Rove Goes Too Far

Wednesday evening Karl Rove spoke in front of the New York Conservative Party. In his speech he accused liberals of wanting to respond to the September 11th attacks with "Therapy and undertstanding for our attackers."

In a tirade no doubt rooted in the growing unpopularity of the Iraq war, Rove claimed that the largest difference between Democrats and Republicans was in the area of national security.

Indeed, he was, and still is, correct. Republicans are under the impression that national security is only intended to be used as a tool to keep the public on their side. Using a tragedy like 9/11 to further political goals is exactly what Republicans appear to believe national security is all about.

Unsuprisingly, family members of the victims of the 9/11 attacks were incensed:

After the news conference, relatives of Sept. 11 victims posted a statement on their Families of Sept. 11 Web site saying Rove's statements "are not welcome" and his conduct is "divisive and ... offensive." They urged Rove "to resist his temptations and stop trying to reap political gain in the tragic misfortunes of others."

However, Karl Rove and his fellow Republicans were not willing to apologize. When public opinion was quickly revealed as being very negative, Scott McClellan came to their defense, supporting Rove's claims as showing a difference between liberals and conservatives:

Asked by reporters whether President Bush would ask Rove to apologize for the remarks, McClellan replied, "Of course not."

Clearly the White House is not worried about the united America they have, for so long, claimed to wish for. Gone is the age of unity, and to replace it we now have an era of exploitation. Karl Rove must apologize for his remarks, which exploit tragedy for partisan gain.