League of Melbotis

Normally politics won't find it's way into the postings of the League, but this is despicable.

Karl Rove accuses liberals of trying to coddle terrorists in the days following 9-11.

If Rove is referring to the mass confusion among Americans of all stripes in Bush's assertion that Hussein was responsible for 9-11 without generating any evidence, then, fine. Maybe some folks were looking for some sort of tiny evidence that what the president was saying might be true and not taking everything the White House said at that point with blind faith. Maybe people were looking to win the war in Afghanistan and find bin Laden instead of striking out on another military adventure.

It wasn't the liberals who waited a month to take military action in Afghanistan, giving bin Laden a month to hide. And it wasn't the liberals who asked advisor after advisor to please stop bringing up this bin Laden guy in the year leading up to 9-11.

Simply put, either Rove is lying in order to rewrite history and somehow try to associate people who support the ACLU with terrorists, OR he seriously believes what he says, which makes him insane (we have to rule out stupid as Rove is anything but stupid).

There are a lot of people who did ask "Why?" in the days following 9-11. What on earth did the US do to draw this kind of hatred? Neither the White House nor Congress ever did much to answer that question. Telling us that they hated our "freedom" was a simple, stupid, pat answer. We all knew there were a few dozen more countries as free as the US.

A few years ago, I would have ignored a comment like this. And I would have felt that Rove's attempt to rewrite history would fail miserably. But as Minister of Information, he's proven me wrong time and time again.

You know in a day or two, the whacko political bloggers from both side are going to be going nuts over this. Liberals will be doing something stupid like asking for an apology when they should be pulling out document after document and screaming for blood. Conservative bloggers will be nodding their heads about how it's all true and how unAmerican the damn, dirty liberals are, while a few more threaten to curb-stomp anyone who ever voted for Gore.

But the fact is, Mr. Rove is putting words in the mouths of people who aren't taken seriously when they defend themselves. He's putting thoughts in their minds, and feelings in their hearts which aren't true. He knows all he must do is open the box, and the words gain instant credibility, no matter how absurd. And he knows a rebuttal always sounds half-hearted in print. They'll never take the time to print the full response.

And he's doing it to me.

Is he saying I don't know what I was thinking and doing and saying in 2001? Or what my friends were doing and thinking and saying?

I was there. I know what happened. But he's going to make sure that never matters. So I'm saying something today, because I think it matters. And I'm calling Mr. Rove a liar, and I want more than an apology. I want him out of a job and gone.

Why on earth should I believe in my own government when this is what they do?