Thaindian News

Mar 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Karl Rowe, in a two day interview with Matt Lauer, stated that he does not deserve the reputation of a down and dirty political campaigner involved in smear tactics. He said that many of the tricks which he has gotten credit for were not him, but were the results of two different things- the media exaggerating events, or other people outright shifting blame.

One of these “dirty tricks” that he mentioned was the smear tactics which were sued against Senator John McCain during the 2000 Republican presidential primary campaign in South Carolina. The former senior adviser to President George W Bush insisted he had nothing to do with this and is not a negative campaigner. He said that he does not believe that the American public would be stupid enough to buy into the accusations against him. “You know, that’s a pretty nasty view of the American voting public,I have more respect for the American public than that. They’re not easily misled. They try and do a good thing when they go into the voting booth.”

One of the more dirty tricks that he is accused of being apart of was the rumor that circulated about McCain’s adopted child from Bangladesh. It was told to the press that the child was actually an illegitimate baby fathered by McCain with a black woman. Rove told Lauer that he had nothing to do with it. “I thought John McCain would seize it for what it was, which was an enormous opportunity to give an insight into who he and his wife are because Cindy McCain adopted a child from an orphanage in Bangladesh,” Rove told Lauer. “The story of this is an incredible tale of love and compassion. But rather than doing that, John McCain said, ‘I’m a victim,’ and was angry and complained about it and pointed the finger at Bush when he had no evidence whatsoever.”