From today’s NYT:
Some Democrats are asking for his resignation:
Rove then goes on to blame Senator Durbin for placing troops in jeopardy:
“Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year?” Mr. Rove asked. “Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals.”
Enough is enough!
Karl Rove and his supporters continually blame so-called “liberals” for everything that’s going wrong in Iraq and the Middle East. Who’s in power, Rove? Who has complete control of all branches of government? Who sets US foreign policy? Who has failed to manage this illegal and unjustified war? Who set up Gitmo? Who refused to take responsibility for what’s really going on there? Who supports torture? Who has done everything possible to push the Abu Ghraib atrocities out of the public eye? Who is holding detainees in perpetuity? Who has killed thousands of innocent people? Who has wounded thousands of others? Who called for terrorists to “bring it on”? Who made Iraq the most dangerous place in the world? Who has stalled reconstruction while paying off contractors like Halliburton for work they didn’t even do? Who has retreated from international treaties? Who has weakened the Geneva Conventions, causing the rest of the world to feel free to treat coalition troops in any way they want? Who refuses to honour the lives of the dead by refusing to show their coffins? Who has advocated lawlessness? Who refuses to take responsibility? Who touts himself as a member of the “party of responsibility”? Who has divided the country? Who has divided the world?
Who should resign? You, Rove. And everyone you support. Your bosses. Your Secretary of Defense. Your Secretary of State. Your Attorney General. All of your sort that have made America the most hated country in the world. Every single last one of you.
Take your imperial hubris and boundless egos and go home. You are the face of everything that is destructive and divisive. How dare you attack liberals? How dare you attack those who speak out against this war? How dare you continue to manipulate your country into being one of the most shameful displays of so-called democracy? How dare you use 9/11 to attack your political opponents? How dare you!
Update [2005-6-23 15:43:45 by catnip]:: Families of September 11 Press Release:
FOS11 Statement on Comments Made By Karl Rove
As families whose relatives were victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, we believe it is an outrage that any Democrat, any Republican, any conservative, or any liberal stakes a “high ground” position based upon the September 11th death and destruction. Doing so assumes that all those who died and their loved ones would agree. In truth, some would and some would not. By definition the conduct is divisive and, because it is intended to be self-serving and politicizes 9/11, it is offensive. We are calling on Karl Rove to resist his temptations and stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others. His comments are not welcome.
For those who would have preferred that the Democrats did not respond to Rove’s comments, I would urge you to keep these families and the victims of 9/11 in mind.
organized strategy here by the Dems. or have I just completely lost my mind??
Could the Durbin aplology be part of a greater plan to let the republicans crucify themselves with their own words?
In the hearing this morning, Sen. Clinton gave Rummy a chance to repudate this very quote and he declined to do so…hmmm.
Yee-gods I am grasping at straws, aren’t I?
apologies being discussed on CNN right now…
Who is discussing? What are they saying? Are tears involved??
sorry ’bout that – I’d moved on, and now I forget…
must.cover.news.about.woman.missing.in.Aruba.
C’mon now. Who really cares what’s going on in the US government?
Ditto MSNBC.
All of f–king Baghdad could be in flames for all we know.
Even Atlanta could be in flames! ‘cept Fox would break into its Aruba coverage for that since the idea of CNN going down in flames would be too much to resist.
FOX loves sensationalism even more than CNN. I’m sure they’d park Geraldo in front on the CNN building wearing a little fireman helmet.
His arm ’round Scarlett’s tiny waist.
sputtered in disbelief at that segue… ‘gentlemen, we have to interrupt, we have breaking news from Aruba’. I’m surprised that I’m still capable of being surprised…
I read for my news since 2001… because if I watched I’d wind up throwing something at, or kick, the TV.
I suppose i shouldn’t be surprised either. Earlier they had Nick Knightly or whoever riding around with the woman’s mother, with the incredible scoop that they were there – alone! – with her when she got the news about the judge’s arrest.
Thanks for the scoop.
I hope the pricks at least sprang for the rental car.
From the Families of September 11, 2001.
We are calling on Karl Rove to resist his temptations and stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortune of others. His comments are not welcome.
Families of September 11 is a non-partisan nonprofit organization founded by the relatives of those who died in the attacks of September 11, 2001. For further information, please visit our website at http://www.familiesofseptember11.org
BUT. Don’t forget this guy likes nothing more than to get a rise out of the opposition. I agree with everything in the rant except getting him out. I want him politically neutered, in place.
Water torture: lost Bolton (drip); lose SCOTUS nominee (drip); lose SS fight (drip); Iraq poll numbers in the teens (drip); comments like above buried on page B27 next to a “Depends” ad (drip); Valerie Plame (drip).
I have a few reactive responses to the idea of Rove being “politically neutered”, but for the sake of honouring the decorum of this blog, I won’t post them. Let’s just say that, even if he was neutered, he’d still run around humping legs.
More goodies for your diary, Catnip … Kevin Drum has Scott McClellan’s reaction. “McClellan said that Rove was just ‘telling it like it is when it comes to the different approaches for winning the war on terrorism’.”
Sock-Puppet McClellan is so divorced from reality to even think what Rove said has anything to do with some alternative strategery. Geez. Who supported the Afghanistan war? That wasn’t exactly “therapy”, was it Scotty?
So…most folks, upon reading a memo that reads, “Bin Laden Determined to Attack US,” go on vacation, right?
Hate to be a nit picker but I believe Scottie said different pholisophies.
here instead. Someone that has typos in every post should not call the kettle black Leezy. Learn to type and spell before you call others out for quotes. LOL
pholisphies=philosophies….lol
More for you …
From the TPM cafe:
“Rove’s mask has been lifted – and it reveals the face of Agnew” (SPIRO!)
I thought I saw Gollum (with apolgies to J.R.R.Tolkien) hissing about his precious.
ROFLMAO – and then some. Makes me feel much better, especially since your “idiot” diary made me feel that I am really foul mouthed.
Karl Rove’s not going to resign.
Karl Rove’s not going to apologise.
Karl Rove’s not even going to temper his remarks with a “I was misunderstood” statement.
If you think Karl Rove is going to do any or all of those things, you haven’t been paying attention.
And that’s a good thing–because the sight of a desperate Rove flailing out wildly gives me cause for hope. If Rove can be this spectacularly stupid, to not only hand his opponents a gun but one loaded with bullets, then perhaps he’s not the evil mastermind whom none of us can outwit.
Increasingly, I see a White House that is beginning to resemble Nixon’s, with a hostile, paranoid President despatching his toadies in a desperate attempt to smear his political opponents.
It always worked before–Democrats were silent and eyes downcast when the neocons cast them as unpatriotic. But this time they will fight back.
However–and there’s always a “however”–I am afraid that in order to prove how “tough” they are, the Democrats will endorse positions that are WORSE than what Bush is doing. That may be what Rove is trying to push them to do–by calling Democrats, in essence, traitours, he wants to manouever them into increasing the already-sharp pain in Iraq,and supporting not only the renewal in full of the odious Patriot Act but additional police-state measures.
Democrats must not fall into that trap; I hope that the lesson of Bush’s gulags has at long last impressed upon them that you cannot outflank Bush on the right (which Clinton often did with Republicans when he was President), because there is no limit to how far right Bush is willing to go.
Rove may not be perfect, but he is still one dangerous son of a bitch.
However–and there’s always a “however”–I am afraid that in order to prove how “tough” they are, the Democrats will endorse positions that are WORSE than what Bush is doing.
In my mind, that is not even possible.
Don’t tempt the fates!
There’s always something worse. 🙁
Think of the children! 🙂
Mangez Rove, mangez, et bon appetit!
You know, to help him help himself….
more crying in the Senate? Really it’s all become a surreal nightmare. Tom Stoppard couldn’t do a better job of writing this script.
But I think we should go after the right each and every time they open their mouths. If they want to play stupid games of semantics and outrage and censure and apologies, then let’s have at it.
I don’t suppose there is a phone number for Karl Rove’s office anywhere around?
Ask and ye shall receive.
Rove’s phone number: 202-456-2369
You subversive you. 😉
And you do this while you’re sick?
Lord help Bush when you get well!
I don’t suppose this information came out of Gannongate? LOL
Straight from the horse’s mouth: the WH site.
It’s just gotta be correct, doesn’t it? </snark>
I called and was routed to the main WH switchboard after a few rings. I asked for Karl Rove’s office and they switched me over to the automated WH comment line. If I can’t rant to a real live person, I’m definitely not leaving a message on some throwaway answering machine.
Thanks, for some reason I didn’t think his would be public. I’ll give a call a soon as I get out of work.
I called and got some guy who wouldn’t say what his name was. he said “Well who’s this?” and then “why are you calling?” I said “to tell Karl Rove to appologize to the democrats… and he said “well this isn’t Karl Rove.”
the fact that they answered at all is pretty funny. George is upstairs chewing on pretzels and swishing it back with icey cold Near beer.
It probably has the Mother of All Caller I.D.’s on it.
Wow, that sent the image of the X-Files episode where the female blonde hacker was living in a shipping container that got zapped into oblivion from a space-based laser.
202.456.2369
courtesy of John Avarosis/ameriblog…have fun.
When I call that number I get Mario’s Pizza!
(not really, I’m at work & haven’t tried it yet)
Karl “Asshat” Rove they also broadcast:
All this and our Media that SUCKS managed to find these items. This leaves out probably hundreds of other items that would equally justify a rising dislike for our Country.
But you think our image may be tainted because Durbin pointed out that you were behaving badly? Isn’t intellectual dishonesty fun Karl?
We Democrats do want to understand Karl. We want to know how you money grubbing, power hungry jackasses managed to slime your way into office.
Fixed the elections by making every third Democratic vote revert to a repug. That is how these criminals work.
Rove is just playing to the base, as always. I hear the same sentiment expressed almost every day on the bus, or on talk radio, in restaurants and stores. The hard core of the right views us as traitors and subversives, eager to find a new foreign master to obey since our Soviet masters were defeated by Reagan. (Ah, I almost typed that with a straight face! Must try harder!)
I’m not sure that having our representatives go out of their way to be outraged and to deny the charges is really to our benefit. Denials are always rhetorically ineffective and just provide free amplification for the original accusation.
A counter-accusation would be more effective. Say, “Look, the Republicans are so desperate to hide the way they have bungled this war and lead us into a disastrous defeat that they are making wild and irresponsible accusations.”
…which has the double benefit of being obviously true.
Iraq is not Vietnam in this way: Congress has made no effort whatsoever to restrain the military decisions of the President. If Bush ordered the annihilation of Baghdad today, as he did with Fallujah, congressional Democrats would bitch, and they might even offer up resolutions, but the GOP-controlled legislature would give him a free pass. They will not be able to spend the next thirty years claiming, as they do with Vietnam, that we would have won if the liberals hadn’t hamstrung the country.
Raw Story has published what they are claiming to be Dem talking points on this matter:
The Right-Wing Attack Machine: Deceive, Distract, Divide
This White House does not get it. You don’t win the war on terror and the war in Iraq by taking political shots. You win the war on terror by getting Osama Bin Laden when your CIA Director say he knows where he is. You win the war in Iraq by leveling with the American people and producing a plan for success. On the War on Terror or the war in Iraq, it’s Bush, Cheney, and Rove who don’t get it. To hide their failures, it’s all attack, all the time. Enough is enough.
I swear I’m not privy to insider talking points. I came up with “enough is enough” all by myself!
These are the talking points mailed to me by the DNC:
RESPONSE TO KARL ROVE’S COMMENTS
(I’m a DNC member.)
Blitzer’s interviewing Cheney on his 5 pm ET show about Iraq, Gitmo etc.
Andrew Card will be on CNN’s Inside Politics shortly to talk about Rove’s comments. Don your Hazardous Republi-speak Suits(tm).
Card clip: Karl Rove’s speech reflected some of the rhetoric that a lot of people feel.
“Karl Rove has created a firestorm in Washington”.
Schumer: “When I read his remarks, it turned my stomach.”
Lautenberg: “We can only have one reaction and that is to ask that [Rove] get out of office.”
Pelosi: “For him to try to exploit 9/11, once again, just shows how desperate they are”.
The WH is “coordinating a defense” on Rove’s comments. Good – they’re on the defensive.
Andrew Card coming up…
Peloi’s on the right tack here (as is Eodell): counter-attack, rather than mere complaint about Rove’s slanderous remarks.
“Karl Rove is trying to play partisan politics with the ‘war on terror’. He’s doing this to try to hide the fact that President Bush lied to the public and to the Congress to lead them into war against Iraq. He’s doing this to hide the fact that President Bush is in trouble with his own party.”
And so on and so forth. A nice soundbite is what we need.
How about:
“Karl Rove is hoping his lies about Democrats will distract Americans from President Bush’s lies about Iraq and Tom DeLay’s lies about his finances.”
Hm, I’m getting slightly better at this. But only slightly.
for anyone who wants to commemorate this moment…
Rove VS. Democrats
Dems Call on Rove to Apologize
Caption contest for the people sitting beside Rove.
Man on his right: Hmmm…how exactly does he pull that stuff outta his butt and then make it come out of his mouth so quickly? Must be magic.
Lady on his left: I really, really need to fart. Now.
blah blah blah on Iraq…[insert your favourite Republican talking point here]…
Card’s blaming the images from Iraq on the teevee for plumetting support for the Iraq war. Yes, Card, it’s all the teevee’s fault.
Bless the CNN talking head. She’s asking if Bush will talk more about the realities. As if he even knows what reality is.
On Rove now: (Card smiled when they played that Rove clip.) First of all I think all Americans came together [on fighting terrorism]…but I do think there is a difference in how people respond…some said there should be more of an investigative response…but Rove’s response reflected some of the rhetoric the American people feel…we’ve seen some very hard rhetoric from both sides lately – most important thing is that Americans are united in fighting the war on terror…
So, Card didn’t exactly fall in line behind Rove’s statement.
…to wipe off all of the Republican slime that has emanated from the teevee and C-SPAN online today. Pass the anti-Republican soap on a rope please.
Blasting Rove and his statement
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8306049/
if you have not already done so.
It is the Hardball interview with Rove.
Only Matthews isn’t there to grovel
and spit. It’s the good journalist
David Gregory asking tough questions
and follow-ups.
If you don’t get streaming video,
there is a transcript.
It is priceless. Rove is on a roll.
But then so is “Catnip.”
I can’t wait to watch Jon Stewart tonight.
With Howard Dean, no less. rubs hands gleefully
while the Democrats play tiddlywinks. His comments are insulting and incendiary, and they’re an obvious, calculated polical ploy that the Democratic party is swallowing hook, line, and sinker.
From Pelosi and Reid on down Dems are scrambling now to prove how much they support the “war on terror.” John Kerry’s out there bragging that “Just days after 9/11 the Senate voted 98-0 and the House voted 420-1 to authorize President Bush to use ‘all necessary and appropriate force’ against terror.”
Hillary Clinton says “I would call on anyone who was at that dinner who is a New Yorker who cares about the unity of not only New York City but of our country to say we may have disagreements about what the best way is to win the war against terror, but we have no disagreements about our unity and our resolve and the goals we seek.”
That sure kills any claim that the Democrats might be on the anti-war path.
How about one or two Democrats saying something about how the war was based on lies, that losing 1700 soldiers (so far) to get revenge for 3000 civilians is not a good tradeoff, and that the whole thing is a big fat mess from one end to the other? And that “unity” under a banner carried by the Republicans is not the right way to go?
In a thoughtless, knee-jerk reaction to Rove’s string pulling, the Democrats are out there undermining their whole 2006 election strategy by proving that they’re just as militaristic as the Republicans. They’ve got no frigging strategy at all. Pathetic.
Precisely. This shows that Rove is desperate about Bush’s sinking poll numbers. He’s out of tricks to try and improve them. So instead, he’s going to try to make the Democratic Party Partisans lash themselves to Bush’s sinking ship.
Guess what? He’s succeeded.
You Americans need to make sure that anyone, anyone who took his bait on this is hammered over the head with it next time they’re up for a primary. Kerry and H.Clinton just proved that they don’t have what it takes to be the Democratic candidate for President.
Though I can’t help but notice that Dean appears to have kept quiet on this so far…
The DNC blog has a great response to Rove’s comments. It’s too long to post here.
Dean did respond as well:
WASHINGTON, June 23 U.S. Newswire — With the president’s lame duck status looming larger than ever, DNC Chairman Howard Dean said President Bush was facing a test of his leadership and called on him to condemn Karl Rove’s desperate and divisive attempt to help the Republicans regain their political footing:
“Once again, Karl Rove is going back to the most reliable of his cynical political attacks: dividing the country over the war on terror. Americans deserve more than this kind of outrageous cheap trick. Unfortunately, given the miserable failures of Bush’s foreign policy, its no wonder Rove would launch this desperate attempt to deflect from the real issues and distort what Democrats say than admit what Republicans have done.
“Since September 11, 2001, Democrats have been urging the Bush administration to prioritize equipping our troops to win the war on terror, capturing Osama bin Laden and securing the homeland. So, it’s no surprise that Rove’s comment highlighted the Republicans’ rhetoric and not their record.
“The Democratic Party’s unified commitment to protecting this country, supporting our troops and honoring our Americans who have died in the war on terror has not and will not ever waver.
“For the good of the country, it’s time for President Bush to show some leadership and unequivocally repudiate Rove’s divisive and damaging political rhetoric.”
Ha! Once again, Dean proves that he’s learned the right way to manage a PR war. I think that very deftly turns the tables on Rove without ceding any ground to him.
And, it looks like Raw Story was right with the Dem talking points they posted (see my comment in another post on that).
I also disagree that Democrats lost the ability to criticize the Iraq War by their outrage at Rove’s statements. In fact, it opened the door to a discussion about what the appropriate response to terror was — which we finally get to point out was precisely NOT pulling resources from Afghanistan to fight a neutered Hussein, with no ties to 9/11.
I’m an eternal optimist, and while too many of the American people still surprisingly believe the non-existant ties between Iraq and 9/11 — we can capitalize on this news cycle to point out why Democrats (and if the Republicans choose to divide it into Liberals then why Liberals) would have not taken their eyes off OBL and Al Qaeda.
Rove is turning up the rhetoric to hide all the flaming fallout that surrounds them right now. More and more people are coming right out and saying that the war is actually lost–the more that happens–the more he tries to turn the attention on the dems–by starting a bickering match, a scuffle that will distract from all the bad news they face. Dems have to respond to these crazy accusations but at the same time–we get pulled farther and farther from the real story here.
Once again he is a brilliant manipulator of the American viewer.
It reminds me of a bad Batman show where the bad guys are almost caught but then…have some silly distraction–and–ahhhh escape yet again! Rove–the fat penguin?
cspan 3 – steve israel just asked Rumsfeld about Rove’s comments…
Rummy – sometimes it’s shrill, sometimes it’s harsh…
Israel – Do you agree with the statement, do you agree with the sentiment?
Rummy – I haven’t said that, and I don’t agree with that. (?)(or something like that)
Rove has made a very basic mistake of supposed “King makers.” it would seem by scuttling out into the limelight.
If someone wants to be the power behind the throne it doesn’t make much sense to pick up a mike and start showing off how powerful he is.
I wont lie by saying that i’m upset that he did it , though ^_^
These comments are a way to spin the proliferation of the Downing Street Minutes/Memo. Now the Republicans can frame this news as traitorous.
Durbin’s comments may show the world that all Americans aren’t bent on hegemony and torture. This can work to show the world that America is more complicated than its shameful foreign policy, and there are all kinds of Americans with plenty of different perspectives.
<crickets chirping>
seething with anger. I used to think Turd Blossom was a harsh nickname for Rove that Bush gave him, but the thoughts that I have when I re-read those remarks makes me think and feel much worse than I thought I was capable.
Americablog has had a good rundown of the coordinated attack that was waged today.
Billmon had an excellent post:
There is more, I encourage everyone to read it.
My $0.02 (cross posted elsewhere):
Problems with Rovian approach of “blame the liberals”:
1. As Billmon states, no TV cameras on long-haired hippies on Washington Mall, so easy to dismiss as dope smoking commies in the Vietnam conflict;
2. Opposition to the Bush Iraq fiasco comes from families of dead soldiers, all across the U.S., and it is big news in Small Town USA. Washington power elites on the conservative side might drink the Kool Aid and the Right Wing Message Machine may recite the talking points on cue, but Rove does himself no good when he compares opposition to the Iraq War to “liberals”, when many long time Republicans in these small towns start to see what bullshit the Neocons have been selling for 5 years;
3. Prominent Republicans from leadership positions in other Republican Administrations who questioned the Iraq War have been dismissed and ignored, and anyone in this administration who said we should use enough troops and suggested we prepare the American people for sacrifice were pushed aside, discredited and fired while the neocons (torture laws are “quaint”) with blood all over their hands were promoted. I’ve seen many examples of this just in the leadership — think of the CIA housecleaning Porter Goss is doing, and how they feel about being dismissed as “liberals” seeking therapy for terrorists;
4. Plenty of people, in a nationalistic fervor post-9/11 joined the armed forces to go after Al Qaeda and OBL — they got yanked off that detail and sent to the folly known as Iraq, and kept there through multiple rotations and stop loss policies. I have no data to back up my claim, but I believe the stereotypical soldier who did this would have trended hard Republican and through extension, have Republican families who are disgusted by this distraction, and are starting to see through the bullshit;
5. The cost of this Iraq fiasco and trucks with billions of $ in cash being handed out in duffel bags will not play well in Peoria. Working class wages have stagnated, and the largest transfer of money from poor to rich in our history (I believe this is so) will start to sink in. We have so many facts to get out there, and I finally see a bit of spine in the press (only because the RWCM sees the dam breaking and will need to cling to whatever credibility they have left). Senator Minority Leader Reid and DNC Chair Howard Dean are vast improvements on their predecessors, though I’ve yet to truly see the fast news reaction talking points generating thingy that Clinton had, and has been promised by the Senate Democrats. Improving, still work to go — not many know of the missing $9 billion, or the trucksful of cash, and the outrageous privatization and money making private contractors. A solid Republican base would be ex-military guys, who are reachable with information presented in Frontline this week;
6. Iraq was PNAC, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Feith, etc., long before George W. Bush left Texas and rode Rove’s dirty tricks into the White House. I believe Bush carries the “dad is a wimp thing” from Gulf War I, buys into the PNAC new world order, and wants to leave a legacy for history to judge him by after he tries to remake democracy in the middle east . Rove, however, was always only out for himself and his corporations — I don’t think he is as committed to Iraq on a philosophical basis beyond keeping his track record as guru (gag) unblemished.
7. In this instance, I think facts will actually come into the discussion, with the door opened by Rove himself. To quote from
David Sirota:
Apologies for the long post, but I think Rove the “genius” (gag) had the curtain pulled back on this one. The Pasty-one will not do well with the sunshine — he hasn’t exactly been on a roll with Social Security lately.
Great post. Do you make it into a diary?
I hold your opinion in high regard, catnip — you think I should diary this?
I have only been hanging around this fine site for a short while — must say I’m impressed so far 🙂
Yes, I do. And, thank you. You’ve offered a very insightful perspective that more people should read.
Great post, I would like to see you do a diary on it.
Allow me to be tough for a minute and say some things that are not warm fuzzies. Think of me as the Simon Cowell of BooTrib for this comment, at least.
Karl Rove is the devil–as in “devilishly clever”.
Notice that Rove said “liberals” and “conservatives”, not “Democrats” and “Republicans”.
Now, when Democrats rush in and say, “He’s talking about us,” Rove smiles and pats his fat belly, because the Democrats have fallen into his trap–they’ve self-identified with that despised, demonised label “liberal”.
Democrat = liberal.
Liberal = weakling.
Who identified themselves that way? The Democrats who are complaining. THIS is what happens when you allow the other side to successfuly demonise the political label “liberal” over two decades; it hangs ’round your party’s neck like an albatross.
Democrats are also demanding an apology and/or resignation. Why? Because Rove hurt their feelings? He’ll smirk and scuttle back into the shadows where he dwells.
You don’t demand an apology nor his resignation.
No, this takes some art, and the Democrats thus far haven’t shown much skill in counterbalancing Rove’s nasty attacks.
BUT I think it can be done.
Let’s try this on for size, and perhaps someone more clever than I can tear apart my idea or improve upon it–I don’t care which (if you’re going to be Simon Cowell, you have to be able to take what you dish out).
Here’s what Democrats say:
If by “liberal” Mr. Rove means “Democrats”, he’s wrong. Not all Democrats are “liberals”–but all liberals are patriots, and so are all Democrats.
We have to wonder about the patriotism of Mr. Rove. Ever since nearly 3,000 people were murdered by terrorists on 9/11, Mr. Rove has shamelessly exploited their deaths for political advantage. After 9/11, liberal, moderate, and conservative Democrats supported President Bush because they thought that was what was best for the country. Democrats put aside their own partisan concerns for the good of the country.
It’s too bad conservatives can’t do the same. It’s too bad Mr. Rove smirks about how tough he is when American soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan every day.
Mr. Rove is hired help in the White House; he works for President Bush and the President can fire him any time he wants. Mr. Rove doesn’t say “boo” unless the President lets him–so we aren’t going to ask Mr. Rove to resign nor to apologise.
If anyone should apologise, it’s Mr. Rove’s boss, President Bush–because Mr. Rove is speaking for the President.
But we aren’t going to ask the President to apologise, because we know he’s not sorry, and any apology he gives would be insincere.
But Democrats would like to apologise–we apologise for being foolish enough to trust President Bush to work with us for the good of the country and to set aside party differences. Instead, President Bush has exploited the deaths of the innocent people murdered on September 11, 2001, to gain political advantage–it’s all he can think of. Not the good of the country but his own political good.
If President Bush wants to apologise to anybody, it’s to the families of the 3,000 murdered on 9/11. If President Bush wants to apologise, it’s to the families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to the soldiers who have been permanently maimed by those wars. The insurgency is growing stronger in Iraq, not weaker, and the invasion of the country has not advanced the war on terror–it has made things worse.
Yes, I know, strong words…and ones that will never be uttered because the Democrats want to remain “civil” and would never accuse President Bush of being what he truly is.
And that’s why the devil keeps winning.
This is the true sentiment behind Rove–and yes, he does speak for the President.
“I think Karl was very specific, very accurate, in who he was pointing out,” communications director Dan Bartlett said. “It’s touched a chord with these Democrats. I’m not sure why.”
Congressional Republicans earlier joined the White House in standing solidly behind Rove, saying he shouldn’t apologize and that he was outlining a philosophical divide between a president who sought to win the war on terrorism by taking the fight to the enemy and Democrats who questioned that approach.
Bartlett, appearing on morning news shows Friday, said that Rove was referring in his talk to Moveon.org, a liberal group that has been identified with movie producer Michael Moore.
“It’s somewhat puzzling why all these Democrats … who responded forcefully after 9-11, who voted to support President Bush’s pursuit of the war on terror, are now rallying to the defense of Moveon.org, this liberal organization who put out a petition in the days after 9/11 and said that we ought not use military force in responding to 9/11,” Bartlett said on NBC’s “Today” show. “That is who Karl Rove cited in that speech … There is no need to apologize.”
Appearing on CBS’s “The Early Show,” Bartlett said that Rove was “just pointing out that MoveOn.org is a liberal organization that didn’t defend or accept the way that we prosecuted the war in the days after” the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington.
Bartlett told interviewers that he didn’t understand why Democrats “are throwing up such a huff.”
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/06/24/rove.speech.ap/index.html
It is very clear, from this Feb 2005 speech, that Rove uses “Republicans and conservatives” interchangably:
There’s no possible way to distinguish Republicans and conservatives in that statement. He also uses the labels Democrats and liberals in the same way in that speech.
He’s not fooling anybody.
And this is how he followed the therapy comment:
So, he took a swipe at liberals in the first comment and then took a more specific swipe at MoveOn in the next one – and it wasn’t about therapy. Bartlett is a manipulative sock-puppet, but we already knew that.
Actually, catnip, they are fooling a lot of people–59 million at the last count.
Or were the 59 million who voted for Bush voting with full knowledge of what they were getting? I hope that at least a large number of them were misled…but I’m afraid they were not.
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”–President George W. Bush