So Karl Rove claims that George W. Bush would have been tougher on Muammar Gaddafi than President Obama, who he says seems weak.
Gee, if only there were way to see how Bush would have handled things if he had to deal with Libya. Oh, wait. There is! Because Bush did deal with Gaddafi. Thank you, Mr. Internet Video Wayback Machine:
To recap: when Bush was president, he repeatedly praised Gaddafi's leadership, going so far as to say that that Gaddafi had renounced terrorism. Bush restored diplomatic
relations with Gaddafi,
sent Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to Tripoli in September, 2008, and even signed an executive order giving
Gaddafi immunity from lawsuits over the Lockerbie bombing.
I guess in Karl Rove's world, true toughness is defined as kissing somebody's ring to squeeze out a few drops of oil. Meanwhile, ordering the use of military force as part of an international coalition to defend the Libyan people from Gaddafi, that's weak. And the ground is up, and the sky is down.