Talking Points has received a secret internal memorandum from Presidential Advisor Karl Rove, relative to the visit of interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai.
TPM releases it here for the first time.
1/27/02
From: Karl Rove
To: Card, Hughes, Fleischer, Rice#43’s nicknaming has always been a good thing for us. Polls well. Works very well in the red states. But the recent Ken Lay stuff could hurt us (“Kenny-Boy” etc.). Believe me, I think it has legs. I think it’s imperative we come into the SotU with an outta-the-park nickname the president can use for Hamid Karzai. Here’s what I’ve come up with.
1. Hammy, Hammy-Boy, ‘big ham.’ Discussion: This works really well. Rolls off the tongue. The sorta thing #43 might come up with on his own if he weren’t so busy. But there’s a problem. According to smarties at State Department, Muslims don’t go in for ham and don’t even like talking about it. Could offend. This always seems to be a problem with them. (Remember ‘Operation Infinite Justice’? Ouch!) You wish this were the one. But apparently it’s a no-go. Ideas?
2. ‘The Ham-ster’ ⦠Discussion: Again. Works well.
Rolls off the tongue. #43 would get right to it. However, it may sound like the rodent, which could be demeaning, but also might be endearing since hamsters were a popular pet in the 1970s and 1980s when Karzai, I’m told, spent some time in America. Could Muslims have same ‘issues’ with rodents as with pigs? (Note: Don’t go to State with this. Someone check this with Grover Norquist. He may know.)
3. ‘Yo-Hamid’ ⦠Discussion: I like this. I like it A LOT. Sounds eerily like Mo-Hamid (i.e. Mohammed) who is extremely popular among Muslims around the world. Also, this could be a two-fer. Could help on minority-outreach, inclusion, ‘uniter not a divider’ front. (Yo, yo, yo… etc.)
4. ‘Kar-man’, ‘Green Hat’, ‘Greenie’, ‘Caped Crusader.’ Any thoughts on any of these? I just came up with them at the end.
Let’s huddle. This is important!
Karl
