Yahoo Op-Ed: ROVE WORSE THAN BIN LADEN

Drip, drip, drip... This time it's Ted Rall.

As far as we know, no one on what passes for the "left" (which would be the center-right anywhere else) has betrayed the United States in the GWOT. No anti-Bush progressive has made common cause with Al Qaeda, Hamas, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or any other officially designated "terrorist" group. No American liberal has handed over classified information or worked to undermine the CIA.

But it now appears that Karl Rove, GOP golden boy, has done exactly that.

My personal favorite bit of speculation:

Ari Fleischer abruptly resigned as Bush's press secretary on May 16, 2003, about the same time the White House became aware of Ambassador Wilson's plans to go public. (Wilson's article appeared July 6.) Did Fleischer quit because he didn't want to act as spokesman for Rove's plan to betray CIA agent Plame? Another interesting coincidence: Novak published his Plame column on July 14, Fleischer's last day on the job.

The rest of it can be found here.

Wouldn't it be nice if Fleischer suddenly got a conscience? Or if Fitzgerald suddenly forced him to have one?

•  just curious

  why'd you link to an article about Rall's cartoons being dropped from the Wash Post?

  what does that have to do with Rove?

  by Trix on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 06:20:39 PM PDT

  •  WaPo link...

    Because I thought it was the most notable piece of news about him recently. Also, to remind us that he does, frequently, push the envelope of taste.

    by alysheba on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 07:51:22 PM PDT

    •  gotcha

      thanks for clarifying

      by Trix on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 07:57:20 PM PDT

•  Rall is an idiot

  Sorry but there is such a thing as going too far.
  If what we're hearing is correct, Rove is going to be in big trouble and we need to take advantage of that in the coming days.
  Saying things like this does not help our cause.  It possibly hurts it by distracting from the real issue and giving the Republicans an out.

  by MattBellamy on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 06:36:22 PM PDT

  •  Not an Idiotic

    Not an idiot ... a polemicist.

    I agree that he goes way overboard.  But this is a style of argumentation and one that can be very effective.  I doubt that Mr. Rall believes that any reader will agree with him 100%, but he seeks to influence the dialogue from an extreme position.  

    This can be very effective.  The Religious Right is a master at this kind of discourse.

    And I would note that, though Mr. Rall does at times sound like a nutball, why is it that no one ever asks the Religious Right to tone it down, because they are harming "the cause?"  It seems to me that the GOP welcomes this sort of screaming from the far margins of their movements.

    We're embarrassed by it.  For some reason.

    by bink on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 07:16:27 PM PDT

    •  sure

      but even a polemicist should know his limits.
      If you go too far out there, you lose your audience and possibly invite backlash.
      I'm a lifelong liberal who knows how evil Karl Rove is, but the title still made me uncomfortable.  Imagine what it will do to someone who doesn't know who Karl Rove is.
      I don't think you are correct about Republicans not criticizing their own.  It's true that we do it more consistently, but I see that as a good thing.  The only problem is when our politicians start doing it publicly.  That's where the problems start.

      by MattBellamy on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 09:20:59 PM PDT

      •  I get a kick out of Rall

        Sure, Rall goes overboard a bit, but factually, he seems to be on the mark (certainly more than right-wing polemicists). I like him for the same reason I dig Malloy's radio show: catharsis. But also, Rall and Malloy bring a perspective that you don't frequently see in US mainstream media, which is very much a center-right institution.  

        by metal prophet on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 10:40:21 PM PDT

  •  It's an Op Ed piece.

    It's different than offering up bad reportage. It's different than mixing fact with fiction and putting it on Fox News. It's different than quoting the reporting of, say, Wayne Madsen without a Texas-sized asterisk.

    We're allowed to ratchet up the rhetoric whever the hell we want. We only lose when people like Dick Durbin apologize for it. When we get all ashamed. When our own people pile on Howard Dean for saying the Republican leadership is 99% white - which it is.

    Have you heard an apology from Rove - a man who, for my money, has done WAY more long term damage to our nation than 9/11 itself? No you haven't. Which is why there are no words harsh enough for him.

    Do you disagree?

    by alysheba on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 07:43:49 PM PDT

    •  Remember Rove's Remark

      in referring to the Plame case that the "landmover has rolled over this story and moved on"?  That was about the time his name first came up for consideration.  He did, indeed, think they would get off scott free.

      by tikkun on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 08:59:03 PM PDT

      •  "landmover": no such beast, Mr. Rove!

        Rove's comment also shows he doesn't even have an average 8-year-old's knowledge of heavy equipment.  That is, any boy with a normal boy's interest in construction operations would know the proper terminology better than Rove apparently did.  

        The closest we have to "landmover" is "earthmover," which is a generic term that's often used by laypeople to refer to a "scraper."  A scraper is a piece of equipment consisting of a (usually) two-wheeled tractor that's permanently coupled to a "pan" or "bowl," a large container with a cutting edge at the lower front, having an "apron" that can close off the entrance to the container above the cutting edge, and an "ejector" which is a vertical plate actuated by hydraulics and is used to push the load out throgh the front opening.  

        The purpose of this machine is to level or re-grade wide areas, for example when building an airport or highway, it will be used to remove raised areas and fill in depressions.  

        In operation, the pan is lowered, the apron is raised to provide an opening, and as the machine moves forward, earth is scraped up by the cutting edge and forced into the pan.  When the pan is full (capacities range up to about 25 cubic yards), the apron is lowered to close it off, the pan is raised into the "carry" position, and the unit proceeds to another area of the site.  Upon arrival, the apron is raised and the ejector moves forward as the unit travels, spreading its load as it proceeds.  

        The spread earth is usually compacted thereafter by a sheeps-foot roller, which is a large cylindrical drum with large flat teeth around its outside circumference, often towed by a crawler tractor.  (Usually these are run in gangs of three rollers towed by one tractor.)  The purpose of the teeth is to penetrate down between the layers of deposited earth, thereby knitting them together somewhat as it consolidates them.  

        So in addition to using the wrong noun, Rove also used the wrong verb clause.  The primary action of a scraper is not "rolling over" an area, but scraping, transporting, and spreading earth.  

        It would be the sheeps-foot roller, or in some cases a vibratory roller or a pneumatic-tired roller, that "rolled over" the deposited earth.  If we're talking about a paving job, we'd be talking about a "macadam roller" (referring to the material being rolled), or a "tandem roller" (slightly older usage, referring to two rolls or drums), or if one wanted to use an inexact and technically incorrect term, a "steam roller" (they are no longer powered by steam engines).  

        Though of course, "steamroller" is also used as a political symbol for a powerful machine that flattens anything in its path, and in that context is often used as a verb.  

        So then, what are we to do about correcting Rove's usage...?

        Shall we say, "the earthmover has scraped up this story and moved on"..?   That would be technically correct, but in turn it calls up the question, where would the "earthmover" (scraper) have deposited the story, Mr. Rove?  Are you thinking of scrapers as used in sanitary landfill operations, where their usual purpose is to cover freshly-deposited layers of garbage with clean earth to keep the rats from feeding...?  The latter might have more than a grain of truth to it, though of course it would be a somewhat obscure metaphor.  

        Or shall we say, "the steamroller has rolled over this story and moved on"...?   Now that's a transparent metaphor, much easier to grasp!  Yes, Mr. Rove, Occam's razor suggests that you really meant a steamroller.  Or rather, macadam roller or tandem roller if you want to be more precise.  And with that, one must ask, who was at the controls of the roller?, and who or what were they trying to flatten, eh...?  

        Anyone else with background in civil engineering or heavy equipment operation want to comment?

        by G2geek on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 09:34:34 PM PDT

    •  Not sure

      I don't think that it's so much about our own reaction to the statement than the media's reaction to it.

      The reason Durbin apologized, right or wrong, was that he was getting hammered in the press for it.  He has a constituency to represent and elections to run.  I agree that he got a bum rap, but once the storm began, he had no choice but to cave.

      Rove, by comparison, was getting a pass from the media.  He has no one to answer to but the President and we know Dubya isn't going to be demanding an apology anytime soon.

      by MattBellamy on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 09:25:37 PM PDT

  •  Shock therapy is required...

    Sorry if this sounds snobbish, but I believe the truth is that for most Americans, a lifesyle of Wal-Mart shopping, eating large amounts of tainted beef and food from major corporate producers (whose listed ingredients resemble the contents of my grade school chemistry set) single occupants driving 6500 lb. SUVs to the store five blocks from their homes, getting the "news" from Fox or msnbc, etc. has so altered their view of reality that subtlety and "correctness" must now be set aside in favor of VERY strong and controversial words and phrases to provide psychic "shock therapy" to wake 'em up out of their collective coma.

    by grizzly on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 10:02:28 PM PDT

•  Nice article

  I just forwarded the yahoo link to a friend who is very interested in this case.

  by DCDemocrat on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 06:38:06 PM PDT

•  Excellent Article

  One might have expected Rove, the master White House political strategist who engineered Bush's 2000 coup d'état and post-9/11 permanent war public relations campaign, to have ordered a flunky underling to carry out this act of high treason. But as the Arab saying goes, arrogance diminishes wisdom.

  My sentiments exactly!  I wouldn't have expected Rove to get his own fingers dirty, but, maybe he did think he would never get fingered, or isn't the "genius" the rethugs make him out to be.  Makes me dare to hope that, if they really start digging on Rove, maybe they will find a connection to the Swift Boat Liars for Bush.  

  Rove and his collaborators should quickly resign and face prosecution for betraying their country, but given their sense of personal entitlement impeachment is probably the best we can hope for. Congress, and all Americans, should place patriotism ahead of party loyalty.

  Well, one can hope.  Does Ted Rall go too far, yes.  However, I can't think of any one right now who deserves it more than Rove.  The Dems will need to hit hard on this, especially in light of his hypocritical and cowardly remarks about Liberals and 9/11.  

  by mmt006 on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 06:47:47 PM PDT

•  will Bush pardon Rove?

  THAT's what I wanna know

  by RumsfeldResign on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 07:12:52 PM PDT

  •  if he does

    then he openly admits that he's a crook...really openly...

    it he doesn't, then Rove may turn on him and who knows who else...

    either way would be cool.

    I just hope he really is the one and he really does get in trouble.

    by Elise on Mon Jul 04, 2005 at 09:27:35 PM PDT