It's the Sunday after the election, and credit and blame are going around for the Tuesday results. It takes no great insight to heap much of it on Karl Rove. My contribution is to recall the role of Rove's network of operatives.
There was, of course, the operative known as "John Kerry," substituted for the real John Kerry, "reporting for duty" at the Democratic convention and told to run on Viet Nam. Smart move to bring that up.
Let us not forget Michael Moore, hired by the Republicans to display himself at the conventions, sit with Jimmy Carter, and generally make moderate voters uneasy about voting for the candidates he endorsed.
Getting Dan Rather to create a long and loud distraction at a critical point in the campaign was a particularly astute Rove move.
Finally, a collective award to legions of ordinary and prominent people hired to pose as Democrats and shout at Republicans: "We don't simply oppose your candidate. We think he's evil and stupid, and by inference so are you. So if you elect us, we promise to govern accordingly."
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