People were on to Rove early. Didn't do any good!

Here's a Robert Reich article in The American Prospect from Feb. 1, 2003 before the Bushlings got their war on. Keypoints:

"Using techniques developed by his first mentor, dirty-tricks strategist Donald Segretti, Rove infiltrated Democratic organizations on behalf of Nixon's infamous 1972 campaign."

"Now Rove is masterminding the Bush administration's press strategy, but it's far more than a press strategy. It's the central strategy for how the public understands what George W. Bush is doing to and for America. In an important sense, it is the Bush presidency."

"But Rove has convinced the press, and therefore the American public, that this presidency is nearly invincible. He has done it with an ingenious blend of chicanery and obfuscation, aided by the Democrats' utter incapability of devising a coherent message in response."

Reich goes on to explain the methodology and nails it. Check it out.

Is Rove weakened now? Can he be stopped? Does that explain why the methodology is failing now, as the voices of Cheney, Bush, Rice, McClellan, Rumsfeld and others cranking the machine ring shrill and false instead of authoritative and compelling?

Yes.