http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/politics/18conserv.html?pagewanted=allFebruary 18, 2005
Bush Moved Conservatism Past Reactionary, Rove Says
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
ASHINGTON, Feb. 17 - Karl Rove, the political adviser to President Bush who recently became chief of staff for policy, said on Thursday that Mr. Bush had helped transform conservatism from "reactionary" to "forward looking," in part by incorporating what had been liberal ideas on foreign policy. "The president made a powerful case in the inaugural speech and before for spreading human liberty and preserving human dignity," Mr. Rove said at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference here.
"This was once the preserve of liberalism, but a fellow named Ronald Reagan changed all that," he continued, saying President Reagan had contended that the "power of liberty" would enable Americans to "transcend" Soviet Communism instead of contain it. "President Bush has expanded on that belief," Mr. Rove said, addressing several thousand students and conservative activists at the Ronald Reagan Building for the conference's 32nd annual gathering.
Although the event has often been a forum for criticism of Republican officials from the right, and some discussions of intraparty disputes are scheduled for Friday, applause for the president's policies dominated Thursday's events. Mr. Rove was speaking publicly for the first time in his new position, which gives him a formal role in foreign as well as domestic policy decisions for the first time.
Some conservatives had criticized President Bush's Inaugural Address for its sweeping language about spreading liberty and ending tyranny around the world. They argued that his foreign policy had abandoned the conservative movement's traditionally narrower approach to national interest, and they questioned how Mr. Bush might apply his principles to undemocratic but strategically important allies like Pakistan. But Mr. Rove cast Mr. Bush's policy as a political asset, saying, "We are seizing the mantle of idealism."
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