. >> loss rove: inside karl rove's secret kingdom of power. will spend the hour with craig unger examining the return of karl rove -- the man who masterminded the rise of george w. bush from governor of texas to the presidency, advised bush during the two wars in iraq and afghanistan, who some claim helped seize the 2004 election and for bush and who was at the center of two of the biggest scandals of the bush ministration. today, how karl rove went from almost indicted to becoming the most powerful political operative in america. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. republican congress member todd akin has refused to drop out of missouri senate race, defying calls from leaders of his own party who say he could hurt republican chances this november. he sparked a national controversy over the weekend after he told an interviewer that women are somehow capable of blocking pregnancy during what he called a legitimate rape. republicans from presidential candidate mit

machine played in the rehabilitation of karl rove well as issues rove and roland if you go back. back to the nixon era roger ailes who of course is a chairman of fox news when he was in the nixon administration he put together a proposal for something called g.o.p. t.v. well now they've got it and if you look at the current campaign at one point there were five contenders for the republican nomination who were paid analyst on fox news and of course a six person was call wrote. so as i was watching this i thought well wow karl rove is wiring two hats he's both a commentator on the one hand the other he is the party boss and i begin to realize no he's not a commentator what you see here is really the behind the scenes fight in the republican party going on on live t.v. and when karl rove lashes out at sarah pail and he's saying look i'm the party boss i've got as it turns out ultimately about a billion dollars that i control and you're not getting any of it you're finished you are not going to be the candidate and if you look at the primaries one by one he would take shots at rick

you know at any rate that's how he ended up back in congress and because he's rove's boy he's the rove bot and the koch boy he is he was picked to be the the keynote for the republican congressional delegation if you can imagine so here's is this freshman from out of nowhere how did he get that slot rove bought a coke toy that's christian. how is a great guy i mean you did this you reported this for the b.b.c. and this and he. resigned. you know the coax got him into congress now you the story is your facts are not in dispute i mean is this stuff has been nailed down bobby kennedy is you know said this guy should be in jail how is it that the average american has no idea about this. you tell me tom because they don't listen to the thom hartmann show i'm not kidding i mean you've got this brain dead media i will say rarely p.b.s. through david brancaccio did pick it up for now ran our story but other than that it was top of the news front page top of the of the of the net were nightly news at b.b.c. all over the world but not in america that a criminal had helped clean the voter rolls o

craig unger wrote, "boss rove: inside karl rove's secret kingdom of power."t hits bookshelves on september 4. you can read and that served on -- an exceprt on democracynow.org. when we come back, the speech of clint eastwood, the mr. speaker. ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. from tampa, florida, this is "democracy now!" breaking with convention: war, peace and the presidency. this is our special daily to our coverage from the republican-to convention inside and out. next to make we will be doing the same thing in charlotte for the democratic convention. one unusual speech at the closing of the republic convention thursday generated so much attention it nearly threatened to overshadow romney's acceptance of the presidential nomination. the actor clint eastwood data rambling 11-8 minute address that appeared to be completely unscripted. during the speech, the 82-year- old actor addressed an empty chair the state's three pretended president obama was sitting. >> so have got mr. obama sittin

what's been going on in alabama to karl rove include grover norquist karl rove's best buddy who was in here best buddy one of his college buddies who didn't hear to what to do damage civilian and nine hundred ninety nine when i was trying to get the education lottery for our children so our kids could go to college for free rove also had. jack gave them all of them jack a. partner mike scanlon who came in and spent millions of dollars in this book since you spent twenty million dollars how about well and then i was his top priority and to quote i have a motto i had to be stopped and stopped me then he didn't stop you tube when i get up to run for election two thousand and six i was brought to trial one month before the election by the wife of karl rove's best friend who at the time was running this campaign and i want to say that with the u.s. attorney's husband was running my opponent's campaign while she and her office were bringing charges against me it doesn't take a genius to figure this out but the problem now is this is much more serious than just bringing down don so when you s

inside karl rove secret kingdom of our documents the return of karl rove following the disastrous bush administration and is set to hit shelves of temper for karl rove is promising to spend upwards of a half billion dollars this election to defeat president obama and progressives around the country so for a glimpse into what's motivating rove and how he works and what could happen at the succeeds praeger is the man to talk to joins me now from from his home craig welcome to the program great to have with you thanks for having me and in new york i should say what drew you to karl rove and in causing decide to write this particular book about this fellow well i think what was remarkable as if you go back to the zero eight election a lot of people were overwhelmed by the sense of hope and change that obama brought and the disaster of the bush presidency that is when bush left office he had started two wars that were ongoing rove had been forced out in disgrace really and was a prime suspect in the two biggest scandals of the bush era the u.s. attorney scandal and the valerie plame affair

some people are saying that karl rove's ten million dollar anonymous donation came from iran mahmoud ahmadinejad a strongly as shia muslim who's president of one of the few shia run states in the middle east some people are saying that ahmadinejad's a huge admirer of karl rove and a big supporter of the republican party after all george w. bush decided to bomb sunni iraq not shia iran giving ahmadinejad a heck of a lot more influence in the middle east and taking out sunny saddam hussein iran's biggest enemy against whom they fought a multi year war that cost them both billions of dollars and killed over a million people so some people are saying that the ten million dollar gift to rove is payback from shia iran for all the great things rove and bush did for them against the sunni muslims in addition some people are saying that the ten million dollar donation to karl rove as some strings attached that if romney wins the republicans take the senate then all those sanctions president obama put on shia iran would immediately be lifted and we might even go after another sunni run country

karl rove is bigger than the republican party. in texas, when george bush was governor, he took over the republican party's financing, started a political committee, and he has done the same thing here with a national republican party. he is everywhere. he is at these gatherings, meetings on thursday morning with his billionaire and millionaire superpac donors, he is a star everywhere he goes. he is very much an extraordinary figure representing the conservative establishment wing of the party. >> let's go to that crossroads pac ad. >> let's go to the fumble of the week. barack obama drops the ball. >> if you have a business, you did not build that. somebody else make that happen. >> team obama contests mccaul. >> they started slicing and dicing. those that took my words out of context. >> you heard the man. let's go to the tape. you did not build that. somebody else made that happen. >> nobody else made that happen? >> somebody else make that happen. >> sorry, mr. president. the tape is pretty clear. you are out of touch, out of

don spiegelman targeted by karl rove.s on today's show. >> ten years ago life was good for don spiegelman. >> what was the reaction to the piece. >> immediately people were standing up and saying, you got screwed. (vo) every news network will cover the convention. but only current coverage will put you at the collision of tv and social media. we'll provide unsurpassed insight into the most buzz worthy tweets, posts and pontifications, from the entire social stratosphere including you. join in, tweet us, and you could be a part of our on-air and online coverage. >>now that is politically direct. so, you guys grew up together. yes, since third grade... what are you lookin' at? not looking at i anything... we're not good enough for you. must be supermodels? what do you model gloves? brad, eat a snickers. why? 'cause you get a little angry when you're hungry. better? [ male announcer ] you're not you when you're hungry™. better. [ male announcer ] snickers satisfies. (vo) now, it's your turn. (vo) connect with the young turks

. >> karl rove said he would be a good choice. even grover norquist put in a good word at c pac. >> we want the paul ryan budget. we want the president to sign this stuff. pick a republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the united states. >> congressman ryan has been a top contender in the mitt romney veep stakes. he's in the running with senator rob portman and minnesota former governor tim pawlenty. in the last 24 hours, ryan's stock has doubled on in trade. a site based in ireland that takes political bets. so far, traders have reportedly bet almost $18 million on romney's pick for vice president. paul ryan's gained almost ten points in the trading so far. but not all conservatives think ryan would be the best pick and the best bet. a republican stalwart is calling for much more conservative vice president. and joining me tonight is richard viguerie. the man we're talking about. he is the chairman of the conservative hq.com. good to have you on the program. you have been -- >> always good to

. >> karl rove has said ryan would be a good choins. even grover norquist put in a good word for ryan at c-pac. >> we know what tredirection we want to go. we want the paul ryan budget. pick a republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the united states. >> paul ryan has become a top contender in the mitt romney viep stakes. he's in the running with rob portman and tim pawlenty. in the last 24 hours, ryan's stock has doubled over intrade. it's a site based in ireland that takes political bets. so far, traders have reportedly bet almost $18 million on romney's pick for vice president. paul ryan's gained almost 10 points in the trading so far. but not all conservatives think ryan would be the best pick and the best bet. a republican stalwart is calling for a much more conservative vice president. and joining me tonight is richard bigary, the chairman of hq.com. good to have you with us on the program. you have been -- >> always good to be with you, ed. >> you bet, sir. you have been quoted in the "new yor

it was even scarier to watch karl rove rapping in person than on the tv.manage. >> emcee rove. ♪ it's fun it to come to the dnc ♪ >> colin powell is equally musically challenged. here he is singing at a security meeting in indonesia. and bad boy blagojevich is caught on camera taking on elvis. ♪ >> yikes. don't quit your day jobs, fellows. oh, wait, never mind. perhaps they should have made a speedy escape like president bush tried to do after this press conference. >> this was one of the famous episodes with george bush looking like he didn't know what he was doing because he didn't even know where the door was. >> i was trying to escape. >> and talk about wanting to escape, who can forget vice president dan quayle exercising his spelling expertise in front of the cameras. >> add one little bit on the end. potato. >> you write phonetically. there you go. >> there you go. >> i wouldn't try your luck at, are you smarter than a fifth grader, dan. >> i guess he was wrong and i was right. >> and speaking of a gaffe with an "e" on the end, here's a technical on

it will rove around for two years drilling into the rocks ann curry liesing if there was life or mars or organic material but it's not going to discover anything. >> stephen: well, thank you so much for joining us. >> but the scientists on earth are going to discover incredible things. it's going to be two years of amazing science. >> stephen: the robot will get information it won't make the connection. >> yes. >> stephen: you scared me for a moment. i thought it was a cash dump for the government. >> i don't think opportunity is that lonely. >> stephen: what are you trying to discover? this is the first mission where we sent an organic chemistry laboratory to the surface of mars with the high def cameras, roving capable, an arm that can dpliel rock i. it will take the rock and look to see if mars ever had an environment that could have sustained life. >> stephen: what is the line that we cross in our discovery that we go that is there is or was life on mar snrches it's a tough road. this rover may not tell us the answer but gives us a big leap. organic compounds, the kind of things t

we're not just talking about karl rove's group or the koch brothers group.'ll see a lot of liberal groups doing it. >> earlier this year, karl rove appeared on fox news and defended the right of american crossroads to keep secret the names of its donors. >> we've seen this before in the 1940's and 1950's, state attorney general's attended to force a particular 501c4 to intimidate people into not giving to that organization. the group was the naacp, which is a 5 01c4 it does not disclose its donors. the supreme court and in 1954 upheld the right of organizations like that not to make their donors' names public. let's be honest. this is about a group of people on the left who have used this vehicle to run advertising and run attacks on republicans for years, and i object when republicans begin to duplicate their tactics. they want to intimidate people into not giving to these conservative efforts. i think it is shameful and a sign of their fear of democracy. it goes to show the base of the motions and philosophy behind most of this >> kim barker, that was karl

carl rove, everybody. next on the run down, democrat will reply to mr. rove. later, bernie goldberg and adam corolla both weigh in on dumb voters and >> bill: continuing now with lead story. reaction to paul ryan selection as mitt romney's running mate. joining us now from washington democratic congressman dennis kucinich. so, in the beginning, just right after the announcement was made on saturday morning, some democrats go oh, this is great for us. paul ryan is an extremist and that's what the "new york times" said today as i pointed out on talking points memo. do you feel that way? do you feel like this is a slam dunk for your party, this is a great thing? >> no. this election is up for grabs. with the economy being what it is, with unemployment, with trade, china trade in particular, we're still at war. there is a lot of issues that are going to be discussed that will determine the outcome of the election and, frankly, i'm glad that paul ryan is in the race because his position in the race will help define the issues in a much clearer way than any other ca

carl rove, everybody. next on the run down, democrat will reply to mr. rove. later, bernie goldberg and adam corolla both weigh in on dumb voters and attacking paul ryan coming right back. max. this is the plan that revolves around you. introducing share everything. unlimited talk. unlimited text. and a single pool of sharable data that powers up to 10 devices. the first pl of it's kind. share everything. only from verizon. add a smartphone for just $40 monthly access. [ slap! slap! slap! ] [ music, laughter stop ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite foods fight you, fight back fast with tums smoothies. so fast and smooth, you'll forget you had heartburn. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums [ male announcer ] tums smoothies. >> bill: continuing now with lead story. reaction to paul ryan selection as mitt romney's running mate. joining us now from washington democratic congressman dennis kucinich. so, in the beginning, just right after the announcement was made on saturday morning, some democrats go oh, this is great for us. paul ryan is an extremist and that's what the "

that is what karl rove is talking about. it has become a big issue on the campaign trail as president obama p and his challenger mitt romney battle over the work requirement. mitt romney says the president is trying to get the work requirement out of welfare while the administration calls the claim misleading. >> section 402 which mentions 407 in order to claim the authority under 402 gives them a right to ignore that part of the statute. they say they are going to in essence issue approval to policies. i am quoting from their own paper that involves quote definition of work activities and engagement exce specified limitations. that's what 407 is all about. they are using authority in one part of the law to say we are going to find a way to do what we can't do under the statute which is wave the tough rules that is require people to work in order to get welfare and limit how long they can be on welfare. further indication of what they are going to do they said they are not likely to approve any policy waivers that are quote

carl rove, everybody. next on the run down, democrat will reply to mr. rove. later, bernie goldberg and adam corolla both weigh in on adam corolla both weigh in on dumb voters and [ male announcer ] we imagined a vehicle that cod adapt to changing road conditions. one that continually monitors and corrects for wheel slip. we imagined a vehicle that can increase emergency braking power when you need it most. and we imagined it looking like nothing else on the road today. then...we built it. the 2012 glk. where bold engineering meets bold design. join mercedes-benz usa on facebook for the best summer sweepstakes. i have to know the weather patterns. i upgraded to the new sprint direct connect. so i can get three times the coverage. [ chirp ] [ manager 2 ] it's like working in a giant sandbox with all these huge toys. and with the fastest push-to-talk... i can keep track of them all. [ chirp ] [ chirp ] [ male announcer ] upgrade to the new "done." with access to the fastest push-to-talk and three times the coverage. now when you buy one kyocera duracore rugged p

karl rove, the man that george w.he architect is leading the charge to make sure republicans win the white house, but keep a majority in the house of representatives and take back the senate and if political predictions are correct, we haven't seen anything yet when it comes to rove rain making and i'm not talking about the tampa strip clubs. at the table. robert tranum, and associate professor of law and buddy romer, and cornell bechlcher. this is what you guys fundamentally tried to bring me last hour. the convention is really about the money. make the case for me. >> the convention sets a 1980 law have had a loophole which allowed for corporate giving and don't have to report giving until october. so the conventions have historically been a place where you bring together money donors and politicians. this time, of course, the super pacs playing an active role there is a great story detailing many of the parties given by the super pacs. >> are you saying this is just the beginning? >> yes. the two cases, citizens un

do you believe karl rove is still weaving his magic behind the scenes? the biggest stories here is really going on off camera. and we've had this narrative, this spectacle repeated again and again to thousands of romper reporters. dozens and dozens of millionaires were being entertained by the romney campaign. they hid their badges so reporters would not know who they were. you have the casino magnet here who plans to give $100 million to the campaign. >> the democrats, even though president obama vowed never to get involved with super pacs has done a complete u-turn, he has his own super pac sometimes manned by the white house. isn't it as simple as that? >> it is as simple as that but the democrats -- why should the democrats fight with one hand behind their back? >> what about principle? what about saying we're not going to try to win this by zsh that's a recipe -- you have david coke in the new york delegation saying he will give as much as $400 million. even wall street journal's own colleagues are saying isn't this a complete perversion of the elec

bush did and karl rove did for eight years. you know, senator lott, yeah, you're the majority leader, guess what, you're not anymore. you're right, this was very convenient. but it's about time. >> mark halpern? >> they don't have an out yet. they still haven't figured it out. we haven't heard from roy blount, the republican senator from missouri. he could be decisive in this. i will say -- i take a little bit of exception with john. i think some republicans have reacted not just out of political expediency but because they're offended by what congressman akin said. the importance for the republican party here is from an electoral point of view is the female vote and the romney campaign can say this doesn't really concern us, this isn't part of what we're talking about. they is to close the gender gap. the voters will decide this if you were to pick one group, it probably slightly older women and the republicans need to get right with this as quickly as possible and move on. as long as akin's there, the senate seat is in perily

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smartech is featured prominently "bossig unger's new book, rove: inside karl rove's secret kingdom ofower." he talked about blackwell and smartech last week on "democracy now!" >> somehow or other in 2004, in the state of ohio, which was the single most crucial state in the electoral college, when it came to the actual voting, the secretary of state of ohio, a guy named ken blackwell -- and the secretary of state's job, part is to ensure fair, nonpartisan elections he happen to be co-chair of the bush campaign. there is no conflict there. he gave a contract to host the fail oversight for the republican -- rather, for the vote in 2004 to none other than smartech. this is where things went crazy. as the votes came in, it was clear it was one to be an all- nighter in terms of the results. around 11:00, florida was called for bush. that meant the entire fate of the election hinged on ohio. suddenly, the servers for the secretary of state's computers -- >> ohio secretary of state. >> exactly. they needed to lock into the fail oversight with smartech in chattanooga. this is when the results

karl rove is right behind him. we're going to try to follow him. mr. adelson, your thoughts on the romney/ryan ticket? >> no time. >> we're trying to follow karl rove and children adelson down the hall. -- sheldon adelson down the hall. how much money are you going to spend on this election? >> get off me. >> he is just walking. >> i did not touch her, she ran back in to me. she just grabs our camera. this woman grabbed our camera. >> there was a loud noise from the sound of "democracy now!" video camera hitting the ground. mike burke attempted to question the billionaire casino sheldon adelson the woman described as his daughter grabbed the camera from hany massoud, then attempted to take the camera into a private suite. she then drop the camera on the ground. our senior producer mike burke joins us to describe what happened. explain. >> we were on the fifth floor of the tampa bay times forum, the site of the republican national convention and hany massoud -- was that most of the day walking along the hallways or the corporate suites are, try to find

i asked karl rove a bit about this.t seem, for his candidate, his party's candidate to be alarmed. but i went through the swing states and president obama is way ahead with the women's vote, likely voters in the swing states. tell me your thoughts on this? >> greta, that's the -- this is the whole reason obama is in it -- i mean, because of his strength with women. and the problem that romney has in closing the gap, he started to close the gap a little bit, right after the republican nominations. but it's starting to widen again with women. look, i think, you know, it's on issues like contraception and not just the women's health. but when you get to the ryan budget on cuts and med air and social security, again, women who are going to vote a lot more, higher percentage in this election, than men will -- live longer than men and tend to be more worried about social security, medicare and their health care. there is a lot of reasons this isn't working out for romney right now. and you put women next to the leads that oba

i think he's going to call karl rove's bluff and say, i'm going to stick in this. if i'm three points down, you're going to support my candidacy with more money because the senate means more to you than the issue of forcible or legitimate rape. >> legitimate rape. the president was right when he used the word offensive today, joan. i want to bring up that obviously the president is leading in double digits when it comes to polling of women who are going to support him. do you think the gap is going to widen because of the whole thing? >> i think so. it's clear the republican party can't keep their laws out of our lady parts, and women are getting the picture so clearly, too clearly, more clearly than we ever wanted to see it, ed. it's terrible. >> great to have you with us. thank you. >>> today, president obama said mitt romney is making a falsehood the centerpiece of his campaign. richard wolffe will join me. >> then new developments in the republican effort to block the vote. an ohio official makes a shocking admission. find out who is getting targeted in america

jonathan, your super pac linked to karl rove. it was monday, i believe, that joe scarborough said listen, karl rove and the other heavyweights of this party will have to get out front and show this man they're not backing him. american crossroads, the president released a statement stephen law saying representative akin faces a simple choice, will he help democrats hold the mccaskill and potentially the senate majority by staying in the race. here we are now, he is still in the race and not backing down. what are your feelings? >> first of all, todd akin's candidacy is dead, whether he realizes that or not. he's probably taking a poll and will be able to determine that condition cluesively. the facts are his candidacy is dead. there's no way he can win. as long as he's on the ballot, we cannot be talking about the issues that matter most to americans, economy, taxes, debt. instead we're talking about todd akin. he needs to leave the ballot for the good of his country. we can move on to bigger and better things. >> you've said dem

inside karl rove's secret kingdom of power and don't forget democracy begins with you get out there get active tag your it. with. its technology innovations all the developments around russia we've got the future covered. i've. seen. wealthy british style not. the time to. go. to. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. we will not spend the next four years blaming others we will take responsibility we will not try to replace our founding principles we will read apply our founding principles. are and seize feet there is get down to business painting president obama as an unfit leader and pushing party platforms but while republicans bask in the pomp and circumstance misinformation and watered down speeches dominated last night's rally will tell you how we marched return to our best traditions of american leadership and support those who faced down the brutal tyranny of their oppressors. but when the punchlines and rounds of applause john mccain and

and a lot of that has to do with karl rove. i think a lot of democrats hoped that they were done with karl rove at the end of the bush administration. he is back, and in full stride, and has helped to engineer kind of a network of republican groups that can coordinate with one another, although not the romney campaign-- and may send $600 million. one last key point-- they're going to put a lot of money into the fight for congress, bob. we spend a lot of time talking about the white house race. control of congress will be essential. will we have more deadlock or a president who can push through an ambitious agenda? and i think particularly on the congressional fights in the senate battle, in particular, rove and the republicans will have more money to spend. >> schieffer: julianna what can we expect now from the campaign, the obama campaign? >> you just look at the front page of the "new york times," and the money race is huge. $400 million spent since the beginning of last year through june, $tonight million in the month of jun