An afternoon with Karl Rove

After the week’s massive hoopla about my co-sponsoring a Rove/Reichert event, I was almost expecting the event to be anti-climactic. Fortunately Rove the man and the rest of the people involved in the Reichert campaign put on a very high intellectual power event focused on the facts and the hard realities facing our nation. Every time I go see politicians and senior administration officials in person I am struck by the level of candor, intellect, personal passion for our country and high character displayed all in stark difference to how these people are played in the media. This is one reason I attend these events, with people from both sides of the aisle, to see and hear for myself without the polarizing lens of the media distorting my view. You see, it is the job of the professional media to sell headlines. They have learned that the headlines that sell the best are the ones dealing with something dirty, scandalous, bad, or a fight of some kind. When people agree, there is no headline. When there isn’t a bad guy to be the boogeyman, there is no headline. There are few media outlets that actually focus on providing high intellectual content reporting so voters can make independent decisions (the Economist comes to mind). So, unfortunately, I have to pay extra money to hear these people directly in order to make up my own mind. America would have a much more effective democracy if more people had direct access to their government and politicians.

So impressions:
1. Karl Rove is a high intellect, very smart guy.
2. He spent over 23 hours in front of the grand jury 5 times for a 5 minute call with Novak and came out 100% clean. He had a Democrat lawyer. He did nothing wrong relative to the Valery Plame leak, and more important he never contradicted his story. Most grand jury indictments are not around any of the facts they are investigating, but rather around catching someone in an inconsistency of their story leading to a “lying to the jury” indictment. Rove is guilty of neither. Let the guy get on with his life. There is no conspiracy here, move on folks.
3. He is a very personable, self deprecating, humorous guy in person. The stories he told about working with President for over 30 years and the level of professionalism in the white house were both endearing and reassuring.
4. Here is the President’s day. Get up around 5:30, be in the office (:45 commute) by 6:00 or 6:30. The first thing on the desk, the same desk every president since 1880 has sat behind, is the overnight threat assessment. This document lays out all the things people want to do bad to this country in gory details. “The stuff of nightmares” according to Rove. Next is the CIA briefing (which Clinton never did), then a secure communications link with either the commanders in Afghanistan, Iraq, or other overseas forces or allies. Then into the staff meeting at 8:00. Then meetings all day of 15-30 minutes with people from all over the world. When he goes to dinner around 6:30 (to lobby someone usually), he takes a 75 page briefing book of what is coming the next day and has to have it digested and ready by the morning. That does not sound like a fun job to me. That sounds like work. That sounds like the weight of the world on his shoulders. The fact that this country gets private citizens to leave their private lives and spend their extensive energies trying to make this country and the world a better place is a great testament to the American spirit and the power of American Democracy.
5. Rove has a strategy to keep a Republican majority. It is built on get out the vote efforts, the basic blocking and tackling of politics. It is not based on smear campaigns, underhanded deals, messing with polling places, or any of the vast conspiracies that the left has dreamed up in their dying hours. In a country where less than half the people vote and those who do vote are split fairly evenly, getting out people who agree with your party is key. There is nothing unAmerican about that. If the Democrats could organize themselves behind a cohesive plan and get out their votes, maybe they could win elections too. Instead they defeat their Vice Presidential nominee in his primary election for the Senate. Lack of a Democrat strategy or organization is not proof of a Republican conspiracy. It is simply bad politicking.
6. This country must keep the Terrorist surveillance Program, the Patriot Act and the military tribunals. Over the last 6 years these programs have led to intelligence that has stopped attacks on this country. See the speech below for details on how these programs have saved American lives and brought terrorists to justice. We can tap a drug dealer’s phone, why not a terrorist?
7. Rove recognizes and appreciates the leadership on a national level that we have received from Reichert. He has been given a significant amount of responsibility (jumped the seniority line on Homeland Security Committee) in the Administration and Washington benefits from that. I want this state to have the best, most influential representation it can for our citizens. I want Reichert to go back there.
8. I asked Rove about the administration commitment to renewable fuels and how they were going to rebut the attacks against the Administration as “a bunch of oil men from texas”. He explained a couple of meetings he has had with the best minds and national labs on different energy sources including solar, wind, fuel cell, ethanol, biodiesel and others. He knows that fuel cells are at the basic R&D phase and not ready any time soon. He also knows that ethanol and biodiesel are ready to go now and assured me that there are a number of things in the works (Energy Bill) to help scale these businesses. Rove is a pragmatist. He, like me, wants alternatives that can make a difference IMMEDIATELY. That includes Biodiesel and he is very supportive.

Summary: Rove is a high intellect pragmatist. He is not an ideologue or demigod. Reichert is a good man well representing this state’s interest. He has been target by an out of state smear campaign by the national 527 organizations. Will Washington voters stand for that? What kind of representative do you want in Washington. Lets focus on the politics of uniting, not the politics of polarization.

From the President’s Sept. 6 Speech on Military commissions:

After he recovered, Zubaydah was defiant and evasive. He declared his hatred of America. During questioning, he at first disclosed what he thought was nominal information – and then stopped all cooperation. Well, in fact, the “nominal” information he gave us turned out to be quite important. For example, Zubaydah disclosed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – or KSM – was the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and used the alias “Muktar.” This was a vital piece of the puzzle that helped our intelligence community pursue KSM. Abu Zubaydah also provided information that helped stop a terrorist attack being planned for inside the United States – an attack about which we had no previous information. Zubaydah told us that al Qaeda operatives were planning to launch an attack in the U.S., and provided physical descriptions of the operatives and information on their general location. Based on the information he provided, the operatives were detained – one while traveling to the United States.

We knew that Zubaydah had more information that could save innocent lives, but he stopped talking. As his questioning proceeded, it became clear that he had received training on how to resist interrogation. And so the CIA used an alternative set of procedures. These procedures were designed to be safe, to comply with our laws, our Constitution, and our treaty obligations. The Department of Justice reviewed the authorized methods extensively and determined them to be lawful. I cannot describe the specific methods used – I think you understand why – if I did, it would help the terrorists learn how to resist questioning, and to keep information from us that we need to prevent new attacks on our country. But I can say the procedures were tough, and they were safe, and lawful, and necessary.

Zubaydah was questioned using these procedures, and soon he began to provide information on key al Qaeda operatives, including information that helped us find and capture more of those responsible for the attacks on September the 11th. For example, Zubaydah identified one of KSM’s accomplices in the 9/11 attacks – a terrorist named Ramzi bin al Shibh. The information Zubaydah provided helped lead to the capture of bin al Shibh. And together these two terrorists provided information that helped in the planning and execution of the operation that captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Once in our custody, KSM was questioned by the CIA using these procedures, and he soon provided information that helped us stop another planned attack on the United States. During questioning, KSM told us about another al Qaeda operative he knew was in CIA custody – a terrorist named Majid Khan. KSM revealed that Khan had been told to deliver $50,000 to individuals working for a suspected terrorist leader named Hambali, the leader of al Qaeda’s Southeast Asian affiliate known as “J-I”. CIA officers confronted Khan with this information. Khan confirmed that the money had been delivered to an operative named Zubair, and provided both a physical description and contact number for this operative.

Based on that information, Zubair was captured in June of 2003, and he soon provided information that helped lead to the capture of Hambali. After Hambali’s arrest, KSM was questioned again. He identified Hambali’s brother as the leader of a “J-I” cell, and Hambali’s conduit for communications with al Qaeda. Hambali’s brother was soon captured in Pakistan, and, in turn, led us to a cell of 17 Southeast Asian “J-I” operatives. When confronted with the news that his terror cell had been broken up, Hambali admitted that the operatives were being groomed at KSM’s request for attacks inside the United States – probably [sic] using airplanes.

During questioning, KSM also provided many details of other plots to kill innocent Americans. For example, he described the design of planned attacks on buildings inside the United States, and how operatives were directed to carry them out. He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure that the explosives went off at a point that was high enough to prevent the people trapped above from escaping out the windows.

KSM also provided vital information on al Qaeda’s efforts to obtain biological weapons. During questioning, KSM admitted that he had met three individuals involved in al Qaeda’s efforts to produce anthrax, a deadly biological agent – and he identified one of the individuals as a terrorist named Yazid. KSM apparently believed we already had this information, because Yazid had been captured and taken into foreign custody before KSM’s arrest. In fact, we did not know about Yazid’s role in al Qaeda’s anthrax program. Information from Yazid then helped lead to the capture of his two principal assistants in the anthrax program. Without the information provided by KSM and Yazid, we might not have uncovered this al Qaeda biological weapons program, or stopped this al Qaeda cell from developing anthrax for attacks against the United States.