I went on Countdown last night to talk about what Keith Olbermann
called Karl Rove's "attack on history."

During an interview with Charlie Rose, the erstwhile Boy Genius pulled
out his bucket of whitewash and audaciously claimed that "one of the
untold stories" about the war in Iraq is that the Bush administration
had been "opposed' to Congress holding the vote authorizing the
president to use military force in Iraq just a few weeks prior to the
2002 elections because "we thought it made it too political."

Too political? For Karl Rove? That's like saying something was too
bloody for Count Dracula.

He went on to paint a picture of a White House pushed into war, and
laid the blame for much of what has happened since on a Congress that
had "made things move too fast." If not for Congress, you see, there
would have been more time for weapons inspections, and to build a
broader coalition.

It was a satiric tour de force worthy of Jonathan Swift or Stephen
Colbert -- but Rove wasn't joking. He actually expected us to buy his
load of b.s. Watching Rove, two things were perfectly clear: his
disdain for the truth and his contempt for the American people know no
bounds.

Rove's appearance was the work of a shameless, remorseless, soulless
political animal taking the first steps on what will no doubt be a
high profile and lucrative march toward historical revisionism. He
knows that he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the fanatics
responsible for the worst foreign policy disaster in American history
-- not exactly the best thing to put on your post-government resume --
so he is hell-bent on replacing reality with the latest incarnation of
The Big Lie.

A student of history, Rove is obviously also up on his Orwell: "Who
controls the past, controls the future."

Unfortunately for Rove, this isn't 1984; we now live in the Age of
Google, and YouTube, and Lexis-Nexis searches. So the refutation of
his lies is just a click away.

The evidence that it was President Bush and Vice President Cheney --
and not Congress -- who were hungry for war is overwhelming. For
starters, we have Bush's own words before the vote, when he explicitly
told Congress that "it's in our national interest" to get the vote
"done as quickly as possible." And the insistence of then-Secretary of
Defense Rumsfeld that "delaying a vote in Congress would send the
wrong message." And the words of then-Senate Majority Leader Tom
Daschle who says that when he asked Bush in September 2002 why there
was such a rush for a vote on Iraq the president "looked at Cheney and
he looked at me, and there was a half-smile on his face. And he said:
'We just have to do this now.'"

And there is the insider evidence provided by Richard Clarke, who
wrote that within hours of the 9/11 attacks, this administration had
its heart set on heading into Iraq. And from Paul O'Neill, who made it
clear that invading Iraq had been Bush's goal before he had even
learned where the Oval Office supply closet was.

Even now, with his approval ratings scraping the bottom of the
historical barrel, Bush still dominates the Congressional agenda on
the war. And Rove wants us to buy that back in the heady days of 2002,
when the president was still riding a wave of support forged by 9/11,
his desire for caution and reasoned action were overridden by a war
hungry Congress? "We don't determine when the Congress votes on
things," Rove told Rose. "The Congress does." I guess he and Bush
landed on the whole "I'm the Decider" thing later (maybe after they
orchestrated that triumphal landing on the Abraham Lincoln).

The truth is that the zealots in the White House were not about to
allow their desires to invade Iraq -- which had been laid out years
earlier by the Project for a New American Century -- be quashed by
anything as piddling as the facts or the evidence or reasoned debate
or Congress. Especially a Congress populated with Democratic leaders
so rattled and timid that to call them spineless would be an insult to
invertebrates everywhere.

Indeed, it was the perfect political environment for an administration
intent on shoving a war down the throats of Congress and the American
people.

Let's remember, this was the time when the administration had pulled
together the White House Study Group (which included Rove himself)
with the express mission of marketing the war. These people weren't in
the mood to wait, they were in the mood to sell, sell, sell. The
Downing Street Memo showed that by July of 2002 they were already
fixing the intel to sell the war. By August 2002 the White House was
already using Judy Miller and the New York Times as prime advertising
space. And by September 2002, Condi Rice was already warning of
smoking guns turning out to be mushroom clouds, and Cheney was using
aluminum tubes to make the case that Saddam was "actively and
aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons."

So the record is irrefutable: the drumbeat of war coming from the
White House couldn't have been louder. And no amount of 5-years-down
the road spinning by Karl Rove is going to change that truth.

Comments (216)

Reply | posted 08:59 pm on 11/28/2007
Dejack (See profile | I'm a fan of Dejack)
Thank you, Arianna, for saying what the MSM clearly is not - cowards
all of them.

Reply | posted 08:42 pm on 11/28/2007
A Meat Beetle (See profile | I'm a fan of A Meat Beetle)
Shameless? Remorseless? Soulless? We're talking about Karl Rove here--
what did you expect?

Reply | posted 08:38 pm on 11/28/2007
NoFactsJustTruth (See profile | I'm a fan of NoFactsJustTruth)
The ONLY place they'll be able to rewrite history 'in the end',
Arianna, will be at that half BILLION dollar boondoggle for the 'most
embarrassing' preznutz EVER that they call a LIEbrary! The rest of the
world and too much of OUR country KNOW the TRUTH, WILL remember and
WILL tell it forward from the internet to their grandkids.

The neoCON quest for resources has likely NOT seen it's last hoorah
though, and it appears they're prepared to continue taking what THEY
need for the forseeable future, only perhaps in 2009 and after, from
Dubai instead. I have NO doubts that is where at least some 'armies'
for hire will be marketed in the future, even if it COULD be prevented
from happening here.

I think their 'history' and 'legacy' is on the run, Arianna, but that
we're yet a LONG ways from seeing the end of the trouble caused by
them.

Reply | posted 08:34 pm on 11/28/2007
jhoughton1 (See profile | I'm a fan of jhoughton1)
"...no amount of 5-years-down the road spinning by Karl Rove is going
to change that truth."

I hope you're right. These guys have been awfully good at spinning
gold out of pure bullshit for a long time.

Reply | posted 08:24 pm on 11/28/2007
pithy (See profile | I'm a fan of pithy)
I cancelled my Newsweek subscription when I heard that Rove will write
a column for them.

I urge you all to do the same.

My gesture is inconsequential to anyone but me. A million similar
gestures flips Pillsbury one freakin big finger.

Reply | posted 08:06 pm on 11/28/2007
dostephen (See profile | I'm a fan of dostephen)
The more things change the more they remain the same. Bush and Rove
will be enshrined in republican history as heroes, just as Ronny
Reagan the hapless was before them. It makes me want to puke when the
members of the putrid party describe Reagan's time in office as
accomplishing a revolution. Let's see..you mean like ignoring the AIDS
epidemic because it was punishment from God. Or the billions of
dollars wasted on rescuing his campaign contributors from the Savings
and Loan debacle, plunging our country into a 5 year recession. Or his
"October suprise" with papa Bush as the bag man for the arms for
hostages deal. Or that he contravened congress (read treason) by
supplying the Contras in Nicaragua with arms and drug money. Or that
we trained the death squads to disappear innocent people, even our own
citizens. Yea, Ronny and Shrub (as Mollie Ivins called him) are a good
pair of criminals in stupid clothing. And to think the republicans
keep pulling off this crap over and over again. Americans are stupid
suckers who make life and death decisions on the basis of a few sound
bites. It is time for revolution and a redo of the anarchy of the
60's. That is all that gets their attention. Power to the people!

Reply | posted 08:00 pm on 11/28/2007
WellbornBroad (See profile | I'm a fan of WellbornBroad)
Arianna you go girl. I hope my children will see in their lifetime
that Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfield, Rice, Libby, Wolfowitz, Tenet,
Bremer, Armitage, Novak, J. Miller, republican congress members, etc.
were war criminals and traitors of the United States.

Reply | posted 07:56 pm on 11/28/2007
contrariandy (See profile | I'm a fan of contrariandy)
Arianna and many others have pointed out many facts that show Rove to
be a liar. And, some have pointed out that many on the right will
neither recognize the facts or care about the lies. But, there is
another issue here. Sad as Rove's attempt is, it illustrates how
Republican's think (plot) several plays ahead about how they might
respond to what the Democrats might say and do. If they say this,
we'll say this about them; and, if they say that, we'll say that about
them. If they don't vote before the election to support the
President's going to the UN, we'll attack their patriotism, and if
they do vote before the election, we can eventually blame them for
pushing us to war. It's pathetic that after years of this treatment,
Democrats still haven't learned how to think ahead about the possible
next moves. In this case, Rove is serving up the most rancid of
leftover plots, but, the right wing's privatized propaganda machine
will eventually turn Rove's new "facts" into a feast.

Reply | posted 07:54 pm on 11/28/2007
Leonard (See profile | I'm a fan of Leonard)
Good for you for not letting him get away with it. I don't want to
listen to him nor do I want to read his opinions in Newsweek.

He is one very sad pathetic individual that appears not to have gone
much beyond Junior High in terms of emotional development.

Reply | posted 07:51 pm on 11/28/2007
WellbornBroad (See profile | I'm a fan of WellbornBroad)
Arianna you are so right on. I hope that my children will be alive to
see the assessment of history of the infamous Bush, Cheney, Rove,
Libby, Rumsfeld, Rice, Wolfowitz, Tenet, Bremer etc. as the most
corrupt criminals in the history of the United States.

Reply | posted 07:34 pm on 11/28/2007
TLV (See profile | I'm a fan of TLV)
What's this about, kiddies?

"The federal official helming a probe into potentially illegal
partisan political activities conducted by Karl Rove and other White
House officials is himself the focus of a federal investigation.

Scott Bloch, the Bush-appointed head of the US Office of Special
Counsel, is under investigation for the alleged improper deletion of
emails on office computers, The Wall Street Journal's John R. Wilke
reports."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Official_probing_Rove_now_under_investigation_1128...

Reply | posted 07:24 pm on 11/28/2007
lefilmnoir (See profile | I'm a fan of lefilmnoir)
Rove as Revisionist will be handsomely rewarded. He'll receive a
lucrative position with the GW Bush Library so he can monitor what
gets written & archived. I wouldn't be surprised to see him join Tony
Blair -- preview of coming attractions -- on the Carlyle Group Board
if he shows signs of "wavering" in his loyalty.

I've been to the LBJ Library & they allow differing perspectives on
Lyndon. Not the two Bush Libraries. Isn't that why Daddy jumped out of
the plane the other day? To drum up interest in his Library?

No amount of dumb stunts & buying off historians & overseers will
change the verdict of legitimate history:

Daddy Bush - barely mediocre

Baby Bush - irreversable damage; the worst ever

Reply | posted 07:21 pm on 11/28/2007
OleHippieChick (See profile | I'm a fan of OleHippieChick)
These rovian "people" will just continue on, living in their burnt-
toast world, believing the lies they tell to themselves. They'll NEVER
admit otherwise because they don't have the guts to do what's
necessary: commit suicide, which is really what their grave offenses
call for.

Reply | Parent | posted 07:52 pm on 11/28/2007
wisechild (See profile | I'm a fan of wisechild)
Mind-boggling.

We have the media, as in Morning Joe, Charlie Rose, Tim Russert and
the rest of that ilk making nice with the schoolyard bully and even
enabling him so as not to get beat up themselves.

Meanwhile, the bullies continue to beat up the innocent kids [congress/
us] and steal their lunch money with the weapon we provide them, our
complicity and silence.

There can be no spin, no revisionism without a platform.

Take access away, protect the stupid and the true believers.

It's sad to think that Ted Koppel isn't around for this crap anymore.
Sadder still that MSM only gets used for free access and book promos.

Where have all the journalists gone?

The truth is out there and it's well documented so if the sheeple buy
the lies we have to depend on this site, Arianna, Keith and Daily/
Colbert to dispel the lies with satire and rage.

I want my country back!

Reply | posted 07:15 pm on 11/28/2007
outnow (See profile | I'm a fan of outnow)
Many people still claim the WMD were found in Iraq after the war
started in 2003. Dick Cheney kept making this claim as well as the
claim that Saddam Hussein was behind the attacks on 9-11.

This claim by Karl Rove that Congress was behind the hasty judgments
about the existence of WMD that resulted in the invasion of Iraq will
not be believed by anyone including Rove. Rove has finally discredited
himself.

Even Fox News will not push this latest propaganda - or will it? If
Americans believe this latest assertion by Rove, then the country is
in deeper trouble than any of us can realize.

Reply | posted 07:13 pm on 11/28/2007
shades3 (See profile | I'm a fan of shades3)
I watched in horror as this unfolded, as most of us did.
Even as the UN inspectors were reporting that so far their results had
determined that there were NO WMDs to be found, no mobile chemical
labs to be found, no biological weapons labs to be found, the drumbeat
toward invasion grew.
We watched President Bush call the Iraqis "liars and evil-doers" even
as the inspectors came up empty.
When the invasion took place and the UN inspectors had been taken out,
Bush's own boys, the military faction charged with searching for the
elusive weapons also came up empty and continue to do so.
But, the real mission was not to find weapons which the Bush
Administration knew were not there.
The real mission was to get into Iraq, no matter what it took.
September 11, 2001 was a gift to the real evil-doers, which keeps on
giving.
They got their war. They got their War President. Mission
Accomplished.
Sure, it is costing thousands of lives on both sides, not to mention
the many more thousands of terrible casualties, on both sides.
It's also drained the Treasury and trashed the reputation of the
United States, globally.
But, Karl Rove and the Bush Administration got their war.
Now they are backing away from their pet project that went terribly
wrong, lifing their pantlegs up, like city boys exiting a pig-pen.
But, THEY OWN THIS WAR. This is their legacy, whether they like it, or
not.

Reply | posted 06:58 pm on 11/28/2007
Marnie1 (See profile | I'm a fan of Marnie1)
Granting all the facts you state, and I do - isn't this a pretty
desperate attempt by Turd Blossom?
He has to paint Duhyba, -
the Commander of the greatest military force the Earth has ever known,
the Decider, the President of the nation that gave humanity the
Constitution of United States, a Born again Christian, a graduate of
Yale and Harvard, Andover and Davidson, the party leader of the 1000
Year Repocon Reich, the man who is spoken to by God, the military
leader of the World"s only surviving Super Power.-
as a spineless wimp, a man who can't Command, can't control his own
party, can't out think the dumbest Congress Person, and won't use the
President's power of veto to stop a war that he doesn"t want, and is
afraid to or incapable of seeing what he could accomplish by using his
Bully Pulpit to gain the support of the American Public.

Either way Turd Blossom is either sacrificing Duhyba to save his own
reputation or is admitting that they were both demonstrably incapable
of leadership responsibilities from the earliest days of the 1000 Year
Repocon Reich.

Reply | posted 06:50 pm on 11/28/2007
blackwell98 (See profile | I'm a fan of blackwell98)
This is the listed contact email for the Charlie Rose Program.

charlierose@pbs.org

Im not surprised that PBS gave Rove-stein a forum for some revising. I
started calling NPR Neocon Propaganda Radio quite some time ago.

Send an email and let them know you wont get fooled again.

Reply | posted 06:42 pm on 11/28/2007
ChristopherLib (See profile | I'm a fan of ChristopherLib)
I'm rarely surprised to what these Bush thugs will lie about, but I am
a little in this instance. Does Rove really think the people are that
stupid?

Above all it was Bush who invaded Iraq, who begun the criminal war, so
even not knowing anything else how could anyone buy this being
anything other than the Bush Administration's war? And they clearly
had their sights on Iraq even before 9/11, an act of premeditations
years ahead of time. Congress does share some blame, but this will
read as Bush's war in history books, make no mistake.

Reply | posted 06:05 pm on 11/28/2007
sufi66 (See profile | I'm a fan of sufi66)
"Does Rove really think the people are that stupid?"

There hasn't been much evidence to the contrary, so why shouldn't he
think exactly that? There's been so little push back against the
president's flights of delusions, so few protests, that for Rove to
believe otherwise would be sheer lunacy. Until there is a war crimes
tribunal with implied criminal punishments, Rove et. al. will have
nothing to fear for their insipid revision of history.

Reply | Parent | posted 07:09 pm on 11/28/2007
green13 (See profile | I'm a fan of green13)
Arianna, It is so easy to see your point of view, it now belongs to
most no doubt. But how could you ever believe that G.W. Bush really
did not want to go directly to war in Iraq? How could the events have
unfolded in any other way for it to appear as it has. History is full
of conflicting "truths" with the facts well hidden. Still, history is
yet again and always re-written. The truth could be told now and
absolutely no one would believe it. But was the future altered for
good reason? For a more modern example: The 8 years of Bill Clinton's
presidency is now the product of Hillary Clinton's policy - except
where, for political campaign expediency, the two can have different
views on past/present issues. This to make Hillary's views still
appear more prominent. So are we re-electing Hillary Clinton? If so
that would make her president for 12 to 16 years, just having used her
husband to get her in office for the first 8 years. That is the way
her campaign experience resume to the public is reading. It's all
history though...

Reply | posted 05:52 pm on 11/28/2007
Marlyn (See profile | I'm a fan of Marlyn)
Hillary is no Bill, any way you slice it.

Reply | Parent | posted 06:45 pm on 11/28/2007
m4rk (See profile | I'm a fan of m4rk)
No no.. you've got it all wrong. You see, the environmental activist
Rove was just skipping through the forest with his Bush administration
pals when the oil soaked Al Gore monster and blood drenched members of
congress all ganged up on lil Karly and his band. The never pushed
over congressmen wanted to nuke Iraq and take its candy from Saddam
but fortunately because of honest George's straight-A and humanitarian
background we were able to send our all-volunteer National Guard over
to Iraq to lend them a helping hand and show them how to have an
honest government..

Reply | posted 05:49 pm on 11/28/2007
habajebe (See profile | I'm a fan of habajebe)
And monkeys flew out of all their asses. I was there, I saw it.

Reply | Parent | posted 08:38 pm on 11/28/2007
YouThinkAndTalk (See profile | I'm a fan of YouThinkAndTalk)
I think Bush&Co. are self-destructing. Karl Rove will certainly not be
able to re-write history, but he will definitely make a fool of
himself, Bush and others.

He claims that Bush was rushed to war by Congress. But isn't Bush
supposed to be our tough Commander in Chief, who goes at it alone and
decisively (stay the course)? Rove is willing to portray his "friend"
Bush as a weakling, who gets influenced by Congress, only to avoid the
criminal indictment of history. Instead of pleading insanity for his
crimes, which is more fitting and plausible, Bush pleads weakness.
Amazing.

I have no doubt now that at the top of our Government are criminals
running scared. Think about it, all you who voted for them.

Reply | posted 05:48 pm on 11/28/2007
leftLibertarian (See profile | I'm a fan of leftLibertarian)
Ms Huffington:

Yes, I know that Bush et al are totally corrupt and have committed
countless crimes.

But when is the Democratic Party going to impeach the criminals Bush
and Cheney?

Reply | posted 05:44 pm on 11/28/2007
realistic2008 (See profile | I'm a fan of realistic2008)
Arianna, I trust you were not surprised of the doctrine of Wolfowitz,
Pearle and Chenney, the trilogy of malfeasency and the champions of
bullying who found an easy operator and facilitator of their sick
minds, Rove and Bush.

The question in my mind still remains as to why the shrinks'
professional association have not taken this case nor has the American
Bar Association, whom have ignored not just the symptoms but the
actions as the media has done.

Reply | posted 05:36 pm on 11/28/2007
susanstudioz (See profile | I'm a fan of susanstudioz)
Many Americans had their eyes closed in regard to bush, et al, because
they were sick of the Sexual Scandal Clinton had "perpetrated" upon
HIMSELF, HIS WIFE, MONICA, & our Country!

The Republicans went after Clinton w/a vengeance, as only the
"Republicans" can! The Republicans in Congress spent MILLIONS on
trying to make a HUGE ISSUE of Clinton's dubious reaction after he was
strewn about for his sexual misconduct. The neo-con-CONS joyfully went
about making that very PERSONAL misbehavior of Clinton's a NATIONAL
DISGRACE.

At the time of a new Presidential Election, many "Holier-Than-Thous"
decided to vote someone SQUEAKY CLEAN w/NO carnal indiscretions, so
they just barely voted in the very UN-SQUEAKYCLEAN Mr. bush.

The rest is HISTORY & COUNTING�

HUGE VOTING IRREGULARITIES for the Presidential Elections, ALSO had to
do with this Travesty of Justice!

I believe the vast majority of Americans have awakened. We got an Evil
Empire for the judgement of many who can't or WON'T count their own
sins & SEE the BROADER ISSUES.

PART of it was naiveté for masses of religious people - whom bush
claimed to be a part.

A larger part was the steadfast work of this neo-con faction who have
been trying to gain POWER since the time of JFK.

It harkens back to the McCarthy Era, maybe before? Fascist
personalities exist even here. We MUST be vigilant against them.

Well, the Fascist neo-cons WON!

IF there ever was a WARNING to the American People, THAT was it. The
neo-cons CONNED their way into POWER & showed us just what THEY can
do.

It is absolutely horrifying to see our Constitution, our Laws & our
SPIRIT so plunged into the depths.

HOWEVER, we WILL take our Country BACK.

I also do not know what EVILS the remaining 14 months will bring. It
is appalling because I don't think our present Administration is
stable. We CAN DO something IF bush & Co. proceed w/the
unimaginables.