Deny, Deny, Deny

In a dishonest and disingenuous speech before the New York Conservative Party, Karl Rove attacked liberals and democrats for their response to 9/11. Faced with a torrent of criticism, Rove and conservatives tried to revise what he said and thanks to a compliant media they have succeeded.

According to the Daily Howler, Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday toed the party line, saying "Rove did go after in his speech liberals, not Democrats. But a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill reacted as if they personally had been attacked and insulted, and demanded that Rove apologize or be fired."

Because Rove's speech received limited attention, many may have relied on transcripts of the event to decide if Rove was over the line. In a perfect world that would be no problem as, for example, a White House supplied transcript would provide accurate reflection of what was said.

However, in this case, the White House has apparently decided not to supply a transcript, yet there are supposed "transcripts" out there.

In the text of the speech on the Washington Post, Rove allegedly said "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."

See, the word Democrat wasn't used, conservatives say. Right. Except that wasn't what Rove said. During an interview with Howard Dean on Hardball, Chris Matthews played the actual tape of what Rove said. Unfortunately, the transcript of the show did not include Rove's remarks, but this is what Rove said.

MoveOn.Org, and Michael Moore and Howard Dean may dominate the Democratic party and liberalism, but their moderation and restraint is not what America felt needed to be done and moderation and restraint was not what was called for and acted upon. It was a time to summon our national will and to brandish steel.

Without a true transcript, people at places like Redstate.org can claim "Rove did not say Democrat. Rove said "liberal." Rove did not say progressive. Rove said liberal."

Now some may split hairs and still say Rove was talking about liberals but it's pretty clear, that with Bush's popularity plummeting, conservatives have decided to go into attack mode. The galling thing is that Bush has been so eager to go to war when he avoided one, yet he and his administration feel free to criticize others lack of eagerness to enter into a war unconnected to the 9/11 attacks on America.