IN OTHER WORDS: Democratic adviser says ‘Rove is right’

A top adviser to Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine said last week that Karl Rove, the powerful Republican admonger and former adviser to President George W. Bush, was right.

That’s not out of context, not a misquote, not a fabrication. An email from the Kaine campaign signed by senior adviser Mo Elleithee is titled “Rove is right.”

Huh?

Well, maybe a little bit of context would be useful.

In the fundraising appeal, Mr. Elleithee writes that Mr. Rove’s group, American Crossroads, has run multiple false advertisements targeting his boss.

“You’d think that an organization with hundreds of millions of dollars in its coffers would be able to afford better research,” he wrote. “But here’s the rub: They know the facts. They just don’t care.

“Even with the news media repeatedly calling them out for their falsehoods, Rove figures that by spending millions of dollars, he can ensure that more people will see the ads than will ever read the Politifact ratings,” Mr. Elleithee continued.

And then the fateful words:

“And he’s right.”

To fight back, Mr. Elleithee asked supporters to make contributions of $5 or more to help them reach a fundraising goal ahead of a Saturday deadline.

There are less than five months until Mr. Kaine squares off against Republican George Allen in the heavyweight matchup between two former Virginia governors. It might be safe to assume that this is about as bipartisan as the race is going to get. So Mr. Elleithee, kudos.

Gray humor

As it turns out, D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray is a pretty good moderator.

Mr. Gray held court with a panel of health care professionals Friday to discuss the potential impacts of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act.

He managed to press the health care workers on their views - “no punting allowed,” he warned one of them - without crossing the line. When a panelist said he didn’t think President Obama’s initiative should allow adults as old as 26 stay on their parents’ insurance plans, the mayor asked him, wryly, whether society should “roll the dice and hope they don’t get sick.”

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