Michael Moore is right (below). Giuliani, McCain, Bob Dole -- all former more-or-less sane Republicans, sucked into the GOP/Rove nutjob machine, turning them into cold-blooded Stepford Republicans (blank stare, reciting in monotone, "George Bush is great, thank God he's president, 4 more years," etc.).

They'll regret it once the GOP inevitably implodes and reverts back to the mean (oops, they're already mean, let's say "median"). It happened when Gingrich went too far, and it will very likely happen again. Their party is already FAR out of touch with the average American and if GW wins a second term, without reelection concerns serving as at least a mild restraint, the unfettered blood-thirst for power will send them over the edge.

The fact is, when you hear pundits attempt to get inside the head of Karl Rove, it inevitably amounts to pure surmising about tactics and strategy to win -- hardly ever anything ideological or having to do with political philosophy. Example: it's often said that he has calculated it's a far better win/loss proposition to focus on the 4 million evangelicals who supposedly sat-out the 2000 election than to focus on winning over the many undecided voters. Incite those evangelicals with red meat issues (gay marriage, stem cell, God speaks to GW, etc.), getting their blood to boil & insuring they'll get to the polls come November. Skip any attempt at appealing to swing voters with more moderate, reasonable, and complex stances on more universal issues -- why bother? Rove's research shows he gets much more bang for his buck tossing those religious extremists some inflamed red meat -- requiring very little expensive TV ads, etc. -- than he does attempting to woo the swing voter, a much more expensive and time-consuming endeavor, esp. since history shows they're much more likely to vote non-incumbent anyway. Best to do what they aimed to do with their Convention: simply bash away at Kerry with hopes of turning off any swing voters, causing them to just stay at home and not vote, therefore allowing their sure-to-vote evangelicals (and other crazed, extreme GOP voters) to result in a net-net gain.

Do you sense any political philosophy with the above? I don't. Pure "X" and "O" tactics. Again, my point being Rove knows how to win elections based on the rules as they exist -- no matter that the rules are often sick & perverted. So be it. To him, his attitude is "they pay me to win elections, NOT make judgment calls on what's right or wrong with attaining such victories." To a point, given his role, he has the right outlook. That's not to say his chosen tactics are not evil -- most often they are! But you get my point. He understands (I hope!) that the political point of view of a typical evangelical is not representative of the country at large -- at all; HOWEVER that same evangelical is an easily-controlled (manipulated) vote, one that requires less allocated campaign $$ per evangelical than other groups of voters, and a vote is a vote (one evangelical vote will cancel out any other voter in the country). It's sickening, but brilliant.

Bill Maher referred to it last night (on blowhard O'Reilly's show, of all places) when he said that Republican views do not reflect the overall views of the country but they win, mainly because they're damn good at winning elections. It's like the basketball team that wins the game fully exploiting the flawed rules (perhaps they notice using elbows, etc., are not getting called by refs, so they use it BIG TIME, i.e. play dirty because they can), but nonetheless no whistles are blown. Yes, it's winning ugly, but a "W" is a "W."

Now, Mr. Moore:

The Republicans have no idea how much harm they have done to themselves. They used to have a folk-hero mayor of New York named Rudy Giuliani. On 9/11, he went charging right into Ground Zero to see whom he could help save. Everyone loved Rudy because he seemed as though he was there to comfort all Americans, not just members of his own party.

But in his speech to the convention this week, he revised the history of that tragic day for partisan gain:

As chaos ensued, "spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then-police commissioner Bernard Kerik and said to Bernie, 'Thank God George Bush is our president.' And I say it again tonight, 'Thank God George Bush is our president.' "

Please.