# Karl Rove having a gay affair?! With an Arabic-named criminal?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 28, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553 "2012-06-28T06:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/21 "2012-06-28T16:44:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m wondering why we’re supposed to care about any of this. I’m trying to figure out which part I _least_ care about. So far “Arabic-named” is in the lead since it’s so badly shoehorned into the story. Why would Rove go away over this? A lot of people already despise the guy and conservatives will still appreciate if he’s trying to win elections for them. Agreed. There are three possible ways this could develop. 1. The story is false. Rove denies everything and accuse liberals of making up lies to attack him because he’s a conservative. Conservatives believe Rove. 2. The story is true. Rove denies everything and accuse liberals of making up lies to attack him because he’s a conservative. Conservatives believe Rove. 3. The story is true. Rove admits it’s true and says he now supports gay marriage so he and Akbar can wed. #1 and #2 work out pretty much the same and I’d rank #3 as an outlier. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/22 "2012-06-28T16:49:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m wondering why we’re supposed to care about any of this. I’m trying to figure out which part I _least_ care about. So far “Arabic-named” is in the lead since it’s so badly shoehorned into the story. Why would Rove go away over this? A lot of people already despise the guy and conservatives will still appreciate if he’s trying to win elections for them. The Arabic-name part matters because Rove rose to fame and infamy as the brains behind a neocon warhawk administration which, if it did not actually demonize Arabs/Muslims as such, certainly benefited from RWs doing so and did not discourage them. Both parts matter because they undermine Rove’s credibility with the RW base. ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/23 "2012-06-28T17:14:37Z")
I’m sorry…I have to. “It’s a Trap!!” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/24 "2012-06-28T17:45:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **BigAppleBucky** : > > And it’s pretty amazing that a switch hitter would be so rabidly anti-gay. Where have you been for the past couple of decades? _All_ of the rabid anti-gay folks are themselves gay. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/25 "2012-06-28T17:49:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Where have you been for the past couple of decades? _All_ of the rabid anti-gay folks are themselves gay. A Theocon’s holy and pious But it seems that his judgment is biased By his mind filled with floods Of the cries of hung studs: “Come into the closet and try us!” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/26 "2012-06-28T18:13:31Z")
Simpson has claimed for years that she had close ties to Rove, including that Rove ordered her to get pictures of Siegelman cheating on his wife and that she once attended a KKK meeting undercover at Rove’s behest. I don’t think she’s ever been able to substantiate any of these claims, or even that she ever worked for the Republican party, other than her own assertions. It will be interesting to see if she comes forward with anything to back this claim up. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/27 "2012-06-28T18:28:46Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The Arabic-name part matters because Rove rose to fame and infamy as the brains behind a neocon warhawk administration which, if it did not actually demonize Arabs/Muslims as such, certainly benefited from RWs doing so and did not discourage them. Except all the times Bush said Islam is a religion of peace, which drove a lot of right-wingers absolutely batshit. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/28 "2012-06-28T18:40:07Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Simpson has claimed for years that she had close ties to Rove, including that Rove ordered her to get pictures of Siegelman cheating on his wife and that she once attended a KKK meeting undercover at Rove’s behest. I don’t think she’s ever been able to substantiate any of these claims, or even that she ever worked for the Republican party, other than her own assertions. It will be interesting to see if she comes forward with anything to back this claim up. If she’s lying, then Karl Rove is the victim of a false and malicious rumor, meant to undermine his reputation, that now will spread virally and unstoppably through the blogosphere and by email-spam. Goodness, how delicious! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/29 "2012-06-28T19:46:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > If she’s lying, then Karl Rove is the victim of a false and malicious rumor, meant to undermine his reputation, that now will spread virally and unstoppably through the blogosphere and by email-spam. > > Goodness, how delicious! 😃 Only if assholes work hard enough at spreading the lie, even though they know it’s false. Of course one would have to be a pretty contemptible scumbag to do something like that. I mean, come on - what kind of hypocrite would condemn Rove for doing things, and then turn around and do exactly the same thing? One would really have to be a two-faced, lying shit head to do something as low as that. I know that on the SDMB, liberals have been known to claim that they are better people than conservatives, so I am sure nobody hereabouts would do anything as ugly as spreading rumors about their opponents via e-mail or the blogosphere. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/30 "2012-06-28T21:13:41Z")
Not knowing or caring anything about Rove’s personal life, I’m just curious - _has_ he made public anti-gay statements? I was under the impression he was more of a behind-the-scenes-strategist kinda guy. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/31 "2012-06-28T21:22:29Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Not knowing or caring anything about Rove’s personal life, I’m just curious - has he made public anti-gay statements? I was under the impression he was more of a behind-the-scenes-strategist kinda guy. [/QUOTE] Could be mis-remembering, but I seem to recall that Rove always opposed the Republicans rhetoric on the gay issue (IIRC, and ironically, so did Chaney and Bush himself was uncomfortable with a lot of the over the top rhetoric). I think on this issue you have a big difference between the fundie Republicans and, say, the neo-Cons who were more interest in how they looked when flying in their cape or stopping bullets with an upraised hand. -XT ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/32 "2012-06-28T21:42:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Only if assholes work hard enough at spreading the lie, even though they know it’s false. Well, we don’t know that yet either, do we? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/33 "2012-06-28T21:44:10Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Could be mis-remembering, but I seem to recall that Rove always opposed the Republicans rhetoric on the gay issue (IIRC, and ironically, so did Chaney and Bush himself was uncomfortable with a lot of the over the top rhetoric). I think on this issue you have a big difference between the fundie Republicans and, say, the neo-Cons who were more interest in how they looked when flying in their cape or stopping bullets with an upraised hand. > > -XT Problem was, they could never protest too much, because they always needed those religious-right votes to win. And usually got them. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/34 "2012-06-28T23:06:11Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Could be mis-remembering, but I seem to recall that Rove always opposed the Republicans rhetoric on the gay issue (IIRC, and ironically, so did Chaney and Bush himself was uncomfortable with a lot of the over the top rhetoric). I think on this issue you have a big difference between the fundie Republicans and, say, the neo-Cons who were more interest in how they looked when flying in their cape or stopping bullets with an upraised hand. > > -XT As much as I’d personally like to see that tub of gelatinous goo named Karl Rove rendered in a large cauldron and made into Christmas Elf Candles - I gotta say I don’t have a recollection of him, or W, pushing the anti-gay rhetoric. I’ve always seen W at least as gay-OK. But obviously they weren’t going to argue with their fundie supporters about it. As for the “swarthy Arab” dog-whistle, again remember the pictures of W holding hands with his Saudi buddies? As much as the grass-roots morons thinks we’re against all Arabs, the W administration went to great lengths to parse that out in public comments. So, I’m not seeing any hypocrisy angle in this. That said - yeah, my gaydar pinged on Rove from the start… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/35 "2012-06-29T03:03:02Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Karl Rove has poor taste in men. That isn’t news. No, Rove has pretty good taste in men; it’s Ali Albar who has poor taste in men. And believe it or not, there are many people of both sexes who would find Rove hot. Not me, though. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/36 "2012-06-29T03:10:42Z")
Is this kind of stupidity now allowed in GD? Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/37 "2012-06-29T03:20:11Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Is this kind of stupidity now allowed in GD? I agree, quite honestly. Vicious gossip (and make no mistake, whether it’s false, as it almost certainly is, or true, it’s vicious) is a far cry from a great debate. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/38 "2012-06-29T03:26:16Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I agree, quite honestly. Vicious gossip (and make no mistake, whether it’s false, as it almost certainly is, or true, it’s vicious) is a far cry from a great debate. Vicious is not always inappropriate; and this could well have political ramifications. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/39 "2012-06-29T03:35:24Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Vicious is not always inappropriate; and this could well have political ramifications. :roll eyes: If you think anyone believes that that is your motivation for this steaming pile, I doubt you’re right. Even those who will pat you on the back. ---
**Author:** ![mister\_nyx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@mister\_nyx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_nyx)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553/40 "2012-06-29T03:38:01Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Where have you been for the past couple of decades? _All_ of the rabid anti-gay folks are themselves gay. :rolleyes: Please. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/karl-rove-having-a-gay-affair-with-an-arabic-named-criminal/626553.md?page=3)