From former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes' new book:

"Rove has picked up the [Lee] Atwater banner of negative campaigning and the politics of personal destruction and carries it proudly."
May 21, 2006 -- WMR thanks the folks at the Texas A&M booth at the gigantic Book Expo in DC for providing a copy of former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes' book, Barn Burning, Barn Building (Bright Sky Press, Albany, Texas). It was Barnes who featured prominently in the CBS 60 Minutes piece on Bush avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War. Barnes, as a favor to George H. W. Bush, helped get young Dubya into the Texas Air National Guard "champagne unit." Now that the word "declination" is being bandied about today regarding the Karl Rove investigation in Leakgate, it is important to cite two passages from Barnes' book that are germane in the current environment:

But the son, like the father during the '88 campaign, has surrounded himself with people who are doing indecent, unethical things for the sake of power. In George W. Bush's case, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove top that list. Rove has picked up the [Lee] Atwater banner of negative campaigning and the politics of personal destruction and carries it proudly. Cheney has repeatedly misled the American people. Both seem to believe they're above the law -- that the ends justify whatever means they intend to use to gain or solidify power. They're setting a very dangerous precedent, and so far they've gotten away with it.

and

Dan Rather is a good man and a fine journalist, but it's clear CBS made some mistakes in airing that segment. What's more unfortunate, though, is the fact that the uproar over the documents obscured the much more important issue: Did George W. Bush really serve his full time in the National Guard? I believe it's clear that he didn't. And I also believe that, regardless of whether he fulfilled his service or not, he acted shamefully in letting his millions of dollars worth of pilot training go absolutely to waste, just because of his personal whims.

From former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes' new book: "Rove has picked up the [Lee] Atwater banner of negative campaigning and the politics of personal destruction and carries it proudly."

Just like with the story about Bush and the Guard, the Rove camp now engages in getting the heat off Rove and on to those who are reporting on his misdeeds in leaking the name of a CIA covert agent and causing U.S. informants and at least one covert agent operating in a hostile environment to be killed. It is clear that the word "declination" in Leakgate means that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is under tremendous political pressure. The already shaky administrative "firewalls" erected to protect the independence of the Office of Special Counsel are collapsing like a house of cards.

One other note on the Rove story. Rove likes to use surrogates, some with clever disguises, to spread around his nasty form of abuse and disinformation. That type of material is found on most right-wing web sites but also on one that claims to be "Democratic" operating in some sort of an "underground." The content there about this editor and this web site is highly suspicious and is just the kind of thing in which Rove and his minions excel. The web site in question attracts those who don't like Hugo Chavez, don't like Arabs or Muslims, don't like The DaVinci Code, don't like Ray Nagin, don't like Fidel Castro, don't like Evo Morales, don't like Vladimir Putin, don't like Dan Rather, don't like a number of progressive web sites, don't like stories about vote fraud; in other words, they don't like the same things and people that Rove doesn't like. Take them for what they're worth -- neocon lickspittles looking for another nickel in their rusty tin cup.

***WayneMadsenReport***