Rove Says Obama is Trying to Split Republican Party

Karl Rove writes in the Wall Street Journal that President Obama is pushing for a “civil war” within the Republican Party by not negotiating fairly to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Said Rove: “He apparently believes that Republicans, in a weakened state and defending an unpopular position, might buckle on a central GOP tenet, opposition to any increase in marginal rates. That might kick off a Republican civil war, resulting in divisive party primaries in 2014 that leave the president’s opposition even more weakened and produce more subpar candidates like this year’s Republican Senate candidates in Indiana and Missouri.”

Jonathan Chait: “The psychology on display here is familiar to anybody who has seen a petulant teenager, who assumes that any restriction that causes them to feel anger must have been intended to produce that emotion. Republicans are feeling humiliated and divided, so Obama’s goal must have been to humiliate and divide them.”

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