Fox to Rove on Swift Boat ads: "I know you had nothing to do with it...

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Transcript: Karl Rove on 'FOX News Sunday' (with Chris Wallace)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137853,00.html

WALLACE: I know you had nothing to do with it, but now that the campaign's over, the Swift Boat ads, how important?

ROVE: Well, I think they were made important by the fact that Senator Kerry at his convention really talked about not his forward- looking agenda or his service in the Senate, but really only about Vietnam. I was amazed by the people that I met around the country who were energized by that issue being discussed. I had an uncle, a favorite uncle of mine, who did several tours of duty in Vietnam, and I've never been able to think of Colonel Verhigh (ph) as somebody who would have raped and pillaged in a manner reminiscent of Genghis Khan. And so I have a sense of it, but, I mean, I was really amazed by how strongly men and women who had served in Vietnam and in the armed forces felt about that.

- snip -

WALLACE: But when you say "revisit the code," I mean, would he consider, seriously consider, in a second term, replacing the federal income tax with a sales tax or a flat tax?

ROVE: Well, he believes we need to step back and look at the code in its entirety and discuss and have a dialogue as to what is necessary to keep this economy flexible and dynamic and growing. How can we encourage savings? How can we encourage ownership? How can we encourage a dynamic, growing economy, and do so in a fair way that requires a minimum amount of paperwork and compliance costs? Look, we need to recognize that our economy faces some real challenges. Our competition for American business is no longer in the next county or the next state, it's around the world. And if we're going to keep our economy dynamic and growing and the economic powerhouse of the world, then we better do something about our tax code, better do something about the excessive litigation, better do something about health-care costs, better do something about our education system, better do something about lifetime opportunities for training, or we'll not have an economy that is as strong and as plentiful as we want for our kids and grandkids.

[TimeToGo]

1. Why even bother with journalists?

I mean, why doesn't the White House simply come on State TV and issue their Thinking Points?

Good grief.

(I just emailed Wallace and asked him how he could do such a sloppy interview)

[Carolab]

2. He looks like

the love child of Tweety and Cheney

[GRLMGC]

5. haha

he kinda does

[grannylib]

3. Aaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh! My eyes! My eyes!

Make it go awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Aaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

[GRLMGC]

4. Public Enemy #1

My revulsion and hatred for this man has no bounds

[lolamio]

6. That picture would be perfect for a dart board. n/t

[mitchum]

7. I wish a horrible and painful disease on pigfucker Rove

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

8. A couple of quotes re: Rove and his predecessor Lee Atwater

http://civildialogue.typepad.com/civil_dialogue/presidential_race/

As you know, Lee Atwater confessed and begged for forgiveness on his deathbed for his ignoble and dishonorable career spent engineering these things. Karl Rove is an Atwater disciple who isn't suffering from a terminal illness, and who has no compunction about engaging in this garbage. Everyone knows this and occasionally the Liberal Media even reports on it, as the Financial Times did on December 9, 2003 (no link available, but it's quoted and dated by the reliable Josh Marshall here.) The key quote from an unidentified source: "By the time the White House finishes with Kerry, no one will know what side of the (Vietnam) war he fought on."

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/86/brock.html

In business, in politics, in journalism, in the military -- in any organization large or small -- there seem to be few incentives to stand on principle today. Doing so, speaking up for what I believed was right, I learned, can be a profoundly isolating experience, which may be why, whether at Abu Ghraib or in the spate of corporate scandals, leaders try to pass the buck rather than accept responsibility for their actions and those of their subordinates. The act of thrusting oneself into a kind of professional purgatory can feel like self-immolation.

In such moments, one searches for examples of others who seem to have traveled a similar path. In my case, I kept coming back to an indelible image of Lee Atwater, the Republican pit-bull strategist who made telephone calls from his deathbed apologizing to those he had slandered. Atwater had the courage to spend his twilight hours acknowledging his misdeeds, known and unknown. And while he didn't have to live with the consequences of admitting his sins, Atwater's declarations of guilt may have been and may continue to be an inspiration to those who realize that making a clean breast is, in the end, the only path to choose.

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. "Bush's Brain"

That's all you need to know. Watch it and see what this cretin is all about! And BTW he is on ugly MoFo!

[neebob]

10. Why is Rove suddenly all over the place?

Did that happen in 2000? I don't remember - I was preoccupied with having been nearly ruined by a psychopathic con man. I didn't start paying attention until shortly after September 11th, and then I started noticing the similarities between Bush and his cronies and the, uh, person who tried to wreck my life.

Without telling my story, I must tell you I see no difference between what happened to me and what is happening to the country. Call me an optimist, but I think the brazen manner in which these these assholes are revealing themselves and overstepping their bounds will be their undoing. There's nothing I hate more than a fucking scumbag, and as much as I hate looking at them I just can't help thinking their arrogance is a good thing.

[PretzelWarrior]

11. because this little fucker is gloating in his way.

he is crowing because this somehow vindicates his politics of hate and fear. He doesn't care what you or I think...he and his boys got the keys to the castle and their legacy is to attempt a dynastic run of GOP White HOuses and Congress as far as the eye can see.

[neebob]

12. I get that

What I'm asking is did it happen in 2000. If not, it can only be helpful.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

15. His appearances on TV news are being referred to as his...

..."Victory Lap."

Check just about anywhere on the Web today and you'll see headlines about Rove taking his "victory lap" after Junior's re-selection.

There is no purpose whatsoever beyond gloating. The election's over. The purpose of this is simply to rub your nose in it, with the willing and eager assistance of the news media that helped make it happen.

Oh, maybe one other: to assure the American people who voted against Bush that all of the things they feared: continued war in Iraq, Social Security in a shambles, a "National Sales Tax"...these things ARE GOING TO HAPPEN.

[n2mark]

13. to be honest

please do not post this pig's picture (Rove), I don't want to see him. You might as well post Hitler.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. Ditto!