A half year ago, I found myself vociferously defending Karl Rove at a local Republican Club meeting.  The guest speaker had gone off on a tangent.  He was scheduled to discuss an energy tax measure proposed for the upcoming state ballot Instead, he began to attack Mr. Rove and his presumed GOP Establishment buddies for not having allocated enough money to California campaigns in the 2012 elections.  Not that all the money in the world would likely turn the once Golden State from deep blue to any shade of purple.

But back to the unexpected criticism aimed of Karl Rove in a local setting.  I flat out told the speaker that I did not come to Republican Club meetings to hear one Republican (him) bash another (Rove).   I reminded him of the hypocrisy behind the rhetoric of widening the accessibility to the GOP tent while simultaneously shoving  existing party members out  through the back flap .

Karl can defend himself, of course, and regrettably of late he has been called upon to do so on several occasions. Rove badly botched his predictions of the outcome of the 2012 election.  He excuses this by saying he did not expect Democrats to turn out in the numbers they did.  He was not alone.  But strategist Rove’s failure to anticipate the political effort Democrats would exert in getting their supporters to the polls was an oversight that cost him a measure of credibility. 

One might expect Rove to be more prudent henceforth in voicing unsubstantiated opinions.  Yet that ‘s precisely what Rove did in his recent ruminations on whether or not Hillary Clinton had suffered brain damage during a fall for which she was briefly hospitalized at the end of last year.

It doesn’t matter if the remark was, in fact, made at a private affair.  Surely he knows that headline seekers are everywhere.  And nothing pleases Democrats more than an opportunity to resurrect Karl Rove as the face of the Republican Party.  If they were by and large unsuccessful in picturing Paul Ryan as a baddie, they will have no trouble doing so with the bespectacled Mr. Rove, whose corpulent build and somewhat condescending manner are just what the liberals ordered. 

 The political guru, of course, has made all sorts of excuses for what he said, mostly   along the lines of, “Look, I was only pointing out something that has to be addressed sooner or later.”  Sure, but how about later?  How about after Hillary Clinton has officially declared herself a candidate?  And yes, Rove and his defenders can point to past political smear tactics leveled at candidate John McCain, whose injuries suffered as a POW -- along with his skin cancer -- were rumored to make him unfit for office.

In politics, two wrongs might be a wash.  But not when Secretary Clinton is the one wronged.  Would you slander the Queen of England and get away with it?  The liberal press had a field day with Karl’s speculations.  They salivated over a perceived slight that conveniently deflected heat from Secretary Clinton’s part in the  Benghazi scandal.  No doubt, suggestions that Hillary is the victim of brain damage   have already galvanized her base in a way that nothing else recently has. 

 Nobody doubts that Karl Rove in his heyday proved himself a master of political strategy.  But at this point, one might wonder what political party is benefitting most from what he has to say.