The Turdblossom Special Rides Off Into the Sunset...

...leaving the wreckage of the Bush presidency, the Republic Party, and most of the American political landscape in his wake. Though it has become somewhat fashionable since last November to denigrate his skills as a political operative, he actually has a remarkable legacy as probably the most important Presidential kingmaker and advisor since Mark Hanna (his historical hero). And don't blame him for the brutal partisanship created by elevating a mediocre-minded empty-suit from Governor of Texas to the White House--Rove's job was never to govern, it was to win. His ideas were not particularly original (Kevin Phillips invented the Southern Strategy nearly forty years ago), and it's arguable if Rove's vaunted "permanent Republican Majority" would ever have worked under any set of circumstances, but that's the problem with political operatives: they don't do "long term." They do one, maybe two, possible three elections out, and that's it. Anything else is beyond the seeing of their magic eight balls.