Rove's Element

Karl Rove spoke recently at a Federalist Society meeting:

"Sit down -- you'll get your dinner quicker," Rove said in an effort to quell the hero's welcome from a throng he referred to as "my fellow Federalists." "My name is Karl, and I am not a lawyer," he began.

Noting that the Senate has confirmed about 200 of Bush's judicial nominees, Rove said that among the president's greatest contributions "are the changes he's brought about in our courts and our legal culture" and added that "those changes would not have been possible were it not for the Federalist Society." The group has so "thoroughly infiltrated the White House," he joked, that Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. had asked him to announce a staff meeting after dinner.

Turning serious, Rove condemned a series of judicial decisions, including a Massachusetts court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. "We will see one of two things come to pass," he said. "The courts will on their own reform themselves and return to their proper role in American public life, or we will see more public support for constitutional amendments and legislation to rein them in."

Rove further went on to claim that the conservative side will prevail in the war of "ideas," largely in part to organizations such as the Federalist Society. Rove's tactics here are interesting: he has attempted to re-infuse ideological optimism into the embattled conservative wings. He works best when he can concentrate on the dualities of his manipulation: between inspiring [often baseless or misleading] optimism and lashing out with malicious attacks on his enemies. This is why Bush needs Rove around.

So what about the war on ideas? It's clear that the most activist judges in this country are the ones that The Administration and the Federalist Society attempt to install. On the Supreme Court, the judges most likely to legislate from the bench and deny precendent in lieu of personal ideology are the "conservative wing." They desperately need to continue the trend of buttressing the judiciary in the vein as it will have the longest-lasting maintenence of their conservative agenda- they know that congressmen will be voted out and that attitudes will shift.

So they've got to force it upon us, you see...?