Karl Rove Is Having Wet Dreams About Jeb Bush in 2012 Presidential Race

Karl Rove

That headline generates disturbing images, on a number of levels. But it neatly summarizes the apparent point behind a lengthy profile of GOP strategist Karl Rove in the current issue of New York magazine.

The piece, titled "Goddangit, Baby, We're Making Good Time," is written by Joe Hagan. A source told me in advance that Hagan is a Rove sycophant, and after reading the story, my source clearly was on target.

Six "key takeaways" on the Rove profile are nicely summarized at theweek.com. But you have to get to the last paragraph of the New York story before finding the No. 1 takeaway: that Rove is salivating over the thought of Jeb Bush running for president in 2012. And thanks to the Obama administration's dismal record on justice issues, Rove is free to help put another member of the Bush crime syndicate into the White House.

For our money, the Jeb Bush angle is one of two key takeaways from Hagan's softball piece. The other involves a woman named Karen Johnson, who happens to be Rove's new gal pal. Here is how New York describes Ms. Johnson and her ties to Rove:

The woman, Karen Johnson, is a lobbyist rumored to have been Rove’s mistress before his divorce from his second wife in 2009. When she tells him they’ve already reached the exit for Junction, ­Texas, Rove is impressed: “Goddangit, baby! We’re making good time!”

So, Rove is driving around Texas with the woman who broke up his second marriage? No wonder this guy appeals to "values" voters.

But what about the Jeb Bush revelation? It comes at the very end of the story, as Hagan asks Rove about the 2012 election:

It’s early yet, and Rove is keeping his cards close and his options open. When I ask him which of the prospective candidates is the purest ideological heir to Bush, he won’t answer. “I don’t think that’s the right question,” he says, waving it away. But later, in an unscripted moment worthy of Palin, Rove does tell me about his dream candidate, a would-be “incredible” president of the United States, the one person he’d support without reservation, if only this man were running for the White House. Somebody who would set the world aright for Karl Rove.

Name of Bush. Jeb Bush.

This raises two obvious questions:

* Do we really want the next inhabitant of the White House to be the "purest ideological heir" to a president who led us into foreign-affairs swamps and over financial cliffs?

* Does Rove know that Jeb Bush wants to test the waters for 2012--and "Bush's Brain" is using a friendly reporter to send a none-too-subtle message?

The answer to the first question is a resounding no. The answer to the second question appears to be yes.

That means we could have a continuation of the presidency that brought us torture, warrantless wiretapping, political prosecutions, the unlawful firings of U.S. attorneys, a mortgage crisis, a meltdown in the financial sector. . . . And oh yes, a war in Iraq based on false premises.

If Obama, Eric Holder, and their Justice Department had a spine--and a conscience--Karl Rove would be getting fitted for an orange jumpsuit right about now. Instead he's plotting to follow up the "Dubya Disaster" with the "Jeb Jamboree."

Jeb Bush apparently has some personal baggage that, so far, has kept him from running on the national stage. It involves a woman named Cynthia Henderson, a former Playboy bunny who was a member of his cabinet when he was governor of Florida. Karl Rove seems to think that now is a good time to see if the public might be willing to overlook the Jeb/Cynthia unpleasantness.

Joe Hagan and New York magazine are playing along on that ugly little mission.

[Photo: New York magazine]