At the end of one of the stories in the previous post I saw the following text:
"The little things can haunt you down the road," Smith says, remembering 20-year-old feuds between Republican consultants John Weaver and Karl Rove that started in Texas party politics and reverberate today in national campaigns. "These things are dangerous in politics."
This got me wondering about the feud, so I pulled up some links that might tell a few things about how the political process works on the ground. Here's a great quote from one:
No one, though, knows Rove's vindictiveness better than John Weaver. Were it not for Karl Rove, Weaver might still be a leading Republican political consultant. In Texas, Rove and Weaver had been successful partners, until Weaver chose to go out on his own and build a client list. A few months later, Weaver hired an employee away from Rove. Before too long, as competition grew between Rove and Weaver, disgusting rumors began to circulate about Weaver's personal life, and reporters and potential clients wondered about Weaver's judgment. The stories, which many reporters have said originated with Rove, dried up Weaver's business, and he left Texas. Eventually, Weaver became the lead political strategist to Senator John McCain's presidential campaign. After McCain lost the bitter primary battle, Weaver discovered he was squeezed out of party work by Rove, who was now in charge of all things Republican. Weaver became a Democrat, an advisor to the Democratic National Committee, simply because Rove was never content to leave him alone.
- Wikipedia: John Weaver.
- Wikipedia: Karl Rove.
- Politico.
- The Atlantic.