administration as a way to spread fear and distrust.
April 10, 2009 2:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Move along folks. Nothing to see here.
April 10, 2009 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd bet good money that such files are merely the tip of the iceberg. This is the same guy who planted a bug in one of his client's offices during a political campaign in Texas, then contacted the FBI to "report" a "bugging." His client then pulled out a narrow victory after the negative resulting publicity suffered by his opponent. It would be very interesting to see, for example, how many wiretaps Rove placed on the phones of political "enemies" (Republican or Democrat) and journalists, just for starters.
April 10, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sleazy, but not surprising.
Reminds me of how he treated Tom Tancredo when Tom wasn't, er, toeing the line on immigration policy:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-8236-0-days0-orderasc-.html
So much for working with Congress...
April 10, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm, good record keeping? That just shows that he's a competent administrator on the side of evil.
News flash.... Google has files... the NSA has files... your employer has files...
April 10, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's odd.
In this op-ed column for the Wall Street Journal, "The President Is 'Keeping Score'
Chicago politics has moved into the White House," [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123862834153780427.html] Rove condemned President Obama for allegedly saying to a Democrat who voted against the stimulus bill, "Don't think we're not keeping score, brother."
Which is it?
April 10, 2009 3:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
It means that Obama is his own brain and he can keep his own file.
And I'm sure Obama's file is way cooler than Rove's. It's in his iPhone and Rove's is just a print-out.
April 10, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
HYPOCRISY!!!!!!!!
April 10, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Really, does anyone doubt Rahm Emanuel maintains a similar file? Heck, it'd be the same one he kept over on the Hill...
April 10, 2009 3:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rove and Roe had a roil?
I wouldn't be to concerned about Rove's files, because he never had a card he didn't play and never had a secret he didn't tell! His description of Biden, as an exaggerating blowhard, could not have better described him!
April 10, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The disgusting picture above has been a chronic annoyance, but do I really need to look at this vile pig's face via the closeup on the home page? I think I'm going to be ill.
April 10, 2009 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait. Rove was at the White House. Why does he still have the file?
Did Rove walk out of the White House - illegally - with files?
April 10, 2009 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point!
April 10, 2009 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't this blowhard liar chomping at the bits and spazzzing out a week ago when President Obama make a joke with a Democratic Congressman about "having a list"? The hypocrisy of people who call themselves republican is a bottomless pit.
April 10, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know one file that I'll bet is bigger than Rove's file on Feeney - the file that lists Karl Rove's ethical shortcomings.
April 10, 2009 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is so BLOWBACK where the rat line must have taught Rove to be so much like them.
April 10, 2009 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Roe was right...
http://www.votinglies.com/
April 10, 2009 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would like VERY MUCH to know what Roe meant by THIS comment:
"You guys wouldn't be in the White House without Tom."
You all are aware of a lawsuit brought against Tom Feeney which alleges that while representing an electronics firm in Florida that he commissioned the development of software capable of flipping/manipulating votes.
Clint Curtis brought forth this lawsuit, has passed polygraph examination and even testified before Congress about the vote manipulation software.
So, what, exactly, DID Roe mean when he said "You guys wouldn't be in the White House without Tom."
I remember election 2000 and the missing 16,000 gore votes in Volusia County FL very well indeed.
April 10, 2009 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
OOPS; I stepped all over this one down below, sorry, it makes the same point before I did, that Sweeney's got election dirt all over his hands, so just WHAT did that statement mean?
When we finally get Rove on the stand, maybe we should get Feeney and Curtis up there for a visit, too.
April 11, 2009 11:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Hoover-ian"? That sucks. The Unicorn Hunters will be after you for that one.
Roe v Rove - kind of makes you want to wade into the middle of it.
April 10, 2009 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't Feeney the one who hired those geeks to fix elections via the software? Maybe that's what his aide de camp meant when he referenced Florida 2000?
Just food for thought...
April 11, 2009 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wasn't Feeney the one who hired those geeks to fix elections via software?
Maybe that's what his aide de camp meant when he referenced Florida 2000? Was Feeney's scheme implemented in Ohio? And just what did Mike Connell learn from Curtis' software intrigue?
From BRADLOG; "In his affidavit and videotaped sworn testimony presented before members of the U.S. House Judiciary committee, Curtis claims to have been asked by U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) to design a "vote-rigging software prototype". This request took place in October 2000 during a meeting at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI), a computer consulting firm in Oviedo, Florida."
http://www.bradblog.com/?page_id=3980
Just food for thought...
April 11, 2009 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, rove as much as I dislike him has the right to keep any kind of file he wants. And if he was doing his job for bush he would have files on ALL the players in his game.
I worry more about the files Darth cheney probably has, he will use his for entirely different purposes.
This was a waste of print.
April 11, 2009 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
When does he ever get time to get to boho grove? With all these darn files and stuff.
Is this the untimate tablebearer here or what.
April 12, 2009 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
keep your eyes an ears open on this guy,
hes a very sneaky conniving one..
check out this story:
"Obama's Counsel Accused of Ethics Breach over Role in Brokering Rove's Testimony"
here is the link:
http://www.pubrecord.org/law/735.html?task=view
April 13, 2009 4:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
This isn't exactly of Roe v Wade proportions but it's cool to see the slimeball called out by a junior slimeball.
Roe v Rove
Rove v Cheney
Cheney v bush
bush v People
This could be a good beginning to a great ending!
April 13, 2009 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Those who say the notion that Rove keeps such files is unsurprising are correct.
But what is surprising is that he still thinks its relevant. For this list of which he is so proud to carry any weight, someone he works for would have to win an election.
And let's remember that, were it not for the Palm Beach butterfly ballots, an error by a local Democratic regime, Bush would clearly have lost Florida in 2000, there would be no Bush v. Gore, and Karl Rove would never have enjoyed the national prominence that he has. For all Rove's evil machinations, factors outside his control made his list matter.
I hope this Jason character, and Feeney, such as they are, give Rove's list the attention it deserves, which is none at all.
April 14, 2009 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink