Karl Rove says he's "furious."
He's furious at the president's "lies" about Obamacare.
He's still furious about Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
And the agitated Republican mastermind is banking on Florida to help turn things around in 2012.
In an exclusive interview with Sunshine State News, Rove said Floridians, along with the rest of the country, have finally awakened to a grim political and economic reality.
"Florida thought [Obama] was a centrist in 2008; 2012 will be much more competitive," he predicted.
Rove, who helped George W. Bush win Texas' governorship and the presidency, and was Bush's senior White House adviser from 2000-2007, is widely regarded as the country's premier political wunderkind.
Today, he heads the nation's largest conservative fund-raising machine, American Crossroads. Calling Crossroads a "counterweight" to the Democratic Party's money-laundering operation run by public-sector unions, he vows to collect $120 million for GOP candidates this election cycle.
Last year, Crossroads raised $71 million in just 29 weeks. More than $4 million was funneled to Florida GOP Senate candidate Marco Rubio and selected U.S. House hopefuls.
Rove singled out Reps. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and newly elected Allen West, R-Boca Raton, for high praise.
"Rooney has been wonderful. He took on the House leadership in killing the second-engine project," Rove noted. The $3 billion fighter jet-engine venture was pushed by House Speaker John Boehner, whose Ohio district is home to the factory that would have manufactured them.
Rove applauded West as a "remarkably articulate spokesman" and a "powerful voice" for conservative principles. Rove forecast that West, with help from GOP redistricting, should hold onto his seat in 2012 after wresting it from Democrat Ron Klein last year.
While Rooney and West rock the Republican establishment, Rove praised another party insurgent: Gov. Rick Scott.
"He did the smart thing on high-speed rail," Rove said. "It wasn't free money, and there was very little likelihood that it would ever work."
A PASS FOR MICA, NOT FOR NELSON
Interestingly, and somewhat surprisingly, Rove also had kind words for Rep. John Mica, the veteran Florida congressman who chairs the House Transportation Committee.
"Mica has supported the ban on earmarks, and he's joined with the Appropriations Committee in pulling back high-speed rail funding that had yet to be allocated," Rove said approvingly, while giving him a pass for supporting the derailed Florida train.
Such munificence did not extend to Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who worked with Mica in a vain effort to keep the $2.4 billion federal stimulus package on track. The two-term senator will face a tough re-election fight in 2012, Rove predicts, because "he doesn't have a particularly distinguished record."
Florida's tea parties have set their sights on both Mica and Nelson, and Rove says he appreciates their vigor. Speaking about tea party activists in Florida and nationally, Rove sees an enduring movement for positive change.
"They don't see themselves in a political context. It's an army of persuasion that's determined to hold politicians' feet to the fire.
"It's grass-roots, and it's diverse," he said.
In person, Rove comes off as much warmer and far more personable than he was portrayed in Oliver Stone's movie, "W." But, above all, he is a walking, talking political encyclopedia, mastering detailed, county-by-county knowledge of America's electoral landscape.
Well-traveled in his youth -- he attended colleges in Utah, Maryland, Virginia and Texas -- the 60-year-old Karl Christian Rove keeps up a hectic pace on the lecture and pundit circuit.
In a swing through Florida this week, the Fox News commentator and Wall Street Journal columnist took off the gloves at a Lincoln Day Dinner speech to Indian River County Republicans.
Blasting Obama's stimulus-fueled spending, which increased federal outlays by 84 percent in less than two years, Rove calculated that U.S. debt has risen to 62 percent of the gross domestic product -- and climbing.
"He could have stepped up and reversed course in his State of the Union address. But he cannot control himself," Rove fumed.
'DOUBLE COUNTING' AT THE WHITE HOUSE
A big driver of future spending will be what Rove calls the "fraudulent" health-care law.
"This law won't cut premiums by $2,500, as was advertised. It will do just the opposite. Costs will rise 40 percent faster under Obamacare."
Rove predicted that Florida's seniors are getting a wake-up call as 700,000 Medicare Advantage customers are kicked off the rolls. Physicians, meanwhile, have said the new rules will force them to spend less time with Medicare patients.
McKinsey & Co. has independently estimated that 80 million Americans will lose their current health-care coverage, despite Obama's pledge that "If you like your current plan, you can keep it."
"This is the backdoor to a single-payer plan where government runs the system," said Rove.
Outlining a host of tax increases and "double counting" accounting schemes used to fund Obamacare, Rove cited House budget chairman Paul Ryan's analysis that puts the program $700 billion in the red within 10 years.
"It's an utter disaster and puts us on the path to bankruptcy," the Texan said.
Amid rising concern over Obamacare and White House economic policies, Rove said Republican presidential contenders must make a three-way constructive case to win in 2012.
"You have to create a compelling narrative that answers the question, 'Why you?'" You also have to prepare for that unseen, unpredictable moment which will tell the public you're up for the job," he said.
Most of all, he added, the successful challenger to Obama must unite the Republican Party and reach out to independents, as Ronald Reagan did in capturing "Reagan Democrats."
At this juncture, Rove is not willing to place a bet on any Republican. None, he suggests, holds all three keys to victory.
For now, Rove and his American Crossroads operatives are aggressively raising funds to counter Big Labor's clout, while attacking the Obama administration, particularly on health care.
"There have been 3 million waivers granted, most of them to trade unions," Rove reports. "We have filed a Freedom of Information Act request to see who did and didn't get waivers, and why.
"The administration is strong-arming us, and if it continues, a lawsuit will be coming," he vowed.
Coming from a man who Democratic consultant James Carville called the "pre-eminent political strategist in the U.S. today," Rove clearly is up for the fight.
Click here for a look at Crossroads' latest video skewering unions and Obama.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or (772) 801-5341.
