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Karl Rove’s Confrontation With Laurie David And Sheryl Crow

April 23rd, 2007
By JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

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White House political maven Karl Rove met outspoken global warming action advocates Laurie David and Sheryl Crow and according to Ms. David’s eyebrow-raising post on The Huffington Post it seems as if Mr. Rove doesn’t like being questioned, touched on the arm and has quite a temper.

In a sense, the post seems symbolic of this administration’s entire attitude to those who not only have differing ideas on policies but deem to confront them directly and ask for answers. Mr. Rove’s attitude if you read the post in full (which you MUST and make up your mind is) “We are the deciders SO THERE.” A few highlights:

We asked Mr. Rove if he would consider taking a fresh look at the science of global warming. Much to our dismay, he immediately got combative. And it went downhill from there.

We reminded the senior White House adviser that the US leads the world in global warming pollution and we are doing the least about it. Anger flaring, Mr. Rove immediately regurgitated the official Administration position on global warming which is that the US spends more on researching the causes than any other country.

We felt compelled to remind him that the research is done and the results are in (www.IPCC.ch). Mr. Rove exploded with even more venom. Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum, Mr. Rove launched into a series of illogical arguments regarding China not doing enough thus neither should we. (Since when do we follow China’s lead?)

But it gets WORSE:

In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, “Don’t touch me.” How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, “You can’t speak to us like that, you work for us.” Karl then quipped, “I don’t work for you, I work for the American people.” To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, “We are the American people.”

At that point Mr. Rove apparently decided he had had enough. Like a groundhog fearful of his own shadow, he scurried to his table in an attempt to hibernate for another year from his responsibility to address global warming. Drama aside, you would expect as an American citizen to be able to engage in a civil discussion with a public official. Instead, Mr. Rove was dismissive, condescending, and quite frankly a bully.

Most people have assumed that the combative, “my way or the highway” attitude of this administration on a host of issues where it eschews consensus, honest deliberation and discussion with critics or those who simply have other ideas, comes from the top.

But, no, this post suggests the attitude can’t just be blamed on GWB. His advisers share the same perception of those who question what they do and want to seriously dialogue with them.

Which means it will be a very bumpy two more years.

And the White House — and Republicans — should brace themselves for more polls heading steadily south.

UPDATE: More (including video clips) at Raw Story HERE.



This entry was posted on Monday, April 23rd, 2007 at 6:48 am and is filed under Global Warming, Karl Rove, Science, Math, Technology, Environment, Politics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 
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