Rove responded via DM: "That's not accurate desc. of Reagan's philo. Different b/w saying gov't too often the problem as saying it always is." - Dave Winer

it would be great if he will get ff account - Igor Poltavskiy

Rove DM'd back? Putting aside one's thoughts about his work with Bush, that's impressive. - Hutch Carpenter

But his DM was nonsense. - Dave Winer

Trying to parse his DM...is he saying Reagan thought govt was "too often" the problem? And if so, then he's arguing Reagan was sympathetic to some roles for govt. Which, in his argument, means that Obama's not that distant from Reagan? - Hutch Carpenter

I'm just confused why Karl Rove is responding to people using DM...? - Carlo

Dave. Are you saying you and Karl Rove are exchanging Twitter DM's? I'm catching up on things I've missed after several days off the grid so I apologize if I've caught this mid-stream. Did I misinterpret something here? - Rex Hammock

let's not even try to believe this is the real person - Iphigenie

Joelle - it is indeed the actual Karl Rove: http://bhc3.wordpress.com/2009... - Hutch Carpenter

To clarify my comment above, and K.R. DM-ing -- Rove recently tweeted that he hit the daily DM limit on twitter. Which makes me wonder exactly how he's using it, and why? It seems like it's email for him, or something. Dave's comment seems to confirm what KR is doing. - Carlo

Hutch: I believe Rove is saying Reagan would say government is always the problem, and in all cases it should be reduced: Reagan's famous quotation of, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Obama, on the other hand, would believe that there are times when the government is the solution, which would be repulsive to Reaganites. Obviously, the exception to this would be defense, which doesn't count when Reaganites talk about government. - Mark Trapp

Mark - if that was Rove's point, then Obama really is opposite of Reagan. But if you look at government spending under Reagan, it wasn't like he made the Fed govt smaller. I'm thinking the Reagan and Obama differ in the areas where govt should be involved. - Hutch Carpenter

Hutch: right, Reagan quadrupled the national debt while running on a platform of small government. Really, these issues are complex and it's not as simple as two 140 character tweets, but that's what the debate has become: are you for or against government taking your money, getting in your way, and messing up your business? It's silly. - Mark Trapp

Rex, I called Rove on some nonsense in one of his WSJ columns, where he said Obama was inventing someone to disagree with. I said the person Obama was debating had a name and it was spelled R-E-A-G-A-N. He responded in a DM, which on a second read probably means that the opinion Obama was characterizing wasn't a match with Reagan's. Whatever. I agree that it's kind of breathtaking to be in a back and forth with someone who used to be so powerful, then you realize it's "used to be" and it's not so impressive - Dave Winer

He said on the web-only aftershow for This Week that he doesn't know how to use Twitter, that he's figuring it out by doing it, which is IMO the best way to learn http://abcnews.go.com/video... - Amyloo

Karl Rove is still quite powerful, and could be much more powerful again in the future. And Rove has one trait that one has to respect: self-discipline. He is always civil. He never rants. He's not a Rush Limbaugh. - Sean McBride

I do love how they are throwing Bush under the bus. It's called the Bush-Obama tax and spend plan. Poor W, he is a man without a party. - John Flynn

It's a bit strange to consider that my comment above about Rove was automatically forwarded directly to Rove. My Friendfeed comments are shared on Twitter, and Rove follows me on Twitter. This messaging technology just keeps on getting cooler and cooler. - Sean McBride

Rove is all about DM, though back in the day, it was about Direct Mail. - Erik S

Re Rove and Direct Messages, it any surprise that Rove clings to the shadows? Nasty whisper campaigns are one of his trademarks. - Erik S