Dean Brent Baker had a word of caution when I graduated from BU in 1997. After enduring hours sitting outside in the heat of Nickerson Field, I joined fellow College of Communication graduates on Magazine Beach to receive my diploma. The Dean gave the final word. It was somber.

He told us that with our degrees we had accepted a responsibility. The communications tactics we could now attain provided us with significant power: the power to change human opinion, inspire the masses. Rally for a cause. By receiving that power, he told us we had a responsibility to use it wisely.

I think about that speech every time I think of Karl Rove. He has mastered the art of confusing the public through consistent messages. While I can even give him the benefit of the doubt and say he never lies, I can tell you that by presenting a message as fact, when it is actually an opinion or a theory, you can convince the public that theory or opinion is the reality. Especially if you treat the message as propaganda, and repeat it often. This in my opinion is the main tactic Rove has used over and over again, and quite effectively.

I had lunch with Ted, Au, Alexa and Chris yesterday and got to see Jaeger Furst again. Between their baby, my new nephew David, Alison Maurice's newborn, and Jason Joly's son born a few days ago... the baby bug has caught.