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Rove, roving The Power of OneBy Rick Horowitz "Some in Administration Grumble As Aide's Role Seems to Expand" Ripped from the headlines "Good morning, Mr. President. Sorry to disturb you -- Mr. Rove is here to see you." "No problem, send him -- Karl! C'mon in! How's it goin'?" "Just fine, Mr. President. Didn't mean to bother you while you're still getting dressed. If you'd rather, I can -- " "Don't worry about it -- we can talk while I finish up. I got your note on the farm thing. I hated to do it, deficit-wise, but you're right: We want a shot at taking back the Senate, we have to spend some big -- what's wrong?" "Nothing. I was just wondering about that shirt." "What's wrong with it?" "I was thinking maybe something with a little less pattern..." "You don't like stripes?" "I'm not sure they do you justice, sir. How about a nice pastel solid? You always look good in those. Maybe a light blue." "Well, let me see what we've -- with Laura away, I'm pretty much on my own on this stuff. I just figured I'd -- here's one. Light enough?" "That looks fine. I'd go with that one." "Not the gray?" "That one, definitely." "You got it. You know, Colin offered to come by, said he could give me a hand with some of this. Combine it with the morning briefing or something, I don't -- " "No need to bother Colin, sir -- he's got plenty on his plate already, with the Middle East and all. Besides, I think we've got it covered. That looks nice." "Really?" "It's a good color for you. You know, on that Middle East thing, I've been thinking: You want to be an honest broker over there. On the other hand, politically speaking, we can't afford to have too much daylight between you and Sharon." "Right." "So anyway, I jotted down a few talking points for you to consider. I'll leave it here on your nightstand, OK?" "Condi hates it when I get foreign-policy advice from -- " "Amateurs? Look, sir, I'm sure Condi has your best interests at heart -- as we all do. Anyway, you don't have to say where you got it. And I've also got some points here for you on the whole Carter-Castro trip." "You think he's losing his grip on the Cubists?" "The Cubans." "Whatever." "Too soon to tell. But the important thing is that we don't lose our grip on Florida! The polling we've been -- you're not going to wear that tie, are you?" "You don't like it?" "It's the wrong blue for the shirt. Don't you have anything with a little green in it? You've got that tree-huggers event this afternoon -- it wouldn't hurt." "How's this one?" "Better. And let me -- here, if you comb it across like this... oh, much better!" "You think so? I never wore it like that before." "You just listen to Ol' Karl now. Ol' Karl's got it all under control..." Posted 5/14/02. You've
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Rick Horowitz
