So it turns out Bush’s “brain” ain’t so brainy after all. After belittling the town of Richmond and Virginia’s governor Sunday on the CBS News show Face the Nation, Rove may have done more to hand the red state over to the Democrats in the 2008 election than all of the money Obama is spending to try and win the state come November.

The local reaction to Rove’s “patronizing” comments was swift and not kind, making it look like the former White House political aide Bush liked to call “turdblossom” had stepped in one gigantic pile of doodoo.

“As finance director of the Virginia GOP, Karl Rove lived in Richmond during the mid-1970s. But he didn’t learn much about our city,” according to a local commentator. “How else do you explain the political hatchet man’s patronizing comments about Richmond during an attempt to denigrate Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the former Richmond mayor who is being considered for Barack Obama’s running mate?”

ThinkProgress.org covered it this way:

Richmond Residents Chastise Rove For His ‘Patronizing’ And ‘Belittling’ Comments About Their City

Last Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, Karl Rove attacked Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) by offering the following “patronizing comments” about the city of Richmond, Virginia:

With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he’s been a governor for three years, he’s been able but undistinguished. I don’t think people could really name a big, important thing that he’s done.

He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it’s smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It’s not a big town.

The residents of the Virginian capital are not taking Rove’s comments lying down. In an article entitled, “In belittling Richmond’s size, Rove shows he’s out of touch,” Richmond Times Dispatch journalist Michael Paul Williams writes, “Wow. And Republicans call Democrats elitist.”

“It appears that Karl Rove will swiftboat anyone, including cities,” said Del. Dwight Clinton Jones (D), a candidate for mayor.

City Council President and mayoral candidate William Pantele added, “Richmond has more in culture, history and business than all those cities [cited by Rove] put together. And so, perhaps Mr. Rove would like to come see how terrific a place this is, the capital city of Virginia, rather than just taking shots on a news show.”

Williams notes that if physical size is such an important consideration, the current Vice President shouldn’t have been selected. It should be pointed out that Cheney’s political career began in Wyoming, the least populous state in the nation. With fewer than 525,000 residents, it’s less than half the size of the Richmond metro area.

In a web-video posted on the Richmond Times Dispatch site, Williams calls Rove’s comments a “cynical and misguided viewpoint, out of touch with America and the real people with real problems who reside there.”

The backlash from Richmond continues today: Dear Karl Rove, Ain’t You Got No More Sense Than That?

Karl Rove On Face The Nation, Aug.10.

We report you decide.

Should Rove be on TV making these kinds of political comments? Or in jail for contempt of Congress?

Comments welcome…

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate and Senator John McCain maintains a 12 percent lead over Democrat Barack Obama in Alabama, according to Gerald W. Johnson of the Capital Survey Research Center. However, McCain has dropped some 10 points since June while the undecided and other vote increased 10 points.

“The relevant question is where does the undecided vote go?” he asks.

The numbers probably underestimate the Obama vote by 2-4 percent for two reasons, he said. One, cell phone use is heavier for younger and Black A-A voters and just cell phone users are not included in the data and the vote in these categories are primarily Obama. Two, the numbers do not include new registrations which are up for Democrats, including Black and younger voters, and down for Republicans.

Also, he said in a statement, the vote is heavily specified by demographic variables.

“That is, the McCain vote is stronger among voters with higher rates of church attendance, older age, higher income, males and rural residence,” he said. “McCain gets one percent of the Black vote while Obama gets 15 percent of the white vote.”

Read more about it on the Alabama Education Association Website.