Doughboy's Dirty Little Secret

The recent revelation that Karl "Doughboy" Rove's stepfather, Louis Rove, was gay, infuriates me, because Karl has made a (very successful) career shaping and creating wedge issues around gay rights to benefit the GOP, mobilize the Christian conservative voting base, and further polarize our nation over issues that shouldn't even be a priority. [And that's not to say that I believe gay marriage should even be one of these issues, because it's a non-issue to me.]

It baffles my mind the level of self-hatred and lack of integrity Karl has. He's made a hell of a lot of money and gained a lot of political influence by selling out Americans like his own father, his "adopted father," publicly repudiating the very thing that made his father the man that he was, and effectively injecting into the public discourse bullshit about how gay people are "ruining" the moral fiber of this country. I guess it's somehow fitting, then, that when Louis Rove passed away, Karl kept it a secret from Louis' friends. An obituary wasn't even published in the local paper in Palm Springs. The better to keep Karl's dirty little secret away from evil fingers that Google, I guess.

What a shame. What an utter disgrace.

Somehow, the cognitive dissonance behind Karl Rove (e.g. Why does this fucker exist?) is starting to make sense to me now:

The zealousness with which Rove and Mehlman pursue an anti-gay agenda for political utility suggests more than just an ambition to win elections. Students of Freud might be able to artfully deconstruct their behavior but even lay analysts can see a bit of repression and self-loathing at work. Maybe Rove has a desire to get back at his father for leaving his mother when he "chose" to be gay. Or perhaps he is fighting his own homo-erotic impulses. His description of George Bush the first time they met goes a bit beyond a geek's admiration of the cool guy quarterback:

"I can literally remember what he was wearing: an Air National Guard flight jacket, cowboy boots, complete with the --- in Texas you see it a lot --- one of the back pockets will have a circle worn in the pocket from where you carry your tin of snuff, your tin of tobacco. He was exuding more charisma than any one individual should be allowed to have."

Sounds like a little mancrush to me. Don't run away from your feelings, Karl!

Not that I didn't think this before, but his unwavering willingness to debase and demonize a particular group of people purely for political gain (or rather, for the political gain of his client) just reeks of the utter hypocrisy coming from people who, unfortunately, have a direct hand in shaping the direction of public debate and policymaking in this country.

But I guess in Doughboy's world, the end always justifies the means, eh?

There's a ditch somewhere in Malebolge waiting just for you, Doughboy.

And don't even get me started on Ken Mehlman. I may have to smack a bitch.

(Post inspired by The Rude Pundit and cross-posted at Bring It On!)