Frontline: Karl Rove – The Architect by PBS (Direct)

Actors

• Will Lyman

Format

• Color
• NTSC

Editorial Review

One of the most polarizing figures in 21st Century American politics is examined in Karl Rove – The Architect, an hour-long PBS profile of the man generally regarded as President George W. Bush's most trusted and influential advisor. Whether one admires or deplores Rove's tactics, few would argue that they aren't effective. After all, this “nerdy intellectual,” as one interviewee describes him, guided Bush to victory in four consecutive elections–twice as governor of Texas and twice as president–with a strategy that relied primarily on a few distinct “anger points” (such as Texas tort reform in '94 and gay marriage in '04) that galvanized the candidate's conservative/evangelical Christian base, while simultaneously contriving a series of attacks that managed to turn the opponent's own major strengths (like John Kerry's military service) against him. But Rove's “smashmouth politics,” a technique he learned from the late Lee Atwater (whose so-called “dirty tricks” helped elect Bush's father in 1988), also have a longer-term goal: the creation of “a permanent Republican majority.” Whether or not he succeeds is open to question, especially considering that at the time of the October '05 DVD release of The Architect (a name bestowed on Rove by Bush himself), the president's ratings were plummeting and Rove was facing possible indictment for his alleged role in “outing” CIA undercover agent Valerie Plame. How he feels about all of that is unknown, as Rove declined to participate in this admirably unbiased documentary. –Sam Graham