Rove's scorn of liberals' 9/11 response makes waves - (Bush, Cheney, Mehlman backing Rove)

AMERICA'S NEWSPAPER.COM ^ | JUNE 26, 2005 | BILL SAMMON

[CHARLITE]

Karl Rove told New York conservatives June 22 that liberals had a wimpy response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, drawing harsh criticism June 23 from Democrats who demanded that President Bush either rebuke or fire his senior political adviser. “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 said at the annual dinner of the New York State Conservative Party. Mr. Rove also accused Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, of endangering U.S. troops with his comments two weeks ago. “Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year?” Mr. Rove asked, referring to the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat comparing U.S. interrogation techniques at the Guantanamo Bay naval base to the Nazi and Soviet regimes. “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.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called for a retraction, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said Mr. Rove “has now decided to move to center stage in the theater of the absurd.”

The six Democratic senators from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut signed a letter to Mr. Rove demanding that he apologize. At a press conference June 23 to announce the letter, the four from New York and New Jersey said Mr. Rove should be fired if he didn’t apologize by June 24. “There’s a certain line that you should not cross, and last night, Karl Rove crossed that line. He didn’t just put his toe over the line; he jumped way over,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York. “This makes me angry. It makes, I think, the American people angry,” said Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey. “The man is divorced from reality, and it’s nothing but pure politics — the politics of diversion, the politics of divisiveness and distortion.”

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York was asked about the recent Beltway battles over rhetoric, including the Durbin flap and said both parties need to “just take a breath and calm down.”

“Everybody needs to just be a little more restrained,” she said. Also signing the letter were Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey and Joe Lieberman and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut. The six represent the New York City metropolitan area. None of the leading Democrats who criticized Mr. Rove on June 23 called for Mr. Durbin to apologize for his own remarks, with some even specifically refusing to comment when asked. Asked June 23 about the different reactions, Democrats would say only that Mr. Durbin’s eventual apology sets the stage for Mr. Rove to do the same. “Senator Durbin — that’s been done and he has apologized. Karl Rove should do the same,” Mr. Schumer said. Though the remarks about liberals’ response after September 11 drew the most attention, Mr. Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, offered a series of barbed distinctions between conservatives and liberals. “Conservatives saw the United States as a great nation involved in a noble cause of self-defense,” Mr. Rove said. “Liberals are concerned about what our enemies think of us, whether every government approves of our actions.”

Republicans appeared to be ready for the complaints, with the Republican National Committee sending out a list of statements that backed up Mr. Rove’s charge, including one from MoveOn.org calling for “moderation and restraint” after the terrorist attacks. MoveOn.org on June 23 said it did, in fact, support going to war in Afghanistan. Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman called Democrats’ different reactions to Mr. Durbin and Mr. Rove “outrageous.”

“George Soros, Michael Moore, MoveOn and the hard left were wrong after 9/11, just as it was wrong for Democrat leaders to stand by and remain silent after Dick Durbin made his deplorable comments,” Mr. Mehlman said. Other Republicans, including some who had criticized Mr. Durbin, defended Mr. Rove, saying he was merely “telling it like it is.”

“I know that the Democratic leadership at this point is offering no ideas and no vision for the American people, but Karl was simply pointing out the different philosophies and different approaches when it comes to winning the war on terrorism,” said White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Vice President Dick Cheney suggested that Mr. Rove was referring to liberal Democrats who opposed the U.S. war against Afghanistan. He said Mr. Rove was making a “distinction” between two responses to terrorism. “One is sort of a crime-solving approach, a law-enforcement approach,” he told CNN. “And the other is a national strategy, military intelligence, wartime approach.”

White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. also defended the remarks, saying they “reflected some of the rhetoric that a lot of people feel.”

“There is a difference of opinion on how some people respond to those kinds of terror attacks,” he said on CNN. “And there has been a long history where some have said our response should be more of an investigative, prosecutorial response than one of taking the fight to the enemy.”

Mr. Rove was not the first White House official to ridicule the notion of offering “therapy” to terrorists. Mr. Bush repeatedly made the point while running for re-election last year, although he did not specifically blame liberals. “You can’t reason with these people,” the president said of terrorists. “There’s no need to negotiate with them. Therapy’s not going to work.”

Democrats, though, said Mr. Rove’s rhetoric was even at odds with Mr. Bush, who said immediately after the attacks and after Congress approved going to war in Afghanistan that the nation is united. Of the six Democrats who signed a letter calling for an apology, five of them voted for the war in Afghanistan, and four voted to authorize war in Iraq. Mr. Corzine voted against the war in Iraq, and Mr. Lautenberg was not in the Senate at the time of either vote.

[Keith in Iowa]

Rove should resign...right after Durbin...

[Paul Atreides]

Durbin...Clinton...Pelosi....Reid....Kennedy....

[Paul Atreides]

It makes, I think, the American people angry,” said Sen. Jon Corzine of New Jersey.

Only the people to whom the statement applies, Jon.

[Fruit of the Spirit]

"“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 said..."

LIBERALS SAW THE SAVAGERY OF THE 9/11 ATTACKS AND SAID, "BUSH DID IT!"

(I'm still getting e-mails from at least one liberal who
still believes it was an "inside job.")

[Enterprise]

"Harry Reid of Nevada called for a retraction"

"The six Democratic senators from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut signed a letter to Mr. Rove demanding that he apologize."

AAAAAAHHHHHHHH - SHADDAP - ALL OF YOUSE

(Buncha nimrods and maroons)

[Rabble]

Apology's are NOT necessary when one speaks the truth!

[boofus]

9/11 was not the first time they attacked the WTC. What was Klinton's response? How did Klinton respond to the bombing of the USS Cole?

What kind of impression did blowjob boy think he was making to Osama Bin Laden when he withdrew America's best and brightest Rangers and Delta from Somalia without accomplishing their mission?

[Paul Atreides]

You forget: that's what they call "nuance." You can't sit there and tell me that nuance doesn't make you feel better.

/sarcasm

[Wildhair]

The quote I found most interesting was;

....Mr. Lautenberg was not in the Senate at the time of either vote.

Two resolutions approve military action and he couldn't tear his self away from playing X-Box long enough to vote yea or nay??

[hsalaw]

"The six Democratic senators from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut signed a letter to Mr. Rove demanding that he apologize."

I'm still waiting to see their letter to Durbin demanding he apologize.

[VeniVidiVici]

Durbin, Durbin. Mohammed. Jihad.

[VeniVidiVici]

Lautenberg? X-Box?

Sorry, dude, but they way he looks I'd say that he was actually resting in his coffin waiting for the sun to go down.

[Anti-Christ is Hillary]

I loved his speech. However, he did leave out one very important fact that should add it to his future speeches.

When the times get tough the libs get going. (With their tails between their legs).

Thank goodness that they weren't in charge 200 years ago. We would still be subjects of the Queen.

[Rabble]

"....Mr. Lautenberg was not in the Senate at the time of either vote."

This sorry excuse for a U.S. Senator routinely stumbles over his own words. The old fool votes the way his handlers tell him to.

I wonder if the folks in N.J. are happy with his representation of them? It's obvious that he's about 10 years past the point that he should have retired!~

[ClancyJ]

A bunch of fuss about nothing.

I wish these esteemed democrat senators would get to work and take care of this country instead of spending their efforts to destroy the country and Pres. Bush.

And, they are paid lifetime salaries for the nonsense they do?

[no dems]

"Nancy Pelosi of California said Mr. Rove “has now decided to move to center stage in the theater of the absurd.”

Hey Nancy; shut your surgically altered mouth you wench.

[CHARLITE]

" It's obvious that he's about 10 years past the point that he should have retired!"

He DID retire! The Jersey Dem machine got him out of mothballs and ran him in violation of the state election rules, just so that they could retain the seat. Lautenberg already spent umpteen years in the Senate from N.J., and had retired some 5+ years before the '02 election, when a scandal caused the Democrat nominee to withdraw, if I remember it correctly, so they dusted this guy off and shoved him into the race.....exactly the same thing they did in Minnesota after the plane crash death of Paul Wellstone. They tried to bring back Walter Mondale, which didn't work. Norm Coleman won handily.

Minnesotans must be a tad smarter than New Jerseyites.

Char :)

[sageb1]

"“I know that the Democratic leadership at this point is offering no ideas and no vision for the American people,"

Actually, they do have a vision. We simply reject it.

[Daaave]

"Six-foot-seven inch Bill Sammon--nicknamed "Superstretch" by President Bush--enjoys more access to the commander-in-chief than any other journalist. Sammon has spent hours with Bush in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One--even in the President's sprawling Texas ranch."

Books by Mr. Sammon: "Misunderestimated: The President Battles Terrorism, John Kerry and the Bush Haters," "Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism from Inside the Bush White House," and "At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election."

I've read At Any Cost and Fighting Back, and liked both.