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October 17, 2011 at 12:29 pm 
Ed Brayton You better turn off the irony meters for this one from Karl Rove:
Before they go much further with this courtship, the president and other Democrats need to remember it’s always dangerous to associate with people who are just plain kooky.
There needs to be a word for this kind of thing. I can’t think of anything strong enough. This is Pat-level lack of self awareness.
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If you read it as “Wow, I learned the hard way and I hope you can benefit from my experience,” it’s self aware and honest, not ironic at all. And surely that’s how Karl meant it.
“Don’t throw me in that briar patch”
I seem to remember on the old blog someone coined the term “kettleblind” for this sort of thing.
Here we go, it was Abby Normal.
http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/08/i_heart_joseph_farah.php
the president and other Democrats need to remember it’s always dangerous to associate with people who are just plain kooky.
Weapons-grade projection.
Look at the moronic scumbags you promote, douchebag. That’s enough kook to make even a republican support more mental health institutions.
Ah, Ed, is it really wise to start off the week with a “Most …” post? I think the crazies take that as a challenge and throw more fodder your way just to prove you wrong. Just say’n…
My prediction: come Friday we’ll all be saying: “yeah, it was a bit ironic, but nothing like [insert quote from Wednesday or Thursday].”
He’s perfectly self-aware. He’s just being dishonest, as always.
For some odd reason, I followed the link. Just another “The Tea Party is awesome and Occupy Wall Street (Flea Party) sucks” article.
Whenever someone creates a story about Karl Rove, they ought to be required to link to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxcuVlCuX9Y
Just to remind everyone how seriously Karl Rove should be taken.
This is nothing new. Rove has also spent the last few years making frequent remarks about the Obama administration’s Machiavellian tendencies, all without a hint of irony.
Raging hypocrisy is, to a large extent, a defining characteristic of the contemporary Right. It’s characterological. Without it, the rest of their beliefs would have a difficult time persisting.
In Rove’s mind, it’s not lack of self-awareness, irony, or projection. The way he see it is that you aren’t supposed to associate with kooky people. Pander to them, manipulate them, use them, play them like a ten dollar banjo, hit them up for money, but by no means should you associate with them.
Doesn’t surprise me at all coming from Rove. It seems to be a deliberate strategy with the current Republican party, and Rove is at the center of it:
1. Project your faults onto your opponent. If they point out that you have these faults, not them, it just looks like they’re pulling a tu quoque.
(Seen right here. And there’s the converse:)
2. Attack the opponent on their strengths, and if possible, claim those strengths for yourself. It forces them to try to counter your word instead of using their strengths for simple positive campaigning.
(See: Attacking Al Gore for saying he “invented the internet,” attacking John Kerry’s war record, attacking Barack Obama’s speech-giving skills.)
The point here is to control the narrative. Speak first, and you come out ahead, even if what you say is a hypocritical lie. The Republicans are very good at this. The Democrats… not so much.
@6 – I agree. It is like Ed is sending out a dare.
Infophile@11:
Precisely.
And from Rove’s “article,” he mentions women walking around topless at Occupy Wall St. protests. Let’s take a reading from the Kook-o-meter:
Women exposing breasts: 2
People packing heat at Tea Party events: 11
[...] Democrats Court the Wall Street Protesters — Karl Rove in The Wall Street Journal. Before they go much further with this courtship, the president and other Democrats need to remember it’s always dangerous to associate with people who are just plain kooky. The mind boggles that Rove could say this with a straight face. Has he looked at the GOP base? Science denial? Christianism? The forced pregnancy movement? Gun psychosis? Those are the pillars of his own house. (Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars.) [...]