An angry Rove....

One of the things that really appeals to me about Obama and to a lot of people, I'd guess, is his quiet confidence in the face of the Republican smear machine. Unlike Kerry, who's brow would wrinkle up, and who seemed almost apologetic in the face of the attacks, Obama seems supremely confident in his ability to deflect the mud that is and will continue to be inevitably slung his way. Obama's clear and concise support of the Boumediene vs. Bush decision was based upon his background as a constitutional lawyer and it clearly showed that he will not be swayed by the fearmongers on the right who equate anything short of outright torture of brown skinned foreigners with complete capitulation to the terra-rists. He simply pointed out that the decision is well reasoned and backed by precedent, and never shied from calling out the current administration's excesses in the face of the "Scariest Threat Evah". Kerry, who correctly noted that the logical and most effective response to the threat of Islamic extremism domestically was to beef up our law enforcement capabilities, backpedaled furiously when Rove and the right wing accused him of being a French speaking windsurfing traitor.

You can tell that Obama's confidence really irks Karl Rove, and has taken him way off his game and way off his message. Yesterday, he let this one slip:

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy," Rove said... "He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

That's real seething hatred, and it shows that Rove is off his game. The problem with it is that Rove and the GOP have been working tirelessly to paint Obama as an oriental, an outsider, an exotic, and of course, a Muslim. They want their base, and whatever portion of the center that may still be listening to them to fear his "otherness", which of course is dog whistle for their thinly veiled racism. Subtle it aint. But the Rovester is off the reservation on this comment, he's lost the script, because as Greg Sargent points out, that description only fits one man:

It should also be noted, of course, that Rove took a man who actually is a country club denizen who makes "snide comments" about others -- that would be George W. Bush -- and turned him into a regular Joe. Meanwhile, the guy who would struggle for admittance to some of these exclusive enclaves -- Obama -- is now "the guy at the country club." Rovian up-is-downism at its finest.

These guys are so turned around right now that they can't even follow their own playbook. Maybe the GOP will get it together before November, and it will be an ugly summer if they do, but for now, if the Rover is that far out of synch with his own GPS, things and looking good for Old John.