Post by Noah on Jun 28, 2005 11:14:11 GMT -5
Given all the discussion of Karl Rove's outrageous pronouncements to the New York State Conservative Party last week (see this from the blog), I thought I should look at the full text of Rove's remarks. After all, the news only quoted that one line about liberals thinking the dead 9/11 hijackers would have benefited from post-9/11 theraputic counseling. And guess what -- it turns out the whole speech is pretty damn awful.
"The 2004 election was a steep political mountain to climb, but the President scaled it -- and he did so with energy, passion, decency, and an unwavering commitment to principle. What is significant about November's victory is not simply that the President won, but how he won."
By cheating.
"President Bush received more votes than any other candidate in American history."
Not true; John Kerry did. But even if you are so misguided as to accept the official results of the 2004 election, though, Bush received more votes than any candidate in history, and Kerry received the second most. More people voted in 2004 than in any previous presidential election.
"He's the first President since 1988 to win a majority of the popular vote."
Rove gives George W. Bush credit for the fact that a third-party candidate got 19,743,821 popular votes in 1992 and 8,085,402 popular votes in 1996. But of course, Bush is the guy who began his Washington career by losing the popular vote in 2000 and being appointed to the presidency by an unprecedented Supreme Court fiat. Holding him up as an avatar of the popular vote is ridiculous.
"He is committed to something no past President has ever attempted: spreading liberty to the broader Middle East."
HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!
"Consider that in a four month period - from the end of 2004 to early 2005 -- we saw elections take place in Afghanistan, the Ukraine, among the Palestinians, and in Iraq."
Consider that phony elections do not a democracy make, particularly when one of the country's two major factions doesn't participate. Rove is asking his audience to believe that democracy is simply the process of casting a ballot. There's a little more to it than that, which is why the Bush/Rove machine has created no democracy anywhere -- and has, in fact, seriously damaged the legitimacy of democracy right here.
The rest of Rove’s comments hardly need any editorializing here. I’ve already debunked all of this on the blog. But just for laughs, here you go:
"Conservatives believe in lower taxes; liberals believe in higher taxes. We want few regulations; they want more. Conservatives measure the effectiveness of government programs by results; liberals measure the effectiveness of government programs by inputs. We believe in curbing the size of government; they believe in expanding the size of government. Conservatives believe in making America a less litigious society; liberals believe in making America a more litigious society. We believe in accountability and parental choice in education; they don't. Conservatives believe in advancing what Pope John Paul II called a 'culture of life;' liberals believe there is an absolute unlimited right to abortion.
"But perhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and 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. In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to...submit a petition. I am not joking. Submitting a petition is precisely what Moveon.org did. It was a petition imploring 'the powers that be' to 'use moderation and restraint in responding to the...terrorist attacks against the United States.'
"I don't know about you, but moderation and restraint is not what I felt as I watched the Twin Towers crumble to the earth; a side of the Pentagon destroyed; and almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble.
"Moderation and restraint is not what I felt -- and moderation and restraint is not what was called for. It was a moment to summon our national will -- and to brandish steel.
"MoveOn.Org, Michael Moore and Howard Dean may not have agreed with this, but the American people did. Conservatives saw what happened to us on 9/11 and said: we will defeat our enemies. Liberals saw what happened to us and said: we must understand our enemies. Conservatives see the United States as a great nation engaged in a noble cause; liberals see the United States and they see … Nazi concentration camps, Soviet gulags, and the killing fields of Cambodia.
"Has there been a more revealing moment this year than when Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, speaking on the Senate floor, compared what Americans had done to prisoners in our control at Guantanamo Bay with what was done by Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot -- three of the most brutal and malevolent figures in the 20th century?
"Let me put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts to the region the words of Senator Durbin, certainly putting America's men and women in uniform in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals."
"The 2004 election was a steep political mountain to climb, but the President scaled it -- and he did so with energy, passion, decency, and an unwavering commitment to principle. What is significant about November's victory is not simply that the President won, but how he won."
By cheating.
"President Bush received more votes than any other candidate in American history."
Not true; John Kerry did. But even if you are so misguided as to accept the official results of the 2004 election, though, Bush received more votes than any candidate in history, and Kerry received the second most. More people voted in 2004 than in any previous presidential election.
"He's the first President since 1988 to win a majority of the popular vote."
Rove gives George W. Bush credit for the fact that a third-party candidate got 19,743,821 popular votes in 1992 and 8,085,402 popular votes in 1996. But of course, Bush is the guy who began his Washington career by losing the popular vote in 2000 and being appointed to the presidency by an unprecedented Supreme Court fiat. Holding him up as an avatar of the popular vote is ridiculous.
"He is committed to something no past President has ever attempted: spreading liberty to the broader Middle East."
HAW HAW HAW HAW HAW!
"Consider that in a four month period - from the end of 2004 to early 2005 -- we saw elections take place in Afghanistan, the Ukraine, among the Palestinians, and in Iraq."
Consider that phony elections do not a democracy make, particularly when one of the country's two major factions doesn't participate. Rove is asking his audience to believe that democracy is simply the process of casting a ballot. There's a little more to it than that, which is why the Bush/Rove machine has created no democracy anywhere -- and has, in fact, seriously damaged the legitimacy of democracy right here.
The rest of Rove’s comments hardly need any editorializing here. I’ve already debunked all of this on the blog. But just for laughs, here you go:
"Conservatives believe in lower taxes; liberals believe in higher taxes. We want few regulations; they want more. Conservatives measure the effectiveness of government programs by results; liberals measure the effectiveness of government programs by inputs. We believe in curbing the size of government; they believe in expanding the size of government. Conservatives believe in making America a less litigious society; liberals believe in making America a more litigious society. We believe in accountability and parental choice in education; they don't. Conservatives believe in advancing what Pope John Paul II called a 'culture of life;' liberals believe there is an absolute unlimited right to abortion.
"But perhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and 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. In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to...submit a petition. I am not joking. Submitting a petition is precisely what Moveon.org did. It was a petition imploring 'the powers that be' to 'use moderation and restraint in responding to the...terrorist attacks against the United States.'
"I don't know about you, but moderation and restraint is not what I felt as I watched the Twin Towers crumble to the earth; a side of the Pentagon destroyed; and almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble.
"Moderation and restraint is not what I felt -- and moderation and restraint is not what was called for. It was a moment to summon our national will -- and to brandish steel.
"MoveOn.Org, Michael Moore and Howard Dean may not have agreed with this, but the American people did. Conservatives saw what happened to us on 9/11 and said: we will defeat our enemies. Liberals saw what happened to us and said: we must understand our enemies. Conservatives see the United States as a great nation engaged in a noble cause; liberals see the United States and they see … Nazi concentration camps, Soviet gulags, and the killing fields of Cambodia.
"Has there been a more revealing moment this year than when Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, speaking on the Senate floor, compared what Americans had done to prisoners in our control at Guantanamo Bay with what was done by Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot -- three of the most brutal and malevolent figures in the 20th century?
"Let me put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts to the region the words of Senator Durbin, certainly putting America's men and women in uniform in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals."
