Okay, I'm going to plead ignorance. What's the deal behind the tift between the GOP base and Rove?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

Frankly, I couldn't care less about either party but I do want to know the basic story as why they are at each others throat.

[hrmjustin]

1. Rove wants to nominate electable candidates, and the tea party want true believers.

in other words Rove wants only a certain level of crazy, and the tea party wants a bunch of glenn becks.

[MrSlayer]

2. Rove doesn't want the super lunatic fringe candidates running.

He wants regular neo-con fascists.

The Republicans should have the senate but because of the Akins, Mourdocks, Angles and O'Donnells, they don't. Rove wants that to end, the baggers want to keep banging on that door until they get in.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. The battle between Turdblossom and the Turds

Idon't know either, but I hope it's long and ugly.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

4. Thanks to all.

I guess I should have been more on the up about the whole story, but given the fact I couldn't give a shit about either Karl Rove or the GOP Base, I'd much rather just see them tear each other apart.

[JoePhilly]

5. Here's my version ...

Dr Rovenstien and the rest of the GOP establishment created the AstroTurf Tea Party monster hoping that its rage would devour the Democrats in the House, Senate, and White House.

The plan worked initially, and the Tea Party dopes voted for moderate Republicans like Christy in NJ and Brown in Mass, and Bob McDonnell in VA, and they also won the house in 2010. So far everyone in the GOP is happy.

But Rovenstien's monster felt powerful .... it was still hungry and it began to try and eat moderate Republicans too. And it succeeded in winning GOP primaries with totally unelectable nut jobs. And as a result, the Dems kept the White Hose, and gained seats in the House and increased its lead in the Senate.

Rovenstien's monster was running a muck. It was threatening to destroy its creators.

And so now, Dr Rovenstien is trying to chain up the monster he helped create by starting a new super PAC focused on keep the moderate Republicans in charge, and relegating the insane Tea Party candidates to the castle's dungeon.

The monster that is the GOP base is not at all happy about being chained up. It believes that its makers are part of the problem. And if it can get loose, its going to consume Rove and the other members of the GOP. They may end up destroying each other.

Win win from my perspective.

[salin]

9. I have a similar take... but go back much further than 2010

I think 2010 is what empowered the Tea Party voters (who existed long before then) into throwing their weight around to force the rest of the GOP to pander to them in order to win primaries. Which condemns many of those races to be lost in the general as the world view of most voters is far from the world view projected by teaparty candidates.

[LondonReign2]

11. All very true except

they part about Rove wants "moderate republicans". He wants Republicans that *appear* moderate, like Shrub, while being wildly destructive. See 2001-2008, Bush-Cheney.

[NMDemDist2]

6. he took tons of $$$$$$ and lost all the elections he backed

'cept one.

The 1% don't take kindly to failure, especially when it costs them big $$$

[Ian David]

7. I think Pete Domenici got Rove's daughter pregnant, or something. n/t

[Marie Marie]

10. Sounds about right..

[salin]

8. It is a case of "chickens coming home to roost"

for years Rove orchestrated winning campaigns by creating messages that emotionally manipulated the far-right. These are his previous target voters.

Then in 2010 - other strategists used his pandering emotional approaches to pack town halls against Obamacare (It's Socialism! It's the end of the Country!!!) - and the midterms tipped to the GOP and the Teaparty empowered the crazy right.

In the last election cycle there was a full throttle battle at the national level (congress and senate) gop primaries pitting the empowered Teaparty against the establishment GOP. In numerous cases the Teaparty won the primary (pushing more and more GOP candidates who may not be full-throttle right wing crazy - to pander to that group for fear of being primaried), and the candidate lost even safe seats in the general election.

Along this path the overall GOP "brand", which was permanently tarnished for those adult voters who came of voting age in the 8 bush W years, became even further tarnsihed with those adult voters who came of age during the 4 Obama years (12 years of new voters) - and many voters older than this age have become very wary of the far right wing that has taken over the GOP.

Long way of saying more than 10 years ago Rove was trumpeting that he had the strategy of creating a GOP dominant government for the next several decades ala FDR and democrats which all started with pandering to this same far right wing part of the GOP in the wake of a national tragedy and two economic upheavals between 2002 and 2004. And now not only has the GOP run far off the rails (in part due to what he "perfected" per the propoganda of fear and hatred to whip a part of the population into voting) - he is trying to orchestrate "saving" the party - by trying get republicans through the primaries who can actually win general elections.

Chickens - coming home to roost.

[Mr.Bill]

12. Two distincly different right wing philosophies

fighting with each other. And they are both failures.

[Whisp]

13. My understanding is that Rove promised

a lot of stuff to the evangelical nutbaggers way back in the Bush years. Of course he was lieing to them like he lies to everyone. Once he got the votes he pretty well told them to buzz off. They got mad.

Now that the extremities of the evange have figured they have been had by Turdblossom, they are pissed and getting their revenge by hostaging the whole freaking republican party.

[Recursion]

14. You could call him their Rahm

He works for nominating people the activist wing of his party hates.