It may be a couple of days past, but by request here is my diary on Rove’s Rant.
Billmon had an excellent post:
But I actually think Rove’s rant should be seen as a somewhat encouraging sign. Rove and his idiot chorus aren’t roaring at the top of their lungs to try to drown out the liberals — that would be absurd overkill, given how effectively the corporate media has ridiculed and/or demonized the likes of Howard Dean and Dick Durbin. No, Rove’s hate rally is aimed squarely at suppressing the growing doubts of the great silent majority — and even, to a certain extent, those of the conservative true believers, some of whom are showing ominous signs of war weariness.
The rhetorical assault on the liberals, in other words, is the core of the PR counteroffensive the White House has been promising to unleash for the past week.
There is more, I encourage everyone to read it.
My $0.02 below the fold (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:
This is the way Democrats need to be talking about these issues – not cautiously asking for an “apology” from Rove. We don’t want “apologies” – we want a real debate about this. That means it is time for Democrats to finally go for the throat and make clear that if you are going to vehemently advocate sending more and more innocent Americans to die in Iraq, you better be prepared to back up that rhetoric with some sacrifice of your own.
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.
