[Dialogue] Rove and Wolfowitz

[Sunny Walker]

Given that with names like Rove & Wolfowitz, I was wondering if these were two German Nazi "sleepers" (okay, I've just returned from a high school reunion and am probably brain fuzzed!), I decided to find out something about these two. See notes below if you, too, are interested. I found these using Google and going to the Wikipedia site.

>From an "unofficial" bio of Paul Wolfowitz: 2nd paragraph on liberalism really caught my attention (I think it's pretty true! - though my "what next" or what this means would differ greatly from Strauss)

.There is a widespread opinion of the political philosophy of Strausianism that differs greatly from the written works of its supposed founder Leo Strauss, who never wrote specifically about foreign or domestic policy. This opinion has been popularized by critics including Seymour Hersh, James Mann, Lyndon LaRouche and Adam Curtis amongst others. These critics have linked this philosophy with Wolfowitz, who according to James Mann, had chosen to do his graduate studies at the University of Chicago where Strauss taught specifically because; "He wanted to know about him."

Strauss, according to the critics, was an overt opponent of liberalism, which he claimed was in crisis "due to the fact that liberalism had abandoned its absolutist basis and is trying to become entirely relativistic." This had led to "the easygoing belief that all points of view are equal (hence none really worth passionate argument, deep analysis or stalwart defense)." This degenerated "then into the strident belief that anyone who argues for the superiority of a distinctive moral insight, way of life or human type is somehow elitist or antidemocratic, and hence immoral." This in turn created the instability of modern society. .

>From early years:

Jacob Wolfowitz (his father) was a Polish national of Jewish descent who fled to the U.S.A. with his parents in 1920 to escape persecution. Many of Wolfowitz's relatives left behind in Poland were to die in The Holocaust. James Mann, in Rise of the Vulcans, says that Jacob Wolfowitz "was a committed Zionist throughout his life and, in later years, was also active in organizing protests against Soviet repression of dissidents and minorities".

Jacob Wolfowitz took his family with him when he taught sabbatical semesters at UCLA and the University of Illinois, and in 1957, at the age of 14, Wolfowitz spent a year living in Israel while his father was teaching at Haifa University; Wolfowitz's sister would later emigrate permanently to Israel. In 1961 Wolfowitz graduated from Ithaca High School, where he had worked on the Tattler student newspaper. Wolfowitz was excused from military service in the Vietnam War through student deferments in order to pursue his academic studies, this has lead critics to dub him as a chickenhawk.

And also quite interesting: Wolfowitz was a member of the Telluride Association, of which his sister had been the first female member. The organization founded in 1910 aims to foster an everyday synthesis of self-governance and intellectual inquiry that enables students to develop their potential for leadership and public service. The students receive free room and board in the Telluride House on the Cornell campus and learn about democracy through the practice of running the house, hiring staff, supervising maintenance and organizing seminars.

In 1963 professor of philosophy Allan Bloom served as a faculty member living in the house and would have a major influence on Wolfowitz's political views with his assertion of the importance of political regimes in shaping peoples' characters. That same year Wolfowitz joined the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom lead by Martin Luther King, Jr.. 

Note that there is no "trivia" or "satires & blogs" - Wolfie has a much more distinguished career that Rove, but a colleague has said of him: "Hawk doesn't do him justice. What about velociraptor?"

>From "Trivia" on Karl Rove:

Karl Rove is a Norwegian-American. According to Bob Woodward's recent book, Rove is obsessed with the "historical duplicity" of the Swedes, who seized Norway back in 1814. According to Woodward, this nationalism manifested itself as hatred for Swedish weapons inspector Hans Blix.

Karl Rove's alleged reputation for political dirty tricks is such that, among both his supporters and critics the phrase "Rovian" has come to be used as a synonym for "Machiavellian". The documentary Bush's Brain ".depicts Rove as the most powerful political consultant in American history and, in essence, a co-president" according to USA Today. 

Most info was re the CIA agent identity leak and ensuing scandal.

Under early life:

In 1970, as a protege of Donald Segretti (later convicted as a Watergate conspirator), Rove snuck into the campaign office of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon and stole some letterhead, which he used to print fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing," and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters. Rove admitted the incident years later, saying "I was nineteen and I got involved in a political prank."

And under "Satires and blogs":

I love Karl Rove. Are you a Roveho too?

Kerry said live during the 2004 presidential campaign: "If only one candidate has a Karl Rove, it's not a fair presidential race." 

Okay, that was sort of fun and certainly enlightening for me, at least. Now back to ignoring the news and working on just being happy (works a lot better, WAY less stress -- I highly recommend it).

Sunny in Denver where last night was (ahhhhh, at last) quite cool and today is working up to its expected scorcher.