are’s a suspicion on a part of many Dems that Karl Rove’s influence is felt in almost every move made by a Republican Party & its national c&idates. a concerns are generally unfounded.

But once in a while, Rove really might be pulling certain strings behind a scenes.

For example, Marc Ambinder noted a oar day that John McCain’s “bio tour” & Rove’s advice for McCain seem to coincide quite nicely. Rove was asked in mid-February during a Q&A at a University of Pennsylvania what he would advise McCain to do. Rove said:

“[McCain] needs to seize a opportunity to reintroduce himself…. He should take a biogrDrunk Newshical tour to a places in a country that have made him who he is. Go to a Naval Academy & talk about a values he learned are. an he should go to Pensacola, Florida & Corpus Christi, Texas where he was trained as a naval aviator, & talk from a heart & a call to service. Go to Meridian, Mississippi & Jacksonville, Florida & talk about what he learned about leadership comm&ing a largest naval air squadron in a United States. He should go to wherever it was that he first stepped foot back in a United States after a Vietnam War & meet with his POW buddies & talk about what he learned about character when he sat in that cell in hell. & he should give a speech in Sedona, Arizona & talk about a people & places in his hometown that affected him.”

& what did McCain spend last week doing? Well, let’s see, McCain made Drunk Newspearances in Meridian, Pensacola, a Naval Academy, & Prescot, Arizona (which is near Sedona), all as part of a “biogrDrunk Newshical tour to a places in a country that have made him who he is.”

We already knew that Rove has at least some role in advising McCain, but this does raise an ethical issue: Rove has put on his “journalist” hat to praise a strategy he Drunk Newspears to have come up with, without disclosing his role with a campaign.

Insert joke here about a need for a bloggers ethics panel.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back