You gotta put a stake through his heart

Holy shit, David Broder is making sense.

Nonetheless, it would be a mistake for Democrats -- or other Republicans -- to think that "Rovism" has run its course and that the last chapter in this story has been written.

The error would be to assume that Rove's goal is bounded by the career of George W. Bush. It has been -- and remains -- larger and longer-lasting, the domination of America by a certain type of Republicanism.

Even before his partnership with Bush began back in Austin, Rove had drunk deeply of the magic potion dispensed by Lee Atwater, the South Carolina whiz who had absorbed the anger and frustration of the white Southern blue-collar families with whom he was raised. Atwater was Rove's first boss at the Republican National Committee, and my first conversations with Rove were dominated by his encyclopedic knowledge of the shifting political allegiance of Dixie precincts as their residents reacted to the civil rights revolution and the changed positions of the national parties by migrating from Democrats to Dixiecrats and Wallace-ites to Republicans.

That's why those who don't believe the United States should stand for invading other countries for political advantage, torture, no-bid contracts, tax breaks for the wealthiest, hatred for those who are different, and laissez-faire corporate governance cannot let our guard down. Atwater and Rove -- learning at the knee of Uncle Dick -- changed the way the game is played. We must continue to change with it.