Rove picks the wrong fight over OBL killing (updated)

[ProSense]

Last edited Thu Mar 22, 2012, 01:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Rove picks the wrong fight over OBL killing

By Steve Benen

In November, Karl Rove's attack operation, Crossroads GPS, took a Bill Clinton quote out of context in order to launch a wildly misleading criticism of President Obama on taxes.

Today, Rove took another Bill Clinton quote of context to launch another wildly misleading criticism of President Obama, this time on counter-terrorism.

Here's what Rove wrote in his new Wall Street Journal column:

As for the killing of Osama bin Laden, Mr. Obama did what virtually any commander in chief would have done in the same situation. Even President Bill Clinton says in the (Obama campaign's documentary) film "that's the call I would have made." For this to be portrayed as the epic achievement of the first term tells you how bare the White House cupboards are.

Greg Sargent noticed the problem with Rove's dishonesty.

(I)t's true, Clinton did utter those words. But here's the full quote from Clinton, at the 12:30 mark in the film: "He took the harder and the more honorable path. When I saw what had happened, I thought to myself, 'I hope that's the call I would have made.'"

In Rove's telling, Clinton said, "that's the call I would have made. What Clinton actually said was, "I hope that's the call I would have made."

It's almost as if Rove used his column, with his editors' permission, to lie to the public.

But let's take this a little further still, and note the larger Republican goal: Rove and a lot of other folks on the right desperately hope Americans won't consider the strike on bin Laden to be a key Obama accomplishment. They're wrong, but it's clearly part of a larger effort.

Whereas the initial GOP reaction to the bin Laden killing was to try to give Bush/Cheney partial credit for the mission, the new Republican line is that the mission itself was no big deal -- anyone in the Oval Office would have done the same thing, the argument goes.

- more -

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/22/10811275-rove-picks-the-wrong-fight-over-obl-killing

David Axelrod Slams Karl Rove For Misleading On Osama Bin Laden Mission
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/david-axelrod-slams-karl-rove-for-misleading-on


Updated to add:

<...>

Meanwhile, we'll respond with the truth. Like reminding Rove of his own administration's tragic failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice:



And reminding him that in 2008, John McCain disagreed with Barack Obama's strategy for getting bin Laden—the strategy that ultimately worked, nearly a decade after Bush and Rove's failure. (Mitt Romney was on John McCain's side, by the way.)

But this isn't just about giving President Obama credit for bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. There's a lot of history that Rove, Romney, & Co. are going to try to erase between now and election day. It's the only way they can win.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/22/1076773/-Karl-Rove-says-killing-of-Osama-bin-Laden-not-a-major-achievement-for-President-Obama

[onenote]

1. I was in a taxi that had some RW blowhard on the radio

and I heard the talking point that "any commander in chief" would have done the same thing. Its all they've got, so don't be surprised to hear it again and again between now and election day.

[mnmoderatedem]

3. that type of thing is inevitable as the election grows closer

fact is, they were not 100% convinced that the intelligence was accurate, and went through with an operation that could have been a disaster.

They just don't want the president to reap any political reward.

[Mz Pip]

4. Bush didn't

and he had the chance in Tora Bora.

[cindyperry2010]

7. good ole george

gave up on him

[Frustratedlady]

8. Is that the talking point of the day?

If so, they are trying to keep Obama from mentioning what they fear would be a major point by Obama against their Terra-Terra theme of the last election. Is Obama capable of keeping us safe?

I've seen them use this tactic before and it was affective.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. The phone rang at 3 am

and Obama was there to take that call- and he MADE the right call! He passed the test that Hillary Clinton first put to him in 2008 IMHO (and she was in fact there to watch it all unfold).

[emulatorloo]

17. And Rove and Koch have unlimited funds to shove this bullshit down people's throats

Thank you Supreme Court.

[The Wielding Truth]

9. Bush didn't. He called for retreat at Tora Bora.

[Ecumenist]

10. Funny, if "any commander in chief" would have done the same thing, WHY.DIDN'T.CHIMPIE

MCFLIGHTSUIT? After all, isn't the whole reason he went to war in Iraq AND Afghanistan was the to break AlQaeda and get OBL?

[mnmoderatedem]

2. trying to downplay a gutsy call to take out the 9/11 perpetrator?

why does he hate America?

[nanabugg]

5. GOP believes (and many support)that have a license to lie. I think it's called

"white RW exceptionalism." They lied about the Clintons (still do), they lied about Kerry, they lie about the economy,...just about every policy issue. And they are supported in their lies by talk radio hosts such as Rush and "Fox News" which many ditto heads often cite as primary resources. I am happy to see that the President is finally coming out and calling them on their lies ... and he is doing it in the "belly of the beast."

[gulliver]

6. George W. Bush, a Karl Rove Film....

...was in office for over seven years while Bin Laden lived it up with his wives and made videotapes attacking the United States. One of these days Republicans are going to start thinking about the misery that results from trying to live lies. If they can still hold with Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh, then Republicans should start asking themselves who they really are.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. Wrong (as usual)

Last edited Thu Mar 22, 2012, 02:54 PM - Edit history (1)

John McCain and virtually every candidate for POTUS in 2008 basically told Obama that he would be reckless and/or irresponsible to go after Bin Laden in Pakistan if intelligence became available. Giving the order to take out Bin Laden in Pakistan was a HUGE gamble and, frankly, he's lucky that it went down the right way. Had Bin Laden escaped to gloat and/or the Pakistanis captured the Seals or any number of things gone wrong, it would have gone down a MAJOR foreign policy blunder for Obama, perhaps irreparably so. It was about as bold and gutsy a move that he could have made IMHO.

[ProSense]

13. Exactly. n/t

[mnmoderatedem]

15. +1

I've always likened it to taking a huge financial gamble, say a huge real estate development which, if it flops, you'd be destitute, and if it succeeds, you're set for life. Though republicans don't want Obama to see one nickel of profit from this risky venture.

Incidentally, Obama downplayed this whole thing about as much as humanly possible, to avoid being perceived as taking a "victory lap", which he never really did. By contrast, we all know how the right wing woud react if a republican president had made this gutsy call. The'd insist on having his likeness on Mount Rushmore the very next day...

[deacon]

21. We have a winnah... +1

[spanone]

14. he did what any commander-in-chief would do except george w bu$h*

[Proud Liberal Dem]

18. Right

He spent from 2002-2009 relatively unconcerned about OBL and went off on a total tangent in Iraq to get SH.

[ZombieHorde]

16. Ha! That is all Rove has. How pathetic. nt

[Jim Lane]

19. Rove says virtually any President would have done that -- but Romney would NOT have.

As you point out, Romney was on the other side of this issue in 2007. At that time, candidate Obama outlined his policy:

Obama on Wednesday said if elected president in November 2008 he would be willing to launch military strikes against al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan with or without the approval of the Pakistani government of President Pervez Musharraf.

Candidate Romney's response was: "I do not concur in the words of Barack Obama in a plan to enter an ally of ours... I don't think those kinds of comments help in this effort to draw more friends to our effort."

Both these passages are from a Reuters story titled "Romney attacks Obama over Pakistan warning", August 4, 2007 -- link here: http://in.reuters.com/article/2007/08/04/idINIndia-28811520070804

In Rove's defense, however, he could point to some evidence that he's right. After Obama's decision to send troops into Pakistan resulted in bin Laden's death, Romney gave the Etch-A-Sketch a shake and said that he would have done "exactly the same thing." http://www.mediaite.com/tv/mitt-romney-bin-busted-candidate-like-myself-would-have-done-bin-laden-raid-except-2007-mitt/

[applegrove]

20. Psychopaths will always try and turn your greatest strength into your greatest weakness. The swift

boat veterans for truth did it to Kerry. Now Rove is trying to pull it on Obama.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

22. I have a feeling that this line of attack isn't going to work on Obama

Obama got Osama #1 evildoer. I'm trying to figure out a way that even somebody as devious as Rove would be able to spin it into a negative for Obama. HE ended up being the one to pull the trigger on OBL.


As Joe Biden famously said, "It's a BFD!" and people are not likely to forget/minimize it IMHO.