What Rove Said

Originally posted on TPMCafe.

Yes, it was offensive, but, no, it doesn't seem like anything really new. If he hasn't said these words before himself, he's certainly responsible for crafting the message that has been repeated endlessly since September 12: Either you are with us or you are the enemy. Maybe he just couldn't find another puppet to carry the message for him this time; maybe he wanted to sink his own teeth into some raw meat and taste the blood himself.Whatever.

Karl Rove is a little man.

There is some justification in being angry about Rove's words, but I'm not so sure that there's much point in going after him as an individual. It's the words and their intent that matter more to my way of thinking--because he's not the only person in this Administration who has said the same thing. It's not worse because he said it; it's a lie no matter who says it.

September 11 was a national tragedy. It was not, however, the first time that we had been attacked on American soil. It was not the first time we had been attacked by Al Qaeda. It was simply the first act which got the attention of the American public and the Administration so that both understood that something serious was happening in the world.

When that happened, there were no Democrats or Republicans; there were only Americans. Indeed, it seems that there were no French at that moment, for they were Americans, too. And were we not all relieved when a then untarnished Tony Blair stood up and said that all of Great Britain would stand beside us?

This unity included a strong desire for a military response to the Attacks. The Taliban were told to surrender Osama bin Laden or be attacked themselves. They didn't, we did--with international support.

We entered that nation, making promises to rebuild what had been destroyed by 20 or more years of war. We wanted bin Laden, but we also wanted to make sure that Afghanistan was stable, no longer to be victimized by radical religion or politics.

Our commander-in-chief failed on all counts. He didn't capture Osama bin Laden "dead or alive." He didn't bring the planners of the September 11 Attacks to justice. He did not stabilize Afghanistan. He did not help rebuild the country. He misappropriated funds earmarked for Afghanistan to begin planning for another war, not then authorized by Congress or supported by the American people. He then began to create a list of false reasons why he needed to prosecute the second war without winning the first.

The pattern of the Administration is to exploit September 11 for political purposes. It was a windfall for presidential ratings; it was a cornucopia of opportunity to implement elements of his agenda that otherwise would not have passed; it remains the perfect instrument with which to terrorize the American public so that they focus on their fear and fail to see the corruption of the Administration.

The pattern of this Administration is to look for simple solutions to complex problems, to denigrate thoughtfulness, to ridicule anything that smacks of intelligent deliberation. The degree to which the Patriot Act expands the authority of law enforcement agencies has nothing to do with the possibility of later indicting someone for terrorism--in their way of thinking. The degree to which one might be more successful in combatting an enemy whose purposes and strategies one knows and understands is lost on them.

The pattern of the Administration is to use the word "liberal" as a pejorative term. Make no mistake that when the President called Senator Kerry "a Massachusetts liberal," he was not stating a fact, he was using hate speech. (In Texas, the preferred usage is "Taxachusetts Liberal.") Rove is simply using the same concept without the geographic prefix.

The pattern of the Administration is to rewrite history to reflect its own preferred narrative of events. Reality, truth, fact--none of this is relevant. Only the story that makes the Administration the only hope and salvation of the American people in the face of a godless and dangerous world matters.

Rove's statement is simply part of the pattern. Perhaps he created the pattern; perhaps not. It is, however, the pattern that is more important than the person who presents it.

If his words make you angry and you want to fight back, do so, but not in anger. Do so coldly and with calculation. Take him down, if you can.

But taking him down will not end the pattern--and it is the pattern that needs to be ended.