What was the purpose of KKKarl Rove's comments?

[Island Blue]

We all know that nothing happens accidentally in the Bush White House. Everything is calculated for maximum effect. So that has me wondering why KKKarl made his statements questioning the resolve of Democrats. The only reason for the speech I can come up with, is that he threw it up there as a defense against talk of the Downing Street Memo. If more Democratic leaders begin to raise questions about the Memo, Shrub & Co. can just say "see, they have no spine - they aren't really interested in stopping terrorism. If they were, they wouldn't be questioning us." Of course we all know that that is complete and utter bullshit, but I was just trying to get into the mind of the Evil Karl. (It's really gross in there by the way - I think I need to shower now!)

Having said all that, John Kerry's smack down of Rove today was rockin'!

[jillan]

1. I agree... there must be some ulterior motive lurking

Wasn't * bashing dems earlier this week?
They are on to something.

What I am thinking is that they somehow are going to blame dems for how poorly things are going in Iraq. I mean, what else can they do??? They have their backs against a wall, and have nowhere else to go.

But Rove crossed the line yesterday.

And Kerry rocked on the senate floor today! The exchange between him and Tim Johnson from SD was not rehearsed, and it was the icing on the cake.

[rox63]

2. Distract, distract, wrap * in 9/11 flags, distract some more...

*'s poll numbers are tanking, the blogosphere has been pushing the DSM, the war is going badly, there are more Abu Ghraib photos coming out by the end of the month, more rethug scandals are bubbling to the surface. They've decided they have to demonize the opposition some more, in order to blunt the blows being struck against them.

[ginnyinWI]

15. that's what I was thinking, too

Trying to prop up the chimp's sagging numbers by:

1. Creating an "enemy" to pit him against, and to blame stuff on. It's all our fault somehow or other, even though they have majorities in the House and Senate. :eyes:

2. Make people think back to 9/11 when the chimp's numbers were soaring and people rallied around him. To me, I'd guess it would make people think to themselves, "what was I thinking??"


And finally, any day you can bash a Dem is a good day in Rove's book, just for its own sake.

[TayTay]

3. Put the jigsaw pieces together

1.) Iraq is tanking badly in the polls for *. (Iraq is a moral, ethical and logistical problem for Dems. It's a poll and oil problem for *.) DSM is piece of what is going wrong with Iraq. It is not a whole plank all by itself.
2.) Gas prices are very, very high. The American people are getting very nervous about prices going even higher and this meaning a change in lifestyle to afford it.
3.) The Rethug agenda in Congress has nothing to do with average Americans. Schiavo, 'nukular opshuns' and ethical violations.... not a good agenda to run on in 2006.

What to do, what to do? KKKarl sits and thinks and then suddenly jumps up with "Eureka!" Blame the Liberals.

1.) Liberal wussies are dissing our soldiers. That's why Iraq is a mess. Libruls are mean, unpatriotic and dumb. It's their fault Iraq is going badly because they keep raising questions.
2.) Bush made a speech this week before the Southern Baptists Convention and raised, again, the issue of the Constitutional Amendment forbidding Gay Marriage. When in doubt, bash gays. It's the Rethug way.
3.) The US House of Representatives pass an Amendment to the Constitution banning flag burning. Hmmmm, when in doubt, go to the wimpiest possible non-issue that doesn't cost money and drag it out into the light of day.
4.) Please, please look quickly at this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1575343 The Admin is laying a trap hoping that some Dem will be dumb enough to stand up for explicit pictures and the rights to free expression on the Web. This is a gimme.

There you have it. Bush is in deep, deep doo-doo. The Rethugs have reached into their bag of tricks and come up with the same old stuff that has saved their worthless asses in the past: Gay Marriage, Flag Burning, Banning Porn and Libs are wussies. (Yawn, unoriginal.) That they are pulling all of them out at once (soon to be followed by a Rethug appointee to the Supreme Court which will raise the issue of Abortion) means that they know they are up shits creek without a paddle.

Same old, same old. Now, it gets interesting. What comes next on both sides?

[Island Blue]

4. You're right it is more than just DSM -

I agree it's all of the things you mentioned and that the Repukes are operating from a position of weakness. All of those issues however (gay marriage, flag burning, etc.) do have the potential of being traps for some Democratic to fall into, and some of our leaders are very good at falling into traps! Sadly, it's really who can win the battle of the spin. Hopefully Murkins will feel the slap in the face from high gas prices, a war going terribly wrong, and conservatives trying to mess with their private lives, and wake up from their stupor very soon. I think it's beginning to happen - just slowly.

[TayTay]

5. I smell desperation on the Rethugs

This a big bag of crap for them to open all at once. They usually space out their dumb-dumb issues so as not to use them all up at once. (Last year was Anti-Gay Marriage year. Not Flag Burning year or Porn is Bad year or whatever. Just Bash Gays with a sprinkling of Abortion is also very bad and liberal.)

Why are they firing all the guns at once? Cuz * is tanking bigtime. They are firing all the guns because they are under some serious attack. The attacks are coming from Dems, sure, but also from the American people. This is gonna be fun to watch.

[Island Blue]

6. Yes, but will our Democratic leaders

manage not to step in the big open bag of crap? I hope so. These folks remind me of Rainman. They have three or four things they talk about and they keep pounding away at those few things over and over again. K-Mart sucks.

[TayTay]

7. You're right, they are the Rethug Rainmen

'Libruls suck, yeah, libruls suck. Definitely suck, yeah, definitely.'

Actually, I was quite pleased with the response today. If I may, yet again, repeat my mantra, "It's not about you, it's about them." Well, the speech that Sen. Kerry gave today (and the other comments from other Dems) very pointedly and prominently made it 'about them.' Them, of course, are the American people, and not really the wounded pride of Democratic politicians. Rove's remarks were an outrage against the 9/11 families, against soldiers in Iraq who might be registered as Dems and against ordinary Americans who are patriotic Dems. This was just letter perfect.

It was about the Rethugs screwing up and sinning against the people. Perfectly phrased and executed speech.

[Island Blue]

8. Yes, I thought Kerry did an excellent job in his speech

I don't recall any mention of personal hurt he may have felt after hearing KKKarl's remarks (correct me if I'm wrong - I was listening and "working" at the same time). I also loved how he and his fellow Senator had a conversation about the other Senator's son (a Democrat) who is serving in Iraq. That was brilliant.

Why the fuck isn't this man our President!?! Oh yeah, I forgot, it's because 51% of the people had to go watch Wapner.

[TayTay]

9. Because the case wasn't sold

yet. It takes time to convince the public that the guy they thought they had protecting them as Prez is screwing up big time. People tend to give the benefit of the doubt unless given damn good reasons not to. (48.3% or something like it, 59 million souls believed that * wasn't the guy. 51.?% believed he was. Very, very close.)

Fool all of the people, some of the time.......... Just wait.

[whometense]

10. It appears I missed something else wonderful.

This is the second reference I've seen to this conversation. Is there a link? A transcript? Could someone pleeeeeeaaaaase fill me in????

[jillan]

13. here you go! Notice the handsome man 1/2 way down!

http://dembloggers.com/

[whometense]

14. Many thanks.

The embedded clip kept cutting out before it got to the conversation part, so I downloaded the wmv file instead.

That was so sweet! All the more so because Sen. Johnson does not appear to be a comfortable orator.

[jillan]

11. but yet on the news tonite - on my local AAR station..

they were talking about how Reid, Pelosi and someone else were demanding an apology. Not about Kerry!

What is it with Kerry and the media? I don't get it. He is the man!
The main man. ugh! Maybe I should become Kerry's personal reporter.
I am suffering from major burnout from my job now... Following Kerry around and reporting in the msm how wonderful he is sounds like the perfect job for me.

[Mass]

12. At least he was part of the AP and Reuters reports.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/breaking_news/11969901.htm

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., went to the Senate floor with Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., whose son served in Iraq. Until America becomes safe, Kerry said, "don't dare question the patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23127265.htm

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry, last year's Democratic presidential nominee, said, "Karl Rove doesn't owe me an apology ... he doesn't owe Democrats an apology, he owes the country an apology."

[ginnyinWI]

17. no, I didn't hear any reference to himself being hurt

And he's pretty tough. I don't think this nonsense hurts very much if at all. Just politics as usual--they all know it, and expect it from crummy little Rove.

[ginnyinWI]

16. yes, it is about the American people

They are who are getting screwed over by this administration. Sooner or later they are going to howl.

Kerry was so smart to have it be about the people. Sen. Byrd, too, in the committee with Rummy today spoke repeatedly about how he and the other senators are elected by and represent the people of this nation, and that he is asking the questions that he hears them asking; he is their representative. That's what all the elected people on the Hill are--representatives for the people. Many seem to have forgotten that. And Kennedy asked Rummy why he wasn't resigning!! Looked him straight in the eye and said why are you still here. Loved that too.

Dean said this and it's true: they are going to attack and villify us anyway, so we might as well say what we want.

[CBHagman]

18. Blaming troops' vulnerability on Durbin, for starters.

I noticed a LTTE of The Washington Times in which the writer commented that the fact that Durbin's comments aired on Al-Jazeera meant our troops would be in greater danger. Yeah, I'm sure a quote from seven days ago is the whole reason for three years of bloodshed in two wars. :eyes:

At a time when there is a lot of grim news from Iraq and plenty of bad news on the domestic front, they need a convenient scapegoat. The right-wing media and activism machine could pressure Durbin from dawn to dusk (The Washington Times put the apology on page 1, above the fold, with "Durbin finally apologizes.").

As for Rove, I really, really hope we all live to see his name vilified for generations. I hope his son changes his surname just to remove the taint.