Playing right into the puppet-master’s hands
I had a E-mail conversation with Lorie Byrd today who tweaked me on my Karl Rove position. I went on to write that I couldn’t believe that Chuck Schumer was stupid enough to appear with Joe Wilson to demand Karl Rove’s ouster. If the Democrats just bided their time, they could stretch out the scandal while appearing to be above the fray and more concerned about national security (for once) than political gain.
But the girl can’t help it. The always-outraged Schumer must have his suits tailored with built-in microphones because there’s no issue which will keep him away from television cameras. In the blink of an eye, the Democrats have turned the Rove issue into a political food-fight. After Rove is cleared (because Plame was not a covert agent) the Dems will still try to gin up outrage but the vast majority of Americans will have tuned out.
In 1996, Bob Dole asked “where’s the outrage?” and John Kerry asked the same question in 2004. The outrage card never works yet the Democrats continue to play it over and over (Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, DeLay, Rove). Bottom line: the more the Democrats pound the table in high dudgeon while ignoring issues that really matter to Americans, the more likely it is that Karl Rove will remain in the White House. Given the trajectory of events so far, and throwing in the pending Sunday news shows, it’s looking pretty likely that Rove’s nameplate will remain on the door of his West Wing office.
1 comment:
Rove may well survive, but the image of George W. Bush, The Man Who Restored Honor To The Oval Office is in a lot bloodier shape.
These are lies, to supplant the previous lies that were told to cover up lies about other lies. If this performance occurred in the English Football League, poor Bill Clinton would be relegated to the second division.
If laws were broken, Karl Rove should go to jail. If he has simply shown that he can't be trusted with classified information, which he has, then Rove should be expelled from his job. All the GOP talking points about Joe Wilson's Top Ten Lies, and how Rove never actually said a name, and how it all depends on what your definition of "leak" is-- these come from the brand of one-way gotcha horseshit that is unfortunately the common coin of today's Troy Vs. Greece "conquer or submit" beltway.
If Rove was only trying to helpfully dissuade a reporter from running a false story (today's spin), and if no ethical lapse or criminal act was involved, as his defenders assert-- then why would Rove and the White House deny his involvement for two years? Is he Amelie, doing his good deeds in secret?
A White House Deputy Chief of Staff who cannot keep classified information to himself is unfit to hold the job. Period. Who would dispute this premise? Who would begrudgingly offer it in a half-assed way, taking care to paint the other party as the real villains? Charles Schumer's jones for live camera feeds doesn't enter into it.
Now, we'll see what the son of "read my lips, no new taxes" has to say about his "they would no longer be in this administration." How's that Oval Office honor supply holding up?
And the crack about a savvier Democratic Party should be "appearing to be...more concerned about national security (for once) than political gain"? In an item about MR. KARL ROVE? That's not just the death of irony, that's the abduction, torture, and gangland-style slaughter of irony.
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