Rove: Democrats 'playing politics' with firing of U.S. attorneys (cites Clinton)

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2007/03/rove-democrats-playing-politics-with.html

Rove: Democrats 'playing politics' with firing of U.S. attorneys

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove alleged Thursday that Democrats are "playing politics" with the controversy surrounding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

The Clinton administration took similar actions, Rove maintained.

"We're at a point where people want to play politics with it, and that's fine," Rove said after delivering a speech at Troy State University. "I would simply ask that everybody who's playing politics with this be asked to comment about what they think about the removal of 123 U.S. attorneys during the previous administration and see if they had the same superheated political rhetoric then that they're having now."

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Tell that big lie under oath before Congress, Karl.

[Kikosexy2]

26. But Nancy Reagan..

did it...because her astrologer said so...

[LSparkle]

2. OMG -- Dems ought to be ALL OVER TV disputing this!!!!!

Pigboy and co. CANNOT BE ALLOWED to get away with this! This is TOTALLY DIFFERENT and the truth needs to be told!

[deutsey]

10. I'll be surprised if they do

I don't understand why they let Rove and his smear machine go unchallenged...

[Roy]

36. No they should not dispute Rove!!!!

Everytime he makes the statement..... They should simply ask him if he will repeat that under oath.

[LiberalFighter]

56. I like that...

maybe a member of Congress should be there ready with a big fat BIBLE for him to swear on.

[AndyA]

3. GOP Rulebook, Chapter Two: Diverting Attention

"Repeat a falsehood frequently. Make sure other GOPers do the same. Repeat, repeat, repeat. By the end of the week, it will be accepted as fact with little question by most Americans, because they're too lazy to know any better, and too interested in their TV shows to be bothered with little things like democracy."

[livingonearth]

13. You might want to add "smear Clinton"!

You can't talk about the GOP Rulebook on diverting attention without mentioning their main ploy: "blame or place all attention on Clinton".

[AndyA]

15. Oh, there's a completely separate chapter on Clinton alone.

One for him, one for her. You know the GOP stands for equality. :sarcasm:

[melody]

24. I don't think so

My neighbor's 6 year old daughter pointed at Rove on C-SPAN the other day and said, "There's the bad man."

I think people are pretty clear on the Rove smear machine.

Besides, this comebacks sounds a lot like a schoolyard retort -- "What you calls me goes back on you and sticks like glue", et al.

[billybob537]

4. And of course you can trust Rove!

Hahahabwahahha:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[hang a left]

50. Really, are all those emoticons even necessary.

IMO you look stupid.

[Marnieworld]

5. I would tell him this:

I think that those firings were typical of an administration beginning a new term. The current firings are completely without precedent (for 25 years I read) with documented evidence that they were completely politically motivated. Your crony was installed and you were pleased. Emails said it stemmed from the WH Political office? WHich office? Duh.

But first I'd ask him to raise his right hand and swear under oath because the time is now for accountability.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. We might add...

That the communications are now in hand that show these appointments were intended to circumvent the Senate approval process.

So, Le Blossom du Merde can bite it.

[LiberalFighter]

57. I wonder about that...

Did they serve their 4 year terms?

If they had serve their 4 year term are they now serving the 2nd 4 year term?

If they are serving their 2nd 4 year term were they confirmed by the Senate again or is it automatic extension?

[otohara]

9. You'd Think....But

our lazy ass press corps lets shit like this go without question or reason. That's why The mighty New York Times publishes a letter like this today.

To the Editor:

Where was the outrage when Janet Reno dismissed all 93 United States attorneys when President Bill Clinton took office in 1993?

Peter Alperin
San Francisco, March 14, 2007

[anotherdrew]

27. I've now seen 83, 93, 123 can't they even nail down the number? n/t

[itcfish]

43. Yes Clinton Did That

So did all the presidents before him. They do it when they enter office. And usually of the prosecutors. Not in the 2nd term and only prosecutors they don't like.

[City Lights]

44. Or this one in the ChiTrib:

This happened before…

In 1993 after being on the job only 11 days, Attorney General Janet Reno requested the prompt resignation of all 93 U.S. Attorneys around the country "to build a team" that represents her views and those of President Clinton. So why all the fuss about eight attorneys losing their positions now?

Roger W. Peck

Long Grove

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_opinion_letters/2007/03/this_happened_b.html

Our press corpse is a disgrace.

[tanyev]

6. Karl Rove. Whining about other people "playing politics".

It's unreal.

[bullimiami]

7. Seriously, Rove. STFU already.

[Marnieworld]

11. Yah, he jumped the shark a while ago but he hasn't realize it yet.

He's going down and where will Chimpy be? It's looking like only Barney has clean hands (paws) in this administration. He's the only Repub I'd ever vote for. :hi:

[bullimiami]

22. I think Barney is a Socialist.

[Marnieworld]

23. We could do a lot worse

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

55. I thought he was a terrierist?

:hide:

[maddezmom]

18. thanks for saying it

:argh:

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Well, Karl, that's not really true is it? Even Sampson admits in his email that what you guys did

isn't the same.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/13/sampson-rove-attorney/

But in an e-mail to Harriet Miers on Jan. 9, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s chief of staff Kyle Sampson (who resigned yesterday) admitted that the Clinton administration never purged its U.S. attorneys in the middle of their terms, explicitly stating, “In recent memory, during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, Presidents Reagan and Clinton did not seek to remove and replace U.S. Attorneys to serve indefinitely under the holdover provision”:

Former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta previously told ThinkProgress that Rove’s claims that the Clinton administration also purged attorneys is “pure fiction.” He added, “Replacing most U.S. attorneys when a new administration comes in — as we did in 1993 and the Bush administration did in 2001 — is not unusual. But the Clinton administration never fired federal prosecutors as pure political retribution.”

And even CNN.com admits it:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/15/fired.attorneys/index.html

U.S. attorneys are political appointees who are routinely replaced when a new president takes office, but their removal in the middle of a presidential administration is rare -- and some say unprecedented.

[hang a left]

51. Thank you for that.

I passed it on. Had "discussion" with my brain dead SF last night. He gets his talking points from the cable news outlets. Somebody help me.

[SharonRB]

14. Now that's really the pot calling the kettle black

[antonialee839]

16. Playing politics with the U.S. attorneys is what got

you into this mess in the first place, Karl, you piece of garbage. Here's hoping you get everything
that's coming to you tenfold. It's been a long ugly run, but hopefully you're done.

[rocktivity]

17. Rocknation: Rethuglicans played politics with HIRING of US attorneys

:evilgrin:
rocknation

[EFerrari]

19. What a lame response. n/t

[olddad56]

20. I suppose that the leaking for the CIA agent was the Dems playing politics also.

[olddad56]

21. Better than Rove playing Nazi.

[roamer65]

25. My, my...this scandal is sprouting legs faster than a spider on steroids.

Walk, baby...walk.:evilgrin:

[brentspeak]

28. Rove: Required scrutiny is "playing politics"

[kestrel91316]

29. Oh, shut the f--- up, you fat f---.

[anotherdrew]

30. I suppose rove's next line is that dems are "fat ugly bald old men"

the power of constant projection
don't let his shadow fall on you

[Critters2]

32. F*ck!!

:spray:

Come here and wipe off my screen!!

[roamer65]

31. Clinton had to get Senate confimation for his changes.

* didn't because of that slimy clause they put in the un-Patriot-ic Act. * then used the clause for political vendettas.

[TankLV]

46. and 80% of the new vacancies were NEVER CONFIRMED by the REPUKE congress...

and that's for TWO TERMS!

but that wasn't political at all, was it....

[Cha]

33. Democrats can do anything

they damn please to get your ass in the ringer, rove..you've made it so easy.

[libodem]

34. When don't they blame Clinton?

That move must be the first one in the Republican playbook. Blame Bill. Grow up. Find a new argument, dumbass.

[HuffleClaw]

35. is a shrill cry of 'clinton!' the ONLY defense they possess?

really, i can understand it coming from some knuckledragging freeper but ROVE?

[spiderpig]

37. Hi Karl...

Bite me!

[GalleryGod]

38. I Want This Mutha-Fecker Under Friggin' Oath and On Camera!

If Dems don't compell this action they can all go shiite in their collective hats (which they always have OUT for Collecting $$$'s)

[opihimoimoi]

39. BS Distraction is such a weak defense in this case...Rove is cornered...

[depakid]

40. And now watch the corporate media jump to the tune

I hope the Dems finally show some spine on this one....

[maxrandb]

42. You, my friend, have hit the "nail on the head"

The "blame Clinton" statement from Rove is designed to accomplish one thing, that is to crank up the old "Right-Wing-Noise-Machine" and get them hammering this Clinton angle until the MSM begins to give it credence on the nightly news. Doesn't matter that it's a load of BS. It's purpose is to "muddy the waters".

Already, I'm starting to see letters to the editor in my local rag that are trying to make the connection between this scandal and the legitimate turn-over of US Attorneys during the change of the administration.

However, since the inception of DU and shows like Countdown, the Right-Wing-Noise-Machine does a lot more sputtering and backfiring. It's not the "well-oiled-machine" it once was.

IMHO - The most scandalous part of this whole thing is the provision that was "slipped" into the Patriot Act that allowed the AG to bypass the Senate and replace attorneys with no scrutiny. Even if you buy the excuse that Spectre didn't know about this provision...the intent of the provision was that it would be used in time of national security crisis to fill critical attorney shortfalls.

I don't think the indictment of Duke Cunningham constitutes a national emergency.

[radfringe]

41. HEY ROVE!!! Since January 20, 2001, 125 new U.S. Attorneys have been nominated by the President

Kinda blows the "CLINTON FIRED 123 Attorneys" argument out of the water...

Testimony of
The Honorable Paul McNulty
Deputy Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
February 6, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://judiciary.senate.gov/testimony.cfm?id=2516&wit_id=2742

Testimony of Paul J. McNulty Deputy Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate
“Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys?”
February 6, 2007

buried in the testimony.....

Since January 20, 2001, 125 new U.S. Attorneys have been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. "

[TankLV]

45. Umm - the "123" number is from YOUR War Crminial "pResident, asswipe!

The Clinton number is "93".

and, after all those Attorney's were dismissed, the REPUKES REFUSED TO FILL MOST OF THE SLOTS FOR CLINTON'S ENTIRE TWO TERMS!

over 80% of the vacancies were never filled until the REPUKE WAR CRIMNAL got selected...

but of course, we won't ever hear of anything of THAT...

[LiberalFighter]

47. Reporters should use thomas.loc.gov

It would require a lot of research and putting the pieces together.

And I posted information from a researcher and website detailing reasons for exits of Attorneys.

Reporters should ask the question... Were they going to terminate the US Attorneys that had been confirmed in late 2005 or 2006?

[dansolo]

48. Only if Rove explains what the big deal about Travelgate was

My understanding about Travelgate was that the same sort of thing happened as here in the White House travel office. Typically the travel office staff is replaced in each incoming administration. But, for some reason, when Clinton did it, the Republicans called for massive investigations by Congrass. The firings of US Attorneys is a far more serious matter. Is Rove willing to go on record to say that Travelgate was politically motivated?

[Little Wing]

49. God I hate that f*cking phrase

[Megahurtz]

52. What An Idiot.

Just what an Idiot.

[Nikki Stone1]

53. The Pugs are spending so much of their time telling us how dangerous it is to investigate them

They must have a lot to hide.

[samsingh]

54. rove is a lying piece of crap and his lying efforts

are no longer effective.

[MasonJar]

58. Playing politics and Rove in the same sentence...how droll!