ROVE THE RATBASTARD

Karl "Divide and Conquer" Rove lambasted liberal bloggers at a conference and I think this is a sign that liberal bloggers are a significant political force, otherwise Rove wouldn't bother. Here are a few of his partisan whore's remarks, from the Washington Times:

"The Web has given angry and vitriolic people more of a voice in public discourse," said Mr. Rove, who served as one of President Bush's top strategists until he resigned this past summer, and is a noted technology nut.


"People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog," Mr. Rove said during a speech about politics and the Web at the Willard InterContinental, a hotel just blocks from his former place of employment.

"I'm a fan of many blogs. I visit them frequently and I learn a lot from them," Mr. Rove said. "But there also blogs written by angry kooks."
[SNIP]
"It is that the netroots often argue from anger rather than reason, and too often, their object is personal release, not political persuasion."

Rove neglects to point that freakshows like Ann Coulter are popular among the GOP's base because they are angry, as Fats Limbuagh observed. Among GOP bloggers, Hinderaker of Powerline regularly spews some bile about liberals/Democrats/anti-war types and you can find a LOT more of that on Free Republic, one of Mark Levin's favorite places. My major local wingnut station, KNST, has an ad that showcases a listener's anger and they even take their anger out on veterans.