Politicians targeted by Rove have reason to worry -- though hopefully the days where he has complete free reign to wreak the disgusting and unethical havoc that has made him the hero of the "we're morally superior" set seem to be dwindling. The media would be better served to honestly investigate the tactics than giggle about the reactions of those targeted.

Yes, in our dreams . . .

Wow ... Ace Reporter Akers is absolutely right. How could any intelligent human being - much less a Democratic member of the House - take attacks by Karl Rove seriously? Particularly after seeing how fabulously he bombed in his attacks on McCain, Kerry and Gore! It's not like Rove has ever launched mud that stuck to anyone.

To suggest otherwise would be like suggesting that this column has no news value at all - or indeed, any value whatsoever. Such suggestions would be entirely too ludicrous to see the light of day.

Considering that Rove is using assets of a government agency that wields about sixty billion dollars in public funds as an arm of the Republican Party, Herseth could probably use a few extra dollars in contributions. From what's been scurrying away from the few rocks that have been turned over so far, it looks like there is similar activity in other agencies.

Watching mass murderers party with their stenographers just isn't funny, by the way.

" The Sleuth wonders: Are Herseth, 36, and her husband-to-be, 54-year-old former Rep. Max Sandlin (D-Texas), scared to death that Rove might be plotting to crash their wedding in South Dakota this weekend? "

Mary Ann, why isn't the Sleuth wondering why Rove is violating the Hatch Act? Why would the Sandlins be scared to death if he crashes their wedding? Why are you such an insouciant nitwit?
I love this ridiculous, gossipy, right wing blog. It attracts such a happy band of idiots. The trolls that post here are so much fun to mock.

A Congressional Committee investigates a clear violation of the Hatch Act by Rove's Office and political appointees at a federal agency.

Then Rove does a silly dance. The silly dance generates a tremendous amount of coverage in the Post, and on every television news network. The illegal political activity is interesting, but Rove dancing and rapping at a black tie media lovefest - Fabulous!

Now, MAA pokes fun at a Democratic Member of Congress who finds out that she's a target of Rove's illegal political targeting, and is able to work in a jab about her wedding and Rove's dancing. Super Fabulous!

This is the kind of stuff that might have been considered news at The Hill or wherever you came from, but please don't pollute the Washington Post with it.

Akers may have a "strong background in print and broadcast" but I see no evidence of good sense or journalistic integrity.

Get her a job on FOX.

Herseth should be going after Rove for violating the Hatch Act, and what I *wonder* is why the Post is giving you space on their site to post your uninformed, air-headed drivel.

Why in the world would anyone want to attend the wedding of a little Ms. Nobody and her hubby to be, Mro Nobody.\
At least it is a way to get her name in the news

Why in the world would anyone want to attend the wedding of a little Ms. Nobody and her hubby to be, Mro Nobody.\
At least it is a way to get her name in the news

Posted by: daveyyy | March 30, 2007 10:56 PM

I'm sure their friends and family would want to attend. A better question is why in the world would daveyyy bother posting such a banal comment if he thinks they're nobodies? Why in the world doesn't daveyyy care that Rove is violating the Hatch Act? Oh I know, it's because they are Democrats and he is a rightwing twatwaffle.

I think sonofabastard gets off on flaming Mary Ann. He seems to post and awful lot of negative comments. SOB: If you hate her so much, move along. The internets are a big big place.

I think sonofabastard gets off on flaming Mary Ann. He seems to post and awful lot of negative comments. SOB: If you hate her so much, move along. The internets are a big big place.

Posted by: Max | March 31, 2007 01:56 AM

I don't hate her. This is the only rightwing website that allows opposing views. She's snarky, I'm snarky what's the big deal. The Washington Post blogs are too important a battlefield to leave to the trolls, besides it's fun mocking you.

May they have a long and joyous marriage, living their values, not just talking about them.

Herseth is kinda cute; I'd date her. So what if she gets her picture in the paper?

And hasn't Rove's tenure at the White House amounted to one gigantic Hatch Act violation -- oh, wait, it's not a continuing offense, so he's be charged with a few hundred counts.

The best Rove story is still the one Ron Suskind tells. While waiting outside Rove's office, the reporter heard Rove telling someone else that his plans for some other person he didn't like were to "f--- him like he's never been f----- before," or something like that.

Nice guy who's running our country there. Who cares if he is going to crash a wedding. He already has crashed the country.

Yaaawwwwn!

Really, this is the best you can do for blogging?

I'm amused by journalists and columnists who attempt to create salacious stories out of direct mail copy. If you've been around politics more than 10 minutes, you know direct mail writers routinely go over the top to grab the attention of less-sophisticated donors. Every fundraising operation does it because it works. Granted, you can't actually lie, but inflating routine political maneuvering to something sinister and audacious is a well-worn path to gathering much-needed campaign cash. That's what Herseth's fundraisers are doing in this piece, and it's not a real story. The Post is slipping lately.

The Odoriferous Turd that is Karl Rove is a menace to Democracy. The sooner we impeach his hapless boss, the sooner the Smelly Fat Tub of Lard will go to jail.

"Herseth's campaign solicitation references a "startling secret document" showing that Herseth is on Rove's hit list. (Though, in reality, it's anything but startling, since Herseth hails from South Dakota, a state that votes RED in presidential elections and tossed out Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle a few years back.)"

The secret document is referred to as startling, which it should be but isn't really. The fact that Herseth is on it is not.

The decline and fall of American journalism . . .

Hey, give her a break, she kind of looks like Tina Faye.

The GOP apparently learned nothing from Watergate. Karl Rove was up to his fat, bulbous head in the dirty tricks bureau headed up by Donald Sigretti during those infamous days. Now here we are 30 years later with another paranoid, delusionary President who thinks everyone is a potential "enemy", and who has a Chief of Staff who was intimately involved with the squalid architecture of dirty tricks, enemies lists, lurid intrigue and outright criminal activity that encouraged the entire Watergate episode. I can understand why the GOP might be seduced by Rove since his filthy tactics helped them stay in power for so long. What I cannot understand is why so many of the people in those red states cannot see this slimeyness for just what it is.

When third party candidate Ross Perot was polling strong against George H.W. Bush in 1992, Perot announced that he was withdrawing from the race because GOP operatives had threatened to humiliate his daughter on her wedding day.

Maybe Perot wasn't so delusional after all.

In addition to radically minizing the threat posed by the Rove machine, Mary Ann Akers' piece reeks of thinly veiled ad-hominum attacks, down to the bitter end. I'm amazed at the way she sneaks in the honeymoon in the Caribbean line. Am I to think this is an emabarament of riches? It's the woman's honeymoon for gosh-sakes! The uber wealthy wannabes of Akers' ilk love to demonstrate they're not alone in appreciating luxury. It makes them seem less greedy.

I believe there should be no cause for alarm.

Rove is a creation of the media and I want to believe the dude is not that cute when it comes to underground>; cheeky deals.

Apparently everything DOES come back around. During the 1992 campaign Ross Perot said he was pulling out of the race because the "dirty tricksters" at the Republican National Committee were planning to ruin his daughter's wedding. I worked at the RNC at the time. There was no such plan then, and I doubt such a plan now. There would be absolutely nothing to gain politically. It was a silly accusation in 1992, and it is even sillier in its recycled form.

Fascinating how all the blogs from your snotty nosed, vicious "liberals" can think of so many ways to hurl insults and nasty names. I just called them snotty nosed to see what it fels like, and even though I mean it I don't like the feeling. now I understand how they got to be so mean and nasty. They don'teven like themselves.

I know Liberals will do and say anything to tear down a Republican, especially one tht they see is as dangerous to them as Karl Rove. Notice how they've linked Rove to absolutely every bad thing that hs happened in the past 6 years. The eartquake in Pakistan, the Tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina... it's all part of a huge Reublican conspiracy and Rove s the puppet master. The only reason W won the 2004 election is because Rove and his minions stood in election booths in Ohio and forced 180,000 people to vote for Bush. And in 2000, Rove held a gun to the heads of the Supreme Court Justices and forced them to stop the recounts.
About the Hatch Act... from Wikipeia:
Active Federal employees may not:

-Be a candidate in a political election in which any candidate represents a political party
-Raise money for a partisan political campaign
-Allow their names to be used in any fundraising appeal on behalf of a partisan political campaign
-Participate in a phone bank that is engaged in fundraising for a partisan campaign
-Raise money for their union's political action committee from persons other than their fellow union members

It sounds like Rove was strategizing, which is not against the Hatch Act. But even if it was, Liberals ought to think before pointing fingers since their are quite a few federal employees violating this act for the benefit of Democrats, including their Golden Girl, Valerie Plame.

Isn't it funny how the rightwingers always cry about how someone is always looking for reasons to out the Republicans, how the Dems are always looking for something on the GOP, nitpicking I think they call it. I seem to remember they spent a lot of time and money, to find absolutely nothing on the Clinton's. I mean 365 days a year, 24/7 they looked for something, anything to sink their teeth into, but alas all they could find was he was getting a little head, while Newt was doing the same thing in the back of his limo. All I've got to say is, nobody died when Clinton lied, can the Bush machine say that?

My but we are a polarized bunch. I remember when our Prez ran on the unifying platform, based on his governorship in Texas. It was only later, of course, that the unification in Texas was more accurately attributed to the Lieutenant Governor. And now we see our nation pulled between the Reds and the Blues, as bad as we were split in the late 60's. Sweep him and Rove out, I say, just don't let him come back to Texas.

I wish my daddy had been a prominent pol so I could get elected, too! But I will say this: She's hot.

The Edward's are snake oil. Edwards won a lawsuit by fantasizing a baby being born; his part was enough to, buy a seat in the U.S. Congress and have enough to build the 28,000-foot monster and run for President twice. I think the state should condemn it and use it to house homeless. Edwards claims he is for poor people then let him be poor!! He does not deserve to be President of North Korea much less the United States, of America.