McCain and Rove form a tentative alliance RAW STORY

Published: Monday February 11, 2008



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Print This Email This On Friday, a day after Karl Rove donated $2300 to John McCain's campaign, McCain (R-AZ) put aside a longstanding grudge over Rove's famously bold tactics in securing George Bush the 2000 GOP nomination, and said that Roves advice would be welcome in his campaign. "Nobody denies he's one of the smartest political minds in America," McCain said. "I'd be glad to get his advice. I get advice from a lot of people. I'd be happy to have his advice." The news came just before President Bush praised McCain as a "true conservative" in a Fox News interview on Sunday, responding to a wave of attacks from conservative hardliners such as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. "If John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative," Bush said, "And I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee." McCain's relationship with the Bush camp has been fraught since the 2000 primaries in South Carolina, when McCain was falsely accused of leaving POWs behind in Vietnam and of 'siring' an illegitimate black child -- actually his adopted Bangladeshi daughter, Bridget -- and his wife, Cindy was accused of having a drug problem. These attacks have long been attributed to Rove, acting through various GOP surrogate groups, including the group, 'Vietnam Veterans Against McCain,' and the allusively-named Bob Jones University professor, Richard Hand, who authored a mass e-mail claiming that McCain had "chosen to sire children without marriage." The signal event in the negative campaigning was a telephone push-poll which asked voters, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for John McCain...if you knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child?" McCain remarked on Friday, "I've always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics. I've always respected him. We never had any ill will after the initial South Carolina thing. After we had the meeting with President Bush we moved on. I've seen Karl Rove many times when I've been over at the White House. We've always had pleasant conversations." A transcript of McCain's remarks is below, followed by the video of the event: QUESTION: Are there other signs you see that are encouraging to you... MCCAIN: Oh yeah. A lot of the fundraisers from other camps are coming on board. And yeah we're seeing that coming together really well. We're seeing it. [Inaudible] MCCAIN: Who? QUESTION: Karl Rove? MCCAIN: Oh I, listen, he ah. Nobody denies he's one of the smartest political minds in America. I'd be glad to get his advice. I get advice from a lot of people. I'd be happy to have his advice. QUESTION: I was wondering about that, right.... MCCAIN: He beat me. I certainly would be glad to get his advice. I don't think I'd want to revisit how he did it. And I mean that. Not about South Carolina. I mean I don't feel like reliving my defeat. QUESTION: Are you worried about, he uses very aggressive tactics is that something that-- MCCAIN: I've always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics. I've always respected him. We never had any ill will after the initial South Carolina thing. After we had the meeting with President Bush we moved on. I've seen Karl Rove many times when I've been over at the White House. We've always had pleasant conversations. QUESTION: His tactics don't, you don't disapprove of them? They don't make you nervous? MCCAIN: It's not so much whether I approve of his tactics or not. It's that he has a very good, great political mind. Any information or advice and council he can give us, I'd be glad to have. I don't think anybody denies his talents. So I'd be glad to get any advice and council. We would obviously decide whether to accept it or not.



