A Rhetorical Analysis Of Karl Rove: The Architect

Karl Rove is an exceptional political strategist worthy of the title “The Architect” as demonstrated by the many feats he accomplished mentioned in the video Karl Rove: The Architect. The first aspect that I found significant was Karl Rove’s use of “dirty tricks” during political campaigns (Karl Rove: The). Karl Rove has the patience and the mindset to bring down the opponent’s reputation in order to win to which he even went as far as to speak about in his training seminars across the nation. According to the video, Karl Rove publically rejected direct personal attacks such as the 527’s television advertisements John Kerry’s campaign, however, spread their message against him, thus proving Rove’s support for similar tactics. Since 527 groups are

For example, during Bush’s run for Texas’ governor against Governor Ann Richards, Rove attacked Governor Ann Richards’ “[tolerance, which] appealed to many constituencies [and] claimed her as an advocate for the homosexuals' agenda” (Karl Rove: The). Wayne Slater describes Karl Rove as “a unique figure in American political life” because of Karl Rove’s strategy of “looking at the strength of an opponent” which perfectly describes Rove as a political strategist. By using these negative campaigning techniques, he was essentially able to lure other political candidates into his trap. One such obvious catch was once again John Kerry’s case when they established him as a “flip flopper,” or a person who says one thing but does another, thus tying in the 527’s commercials leading to his decrease in popularity and any chances for a comeback later in the elections (Karl Rove: The). Rove’s use of “opposition research” is quite useful in his political campaigns, and attacking through 50 percent of paid media increases its effects (Karl Rove: The; Losco and Baker 161,