New York Daily News - September 6, 2006
[Rush & Molloy]
Bio: Karl loved roving gay stepdad
Cut! Bush adviser Karl Rove had some editing tips for his biographers. They declined his advice.
President Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove, has cunningly used homophobia to score victories for the Republican Party. But Rove is said to have been far from fearful of the gay man he called "Dad."
According to a new bio, Rove "loved and adored" his stepfather, Louis Rove, even though the Getty Oil geologist abandoned Karl's mother, Reba, to live as a homosexual.
In their new book, "The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power," James Moore and Wayne Slater say some believe Louis' running off contributed to Reba's suicide. Nevertheless, Karl visited his stepfather in Palm Springs at least twice a year and often shared dinner with Louis and his pals, according to the book.
"He lived life exactly the way he wanted to live it," Rove said of Louis, who died two years ago. Louis' friend Joseph Koons said that although Louis "was never the effeminate type," he "didn't hide the fact that he was gay."
Slater tells us that Rove, who obtained an early galley of the Crown book, had an intermediary press the authors to leave out the section about his father. "We told him we have a couple of sources on that," says Slater. "We haven't heard anything since."
Slater says Rove himself called daily — "one day, six times" — to lobby against a chapter about his connection with indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The book quotes Marc Schwartz, an operative for Texas' Tigua Indian tribe, as witnessing a scene where Rove walked up to Abramoff's limo a few blocks from the White House. Schwartz says Abramoff explained that Rove arranged the sidewalk pow-wow to avoid entering a visit or phone calls in White House logs, and besides, "he's a fat f—, and he can use the exercise."
Schwartz claims Rove enlisted Abramoff to get "the fireman," Tom DeLay, to "clamp down" on a House member "who was not cooperating on a piece of legislation."
"Karl is very upset," says Slater. "He says [that meeting] was an accidental encounter. That's a bunch of junk."
Among other savories in the book:
* When Rove moved into the West Wing office formerly occupied by Hillary Clinton, he called in three Catholic priests to exorcise the spirit of the First Lady. "It was an actual liturgical ceremony," says Deal Hudson, who took part.
* Texas' then-Gov. George W. Bush once asked a reporter, "You know what I'm gonna tell those Jews when I get to Israel, don't you, Herman?" When the journalist, Ken Herman, replied that he did not know, Bush reportedly quipped: "I'm telling 'em they're all going to hell."
* Bush has little regard for his father's record, according to the authors. "Don't underestimate what you can learn from a failed presidency," he once told campaign media consultant Don Sipple.