Who is Controlling Whom?
One of the big topics that emerged from today's morning talk shows was that Republicans are distancing themselves from Tom DeLay and his "First, let's kill all the judges" rhetoric of the past week. (For those of you who live in a bubble, both Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Chris Shays have made comments critical of DeLay--Shays in much more explicit terms, but only out of self-preservation, don't kid yourself into thinking he's a stand-up guy or anything.) Bob Fertik at democrats. com says that Karl Rove is behind Delay's slow downward spiral, arguing that the WSJ editorial had Rove's fingerprints all over it and that:

Karl Rove lives - and dies - by polls. He fights every news cycle of every day - literally 24x7x365 - to make sure Bush is always portrayed in a positive light. If someone hurts Bush's image, Rove makes sure they pay a heavy price - just ask Richard Clark, Joseph Wilson, Paul O'Neill, or anyone else who has dared to tell the truth about Bush. Tom DeLay's Schiavo scam hurt Bush big-time. Bush's polls are still hemorrhaging - the latest AP/Ipsos poll has Bush's approval all the way down to 44%, with 54% disapproval - the worst poll he's ever had.

This prompted steve simels to ask:
Let's assume it's true that Rove is behind the dump Delay thing, because of the Schiavo fiasco.

What will the fundie theocrats think?
Aren't they beyond Rove's control at this point?

Well, the more I think about that, the less sure I am that the theocrats ever were under Rove's control. In fact, the more we learn about shadowy organizations like the Council for National Policy, the more it appears that it is Rove who is being controlled and not the other way around. I'd be interested in your thoughts.
- posted by TJ @ 9:41 PM