Karl Rove gave nervous Republicans a preview of the party's strategy

[dajoki]

NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/politics/20cnd-rove.html?ex=1295413200&en=9f84be22ff8d5890&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In Preview of G.O.P. Campaign, Rove Tears Into Democrats

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: January 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 - Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, gave nervous Republicans here a preview of the party's strategy to maintain its dominance in the fall elections today, assailing Democrats for their positions on terrorism, the White House eavesdropping program and Mr. Bush's attempt to shape the federal judiciary.

For 26 minutes, after calling for civility in politics in a packed speech before the Republican National Committee, Mr. Rove offered a lacerating attack on Democrats that other Republicans said was a road map for how the party would deal with a tough electoral environment. Mr. Rove sharply criticized Democrats for their opposition to tax cuts and Mr. Bush's Supreme Court nominations, but he left little doubt that once again - as has been the case in both national elections since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - that he was intent on making national security the pre-eminent issue in 2006.

Mr. Rove speeches this early in an election year have proved to be accurate predictors of what Republican candidates would say in the fall, and thus every seat in the ballroom at a downtown Washington hotel was filled. He lacerated Democrats for what he described their "cut and run" policy on Iraq, for blocking a renewal of the broad antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act, and for challenging the legality of the administration's widespread use of warrantless wiretaps in the face of widespread criticism.

Mr. Rove made no mention of Republican opposition to both the Patriot Act and the surveillance program, which has posed a political problem for this White House, while he laid out his case against the Democrats, speaking rapidly.

[NVMojo]

1. Members of the Liars Club preparing for another round of bullshit

[ewoden]

2. Aw shucks and I was expecting the evil twin of the Lost in Space

Robot to chime in with "Crush, Kill, Destroy"

[rusty charly]

3. "speaking rapidly"

that's when you really have to watch these weasels: when they pick up their pace.

[dajoki]

15. oh, that is so true n/t

[Hardrada]

4. He is sort of like Mr. Joseph Fucking Goebbels.

No balls Goebbels started off as a PR guy for Hitler and a campaigner and then became like third or so in the Nazi hierarchy! And was always a beater of the war drums and a bellicose speaker too. Well, he ended up taking cyanide. I wonder if Rove and the others have cyanide teeth they can bite on to do themselves in once they are finally captured.

[rusty charly]

6. i saw him on TV tonight

and he looked like crap, too. think it's slowly getting to him physically.

[spindrifter]

8. K always looks

like pasty crap. He covers it up with the expensive suits. Can you visualize him in man-capris? (I know we are all visualizing the prison garb and flip-flops.)

[dajoki]

14. YUK!!

:puke:

[spindrifter]

5. Gees Kkkarl, how dare

you lacerate us for having a different opinion? It almost looks like KR is OBL's doppelganger.

[Matt Jordan]

7. Seeds of Kristallnacht

And the only thing that might save us is that most of Bush's supporters think "Crystal Night" has something to do with eating square hamburgers.

2006 is the year to push back - intelligently, democratically, but hard. The cliff is right behind us.

Matt

[Skittles]

23. you know it, Matt

welcome to the DU :hi:

[0007]

24. The cliff is right behind us" That brings up the subject of

Clif Baxter. If only he were a live today to testify against Ken Lay. Perhaps he was the link between Jack Abramoff and Ken Lay?

Ralph Reed was involved with both Enron and Jack Abramoff.

[scarletlib]

26. Funny!

[geckosfeet]

9. He also said dems are living in the pre-9-11 world and that

the world has changed. Post 9-11 the president needs to be able to trash the constitution at will without any oversight from anyone - except maybe his attorney general and his senior political advisor.

This won't fly in front of a special prosecutor. It may appease some weak knee repukians who are looking to jump ship, but it certainly does not sound like a defensible legal argument to me - and I ain't no lwyaer.

[dajoki]

10. that's always their excuse 9/11 n/t

[thebigidea]

11. that punk Nagourney would NEVER say a Dem "teared into" anything

more like SOME SAY DEMOCRATS GO OVER THE LINE CRITICIZING... DEMOCRAT INSIDERS UPSET WITH GROWING RANCOR AND BUSHBASHING RHETORIC.

Only manly Republicans get to "pound" "blast" or "slam." And in this case, they get to attack in a "lacerating" manner.

[WinkyDink]

18. Don't forget how "robust" they are, too!

[belpejic]

29. Ad Nags is such a tool

He and Rick Berke make me utterly sick. They make Jeff Gannon look honorable.

[dajoki]

12. packed speech before the Republican National Committee...

hand selected group as usual.

[rusty charly]

13. This is the argument

Karl Rove: "President Bush thinks that if al-Qaeda is calling someone in this country the government should know who and why."

This is the argument that Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and George W. Bush are making to justify the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. I don't know anyone who disagrees with the statement. We obviously want to monitor all al-Qaeda communications, all the time, no matter the circumstances. The disagreement is over the 'warrantless' part of the program.

Now, let's use our brains here for a moment. The only reason we know about the NSA wiretaps is because "Nearly a dozen current and former officials, who were granted anonymity because of the classified nature of the program, discussed it with reporters for The New York Times because of their concerns about the operation's legality and oversight."

Do you think that nearly a dozen NSA employees would come forth to leak about a program that was restricted to monitoring al-Qaeda communications?

No?

Well, neither do I. And it isn't just the NSA that has been guilty of spying on U.S. citizens that have no connection to terrorism.

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2006/1/20/17499/1467

[dajoki]

16. BINGO!!

[leanin_green]

21. Don't get caught in the trap.

They put out an obvious statement like the one you mention:

"President Bush thinks that if al-Qaeda is calling someone in this country the government should know who or why."

They use blanket statements like that, knowing full well what the arguement is really about. That's not the point. When they use it as a talking point, they trap us into explaining what we mean or causing us to have to agree with their statement, then they shout us down or poo-poo anything that is said after that. It is effective and has worked in the past. In this manner they draw us into a circular arguement that isn't designed to foster debate or understanding of the issues. They can care less about informing the public. It's far better for them to inflame the public than hold a discourse they can ill afford.

The last time this was tried on me here in Southern Utah, I just started quacking like a duck, quaaaaaack, quack, quack, quack! Then said, "Sounds like the same ole Bullquack to me. Meaningless dribble inspired by those with no answers and could care less about the question." Quaaaaaaack, quack, quack, quack!

[snowbear]

17. Either Rove's kidney stones are back, or something else is wrong with him

He looks like total crap and sounds even worse. I'm wondering what will get him first, Fitz or his health issues.

[Rageneau]

19. More innovative political thinking from the great miind of KKKarl Rove

Let's see -- war is good. Democrats don't like war, ergo democrats are bad.

Throw in abortion and gay marriage and that sounds like an imaginative new approach to winning elections.

How can we compete with a razor-sharp mind like that?

[guruoo]

20. Sounds like Karl's well is running pretty dry n/t

[Skittles]

22. lemme guess - swiftboating will be a major strategy

I hope when Rove's kidney stones return they have ANTLERS

[dajoki]

31. yeah...

then he will know what it feels like to get "lacerated".

[kentuck]

25. Where's Osama??

O Great One ?

[dajoki]

32. undisclosed location n/t

[Missy Vixen]

27. Karrlllllllll! Does this guy make you nervous? He should!

Mr. Rove, I understand that it's not nice to taunt others, but I just can't resist. Strategy, hm? It'll be hard to whip the Republicans into a frenzy from a prison cell, won't it?



It just can't happen soon enough for me!

Fondly,
Julie
president for life of the PFEB

[Clarkie1]

28. Here's the deal folks: We know the cards Rove is holding...

all we have to do is raise him 4 stars.

If you want to help Democratic congressional candidates win on national security in 06', consider donating to WesPac.

www.securingamerica.com

[high density]

30. Oh but he's going to apologize tomorrow, like Harry did, right?

:eyes:

[Erika]

33. and meanwhile OBL crosses the Mexican border easily

W has his priorities, corporations.

[OzarkDem]

34. More endless war

Rove is running out of issues for Bush. What happened to Social Security Privatization? What about Arctic Drilling? What about tax reform?

Looks like Bush and the GOP are losing power and only have the "fear" card left.

[dajoki]

35. yep!!

Rove: It's the (eternal) war, stupid!
In his first speech in two months, "Bush's brain" laid out his plan for GOP victory: War, war and more war.

By Walter Shapiro
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/01/21/rove

[Cell Whitman]

36. Rand Corp. says we are LOSING war on terror - dems can't see issue!!!

Rand Corp. says we are LOSING war on terror, only ONE blog picks up story, might bother Rove. Dems couldn't spot an issue if it bit them in the keester. Best to cry that Matthews proved for 10000000 time he is an UN-American right wing hack.

http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1189

Terrorism increases to record levels in 2005

Terrorism hit record levels in 2005, according to data from the RAND Corporation available through the Department of Homeland Security-funded Terrorism Knowledge Base.

You're doing a heck of a job, Georgie.

The sum of "international" and "domestic" terrorist attacks in 2005 was 3991, up 51% from the previous year's figure of 2639. The number of deaths that resulted from those attacks was 6872, which is 36% higher than the 5066 that occurred in 2004.

A heck of a job.

In contrast, in the last year of the Clinton presidency (2000), there were 1138 attacks and 776 deaths. Since then, after five years of Bush's macho 84 billion-dollar-a-year War on Terror®, attacks have increased by 250% and deaths by a whopping 550%.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060119-6.html

MR. McCLELLAN:....We are taking the fight to the enemy; we are working to advance freedom and democracy, to defeat their evil ideology. We are winning. Clearly, al Qaeda and the terrorists are on the run....

We are winning this war on terrorism, the terrorists are on the run and we're going to continue pursuing them and bringing them to justice, wherever they are. .......

Q Scott, with bin Laden still out there taunting, threatening and commanding as much attention as he apparently still can, can you legitimately claim to be winning the war on terror?

MR. McCLELLAN: Absolutely, for the reasons that I spelled out earlier.

[dajoki]

37. "Clearly, al Qaeda and the terrorists are on the run...."

how can they state this with a straight face?

[Cell Whitman]

38. What I can't figure out is NO ONE I can find is picking the story up

I mean no one and I have emailed to many. Is the info in Eric's BTC post old? Am I reading it wrong? Even if it is old, given the events of the last few days, why aren't we pounding this story? I posted it a couple days ago here and it sunk like a rock.

I really don't understand our priorities.

We've now past the time to get some dem who might be on the Sunday shows to mention this.

WTF am I missing here?

It was posted in the Kerry thread at KOS by my cuz :7 - I guess we will see if he really read the comments.

I really don't think the dems would know a REAL issue if it bit them on the keester.

[dajoki]

39. i'm afraid you are correct n/t

[nickshepDEM]

40. The sad thing is... Their strategy will probably work. Forget the fact ..

that 9/11 occured under the watch of this admin. People are still convinced that Republicans will keep them safe.

[dajoki]

41. 9/11 is they're answer for everything n/t