Posted on 07/15/2005 7:26:14 AM PDT by listenhillary
In Case You Missed It: Excerpts From RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman On FOX News' "Fox And Friends," 7/15/05
RNC CHAIRMAN KEN MEHLMAN: "Well, I think what we all know is this. We all know there's an investigation going on, we know that Karl [Rove] and the White House are cooperating fully with this investigation. And there have been two articles that are creating all this noise. One article last weekend was an article in Newsweek, which I thought exonerated Karl Rove in many ways. What it said was Karl Rove was not leaking anybody's name, he didn't know that name but if fact, instead, was trying to discourage a reporter from writing a false story based on a false premise by Joe Wilson. What this story shows you, again, in my judgment, exonerates Karl Rove. What it says is Karl Rove wasn't the leaker, he was actually the recipient of the information not the provider. So there are probably a lot of folks in Washington who have prejudged this, who have rushed to judgment, who are trying to smear Karl Rove and once again, we think the investiga tion should go forward. Everyone is complying with the investigation, but once again, the information that's coming out that they're using to smear Karl Rove in fact does the opposite." ... FOX NEWS' STEVE DOOCY: "So Karl Rove gets a call from Novak, who is working on another story, and somewhere in the conversation, Novak says, oh by the way, I'm working on this thing about Joe Wilson, where his wife worked at the C.I.A. And she's the one who sent him over to Niger to look into this whole uranium cake thing or something like that, and then Karl Rove said, you know, I've heard something like that."
CHAIRMAN MEHLMAN: "That's what The New York Times said this morning. But once again, what's very clear is according to that article, Karl Rove was not the source, he was the recipient of information. What's also interesting is in both cases, Karl was talking to reporters who called him on a different reason and in both cases they brought up information about Joe Wilson. In this case, if you believe The New York Times, he learned the information and in the other article, in the Newsweek article that created so much noise, Karl Rove discouraged the publication and so, again, to smear Karl Rove based on two articles that would exonerate him of what folks have accused him of is totally outrageous. What we saw on the Senate floor yesterday was unprecedented. As the London bombings last week showed, the American people need legislators who will seriously deal with the challenges we face on homeland security and you saw a partisan charade on the floor of the United States Senate yesterday, where folks for political gain were trying to throw a rider on to a bill that went after Karl Rove's security clearance. He is complying with the investigation, he's taking it seriously, he has confidence in the investigator, all of us do, they should too, an they should not be engaged in this kind of partisan charade and in these kind of smears." ...
CHAIRMAN MEHLMAN: "Well, look, here's the bottom line. I have confidence in this prosecutor. I think we ought to let the investigation go forward. I don't think we should be commenting on a pending investigation and certainly to be smearing someone's good name for political gain, to try to raise money off the internet from the angry left. There was a report last night on Fox News that there's a left wing web site encouraging people to mess up Karl Rove's yard, to go to his house. That's outrageous. Again, the angry left should not drive the Democrat Party. The party of Truman and JFK and FDR ought to be about higher things than smearing somebody's good name. And today's New York Times, if anything, exonerates Karl."
Ken Mehlman is a tough bird. This Republican group knows how to fight fire with fire. The left and their friends in the MSM are completely flummoxed by it.
Thanks for posting. And kudos to Ken for standing straight against the slanderous accusations against Rove.
Listening to FOX now...Wilson reminds me of Terry McAuliffe.. same snide and deceitful approach. WHO in their right mind takes this guy seriously?
Plame outed Plame--that's Miller's secret
He's a vengeful, snide, partisan hack now trading on his wife's former job.
thanks for posting this.
I like him too. I'm just waiting for the day where he and that crazy Dean are on a show opposite each other.
Or Wilson... More and more this is looking like an organized attempt by Wilson to discredit the President.
"And today's New York Times, if anything, exonerates Karl."
Don't adjust your dial, that sound you hear is only the heads of libs exploding.
Plame outed Plame--that's Miller's secret ??
How do you know this. Is this factual. If so, its big.
Thankfully the Democraps don't know when to shut up after a story they like doesn't pan out.
I hope this is more W rope-a-dope.
Much to my suprise, the Republicans are by and large capitolizing on this and turning it on the dems. The Repbulican talking points have been very good, i.e. "the democrat party is clearly dominated by the angry left and has become the party of moveon and Michael Moore.' I love it, keep it coming.
Oh, and it is not just Ken Melhman who is defending Rove. we have also been hearing from members of the House and Senate who have absolutely gutted Wilson.
The MSM also no longer has the market cornered on the flow of information. That, combined with solid politcal strategists are sending the liberal elites to the trash heap of history. All those years of the Republicans fighting against the current has been a good thing for them and made them more able to fight, whereas the dems on the other hand have had the comfort of having the current carry them in the form of the MSM and they can scarcely keep up when they enter a doldrum where the information flow is 'even' so to speak. And the beautiful thing is, as is evidenced in this latest MSM contrived scandal, is that the libs haven't a clue that they're being taken to the woodshed.
just speculating, but JW did admit (I'm not sure for the first time) that his wife wasn't covert at the time of Novak's story. It seems lawyerly, as though she may need a Clintonesque weaseloff.
The AP made a half-assed attempt yesterday to flog the story that "Republican officials are getting nervous" about Karl Rove. They quoted some local party boss in Arkansas. So the RNC trotted out a press release with quotes of unequivocal support from Elizabeth Dole, Tom Reynolds, Tom DeLay, Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn -- in other words, REAL Republican officials.
Today the AP is running a photo of Rove with a caption saying Rove "is becoming a political liability for the President." Did that interview with Ken Mehlman sound like Rove is a political liability?
The MSM keeps bringing knives to this gunfight, while Mehlman and company are bringing howitzers.
Mehlman should get just as much credit as Rove for the 2004 election campaign. The kid did a hell of a job in the 'purple' states.
With the abysmal behavior and lack of input the Dem's have shown since January, the 2006 elections should favor us handsomely.
Most excellent tone - sounds just like a schoolmarm teaching the angry left a lesson.
They have not yet figured out that the old tactics don't work anymore.
bttt
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