Rove Road-Tests Tougher Attack on Democrats (at Reynolds dinner)

[rodeodance]

Rove Road-Tests Tougher Attack on Democrats

By Michael Abramowitz and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Sunday, October 22, 2006; Page A05

BUFFALO, Oct. 21 -- Republicans have been promising they would ratchet up the rhetoric against Democrats in the final two weeks of the fall campaign, and the man President Bush called "The Architect" of his political campaigns offered a preview of what they have in mind on Friday night.

Appearing in support of embattled GOP Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), Karl Rove offered biting jibes against House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), took a shot at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and asserted that Democratic policies would leave the country weaker.


"You can't say I want to win the war but not be willing to fight the war," said Rove, Bush's top political adviser. "And if leading Democrats have their way, our nation will be weaker and the enemies of our nation will be stronger. And that's a stark fact, and it's the reason that this fall election will turn very heavily on national security."

........


Rove stepped in at dinner and used his speech to road-test new lines of attack on the Democrats. The basic themes -- that voters face a stark choice between the parties on taxes and terrorism -- have been a Bush standard. But Rove, who once claimed liberals preferred "therapy" to war against terrorists, delivered them with an acerbity not seen from his boss.

[NanceGreggs]

1. Karl just doesn't get it ...

"You can't say I want to win the war but not be willing to fight the war."

Thanks to the growing number of casualties, the majority of Americans are no longer saying "I want to win the war" - because they know there IS NO WINNING to be had, no goal to be achieved, no purpose in any of this except more carnage.

If Karl and the PNAC boys are still saying THEY want to fight this war, more power to them -- send our troops home and go over there and fight this thing on your own, cowards. I'd be happy to personally drive you to the airport.

[Kierkegaard]

2. Sounds like the same old rehashed dog feces they have been

shoveling for months. Stark fact, huh? Sounds more like weak speculation by a bunch of desperate chickenhawks.

[savemefromdumbya]

6. the voters are starting realize

[madrchsod]

3. the only thing they have to fear is hope and optimism

there is a certain point where the american public wakes up and decides they are not afraid anymore..will it be this nov?i am hoping they are but i am not optimistic they will.

[emulatorloo]

4. Someday, Somehow, this guy will end up in prison

Eventually Karma will catch up with Karl.

[rucky]

5. *YAWN*

Rove, you are a one-trick pony.

[1932]

7. Republicans have clear message: terror and taxes.

Do Democrats have a clear message?

I think they're going to do well on morals and frustration with Bush, but I'd be happier if I knew they had a clear message of their own.

I wish it were something like: we have a lot of middle and working class people who are really hurting, while a few, well-connected people are doing really well. You can't build America's future on such a precarious, top-heaviy foundation. It doesn't make a safer America. We need to strengthen the base of America so that we can be stronger in the world. We know this, because this is how we survied WW2 with our Democracy and society intact.