Scandal and Cover-Up, The Perfidy of Karl Rove

By Bruce Rosen

As Republican truth spinners reach new levels of absurdity in trying to defend the traitorous actions of Karl Rove, they have returned to a recurring mantra. Why, they ask, can’t the Democrats just accept the fact that they lost and stop attacking the Bush administration? The question I would ask of the Republicans is why don’t they want a frank and open discussion about the issues we all face and this administration’s record on them?

The Republicans seem to just want to focus on the political game. The election is over. We won. See you in four years. To be fair, they are very good at playing the political game. Some would argue that the Republicans push the envelope of propriety and legality in the way they conduct elections. They were caught in 1972 and paid the price. Instead of learning that there is a right and wrong way to conduct campaigns, the lesson they learned was to not get caught and when they are, to spin, stonewall, accuse and obfuscate. They have also spent thirty years attacking the mainstream press and creating their own right wing media machine to constantly pound home their talking points.

As good as the Republicans are at playing the electoral game, they have shown themselves to be completely incompetent at governing. So of course they just want to focus on politics rather than policy, on form rather than substance. It is perfectly legitimate and patriotic for those who disagree with the policies of this administration to forcefully state their opinions and the factual basis for them. The standard Republican response: spin, stonewall, accuse and obfuscate.

When former Ambassador Joseph Wilson exposed the President’s lies about Iraq attempting to procure uranium from Africa, Karl Rove’s response was to attack Wilson and expose his wife, who was working undercover for the CIA, possibly putting her life at risk and ending her usefulness to the CIA. When Richard Clarke, who had served under every President since Ronald Reagan, exposed the fact that the present administration completely ignored multiple warnings about Osama bin Laden, instead focusing from the beginning on Iraq, Clarke was subjected to vicious character assassination from the right wing media machine and the highest members of the administration. The same could be said of former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who was taken aback at his first Cabinet meeting in January of 2001 by the immediate focus on getting rid of Sadaam Hussein.

Character assassination and constant spin do not change the fact that over 1700 American soldiers have died in Iraq as a result of the lies of this administration and thousands more are maimed. The toll among innocent Iraqis is far higher. Now the war in Afghanistan, which has bi-partisan support, is heating up and we do not have the forces to effectively deal with it. Because of the needless war in Iraq, we can’t even allocate the troops to kill or capture bin Laden or his equally dangerous second in command, Ayman al Zawahari. It is not ranting to point out that the money wasted in Iraq could be better spent on properly protecting our ports, railways, airports, utilities and factories.

Republican crowing about their political prowess does not change the fact that under Bush, we have undermined global efforts to reverse global warming even though we are the worst transgressors. Bush has undermined environmental controls at factories, chemical and power plants, leading to higher levels of pollution.

Are we supposed to ignore the fact that the budget surplus left by Clinton has turned into record deficits, that our corporations are being bankrupted by the cost of health insurance and that more and more people can’t afford proper medical care? For many, the American Dream has become a nightmare and this administration has morphed into the bogeyman.

The election of 2004 was won for the Republicans by fear and lies. They convinced people to vote against their own interests by lying about John Kerry, lying about Sadaam Hussein and lying about their own actions. If Karl Rove had admitted in 2003 to being the one who betrayed a CIA agent, does anyone think Bush would have been reelected? Is there another source in addition to Rove who betrayed Wilson’s wife to Judith Miller of the NY Times? That would explain why she is in jail and Matt Cooper, the reporter from Time Magazine is not. Who is she protecting? Did the President or Vice-President discuss this with Rove? If so, they are complicit in a cover-up.

At best this nation is being run by incompetents, at worst by scoundrels. Either way they have turned us into a world pariah. It is the right and duty of Americans to expose the truth about our current leaders and strive to limit the damage caused by their reckless actions. Democratic opposition to this ethically bankrupt administration is based on love of this country and the principles we are supposed to stand for.

We have endured four and a half years of disastrous leadership. Given the peculiar reaction by the White House to the growing scandal and cover-up surrounding Karl Rove, it may well grow to envelop the President and Vice-President. It would not be surprising if one or both of them were involved in this from the beginning. If so, perhaps the Republican dominated Congress will have the opportunity to show the country whether lying about treason is as legitimate a reason for impeachment as is lying about sex. If they don’t, 2006 brings an opportunity for patriotic Americans to take back Congress. Given the Republican gerrymandering in recent years and the huge donations of those who have benefited from the irresponsible Bush tax cuts, that will not be easy. The one advantage that Democrats have is the truth. Don’t stop telling it!