Sorry, Karl. You can't shake the truth. (Fred Prouser/Reuters)
In his
Wall Street Journal column yesterday, Karl Rove
claimed that Bill Clinton had said the killing of Osama bin Laden wasn't a major 'achievement' for President Obama (emphasis mine):
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 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.
But Greg Sargent caught Rove with his pants down, because it turns out what Bill Clinton really said was
this:
“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.’”
That's precisely the opposite of what Rove claimed Clinton had said. It was such an egregious lie that Rove's editors at the
Wall Street Journal decided they had to issue a correction. Now
it reads (again, emphasis mine):
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 film "I hope 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.
That changes the meaning of Rove's argument entirely, but the editors merely explained it away as if it were a clerical error. "Editor's note: An earlier version of this column included an incomplete quote from Bill Clinton in the last paragraph."
An "incomplete" quote? Bullshit. It was a complete lie. And now that the paragraph features a more accurate quote, it completely upends Rove's argument. It almost sounds like Rove is trying to attack President Clinton rather than President Obama.
I wonder if Rove and his editors have any idea just how absurd this episode makes them look. It's clear for all to see that they aren't even trying to tell the truth, and when they are caught in a lie, their instinct is to simply try to erase history rather than accepting responsibility. And that means it's up to us to make sure they don't get away with it—and that making sure that Mitt Romney can't shake the truth about his opposition to President Obama's successful strategy to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.