While Karl Rove is still touting the prospect of a GOP realignment, he seems to have finally abandoned the prospect of his white whale — a realignment election:

The Rove retrospectives that dotted the media Tuesday bashed him for his cocky past prediction that Bush would help build an enduring Republican majority. But despite the party’s current straits, believe it or not, he still stands by his belief.

“We’re not in a period where realignment is going to be achieved by a sharp, decisive election like 1896, 1932, 1800,” he said. “It’s more likely to be achieved in a series of incremental gains that prove to be durable. Notice I didn’t say ‘permanent.’”

Or, notice how Rove is still incorrectly claiming that the 1896 election was “sharp [and] decisive” (PDF, sub. req.). I guess old clichés die hard.