Let me get this straight: Republicans who were upset over the over-the-top remarks of Senator Richard Durbin and the pungent comments of Senator Harry Reid are now defending Karl Rove accusing liberals and Democrats of not wanting to fight terrorism — and in effect wanting to see American troops die?
Can there be any doubt that this White House and administration have no desire to work for national unity, even on issue of terrorism? It’s MO seems to be division and polarization — whipping up rage against defined enemies…which now apparently include those who compete with it at the ballot box:
Karl Rove came to the heart of Manhattan last night to rhapsodize about the decline of liberalism in politics, saying Democrats responded weakly to Sept. 11 and had placed American troops in greater danger by criticizing their actions.
“Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers,” Mr. Rove, the senior political adviser to President Bush, said at a fund-raiser in Midtown for the Conservative Party of New York State.
Citing calls by progressive groups to respond carefully to the attacks, Mr. Rove said to the applause of several hundred audience members, “I don’t know about you, but moderation and restraint is not what I felt when I watched the twin towers crumble to the ground, a side of the Pentagon destroyed, and almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble.”
He was just getting started:
Mr. Rove also said American armed forces overseas were in more jeopardy as a result of remarks last week by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, who compared American mistreatment of detainees to the acts of “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime – Pol Pot or others.”
“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.”
Some questions for Mr. Rove:
- So our military forces are composed ONLY of Republicans? Only Republicans have died on the battlefield? There were no Democrats, no independents? No one who gave their life for our country was ever a liberal? Do they have to be Rush Limbaugh listeners to go to the front lines?
- Did you inform Google and Yahoo and all of the search engines yet that someone has hacked into their servers? Because the last time we checked, news stories and websites have lots of stories and articles saying Democrats supported the war in Afghanistan. And although some had their reservations about it, many of them backed the U.S. going into Iraq. Some Democrats have also supported the Patriot Act.
- We did a search and can’t find Democrats having suggested a visit to Dr. Laura. When did anyone suggest counseling for terrorists or Sadaam — or anything remotely suggesting a touchy-feely approach to terrorism? After 911 there was bipartisan unity. Even on the Iraq war, the administration got lots of Democrats to go along with them.
If Republicans clamored to have Durbin apologize for overblown rhetoric insulting the country, we assume Republicans of conscience will now insist that Rove apologize.
But the White House is backing his comments — which means this is how they feel: that the Democrats are soft on terrorism and want to see American troops harmed.
20th century McCarthyism seems to have been replaced by 21st century Rove-ism.
UPDATE: Crooks And Liars gives us some interesting documentation..
UPDATE II:John Cole is also agahst. He’s also sickened by general state of politics as practiced by both sides.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.