The AP’s Strange Fascination With Karl Rove’s Garage

18 Oct, 2005 by John Hawkins

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One of the oddest stories that has come from the mainstream press in a while is this article which features a description of the contents of Karl Rove’s garage.

Rove’s wife, Darby, raised the white garage door one morning last week to show journalists outside the million-dollar brick home that the deputy chief of staff, assistant to the president and senior adviser wasn’t home.

…The inventory, seen from outside

_Some cardboard file boxes stacked one on top of the other, labeled “Box 6,” “Box 4” and what appears to be “Box 7.” No sign of boxes 1, 2, 3 and 5.

_What appear to be paint cans stacked alongside a folded, folding chair.

_A rather large wood crate marked “FRAGILE” and painted with arrows indicating which way is up. On top of the crate, two coolers.

_A tall aluminum ladder.

_A snow shovel leaned in front of another cardboard box.

_Wicker baskets inside of wicker baskets on top of a shelf running the length of the rear wall. Transparent plastic storage bins crammed with indiscernible stuff. Another cardboard box.

_In one corner, the rear wheel of a bicycle sticks out, along with what appears to be a helmet.

_Another ladder, this one green, leaning sideways.

Is there a point to this article? What did they expect to see in Karl Rove’s garage: A Diebold voting machine, a mind-control ray, and the heads of Democratic consultants shoved into pickle jars?

Maybe, the idea is that they’ll just put this information out there and some clever lefty blogger will figure out why it’s relevant. You know, maybe Kos or Atrios will see that there’s a green ladder in Rove’s garage and think:

“Wait a second, a green ladder? Rove could have used that to climb in the window on one of Kerry’s mansions so he could pour mind altering substances in Theresa Heinz-Kerry’s drinks! Of course, why didn’t I see it sooner? That’s why she was saying all of those nutty things last year!”

What can we expect to see next from AP? Perhaps, “Things we saw when we looked in Karl Rove’s window?” How about, “The contents of Karl Rove’s garbage cans?” Or even, “Karl Rove’s car: a little messier than you might expect.” Come on, AP, you can do better than this…