Karl Rove's Shameless, Remorseless, Soulless Attempt to Rewrite History

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.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[Maxbyte]

Thanks, Arianna. It's really important to hit these germs again and again and again until there's nothing left of them. Our federal government has been controlled by ignorant, greedy, lawless, shameless people for seven years and we MUST not let America forget how close we've come to anarchy.

I'm waiting to learn why all of Bush's insiders are getting the heck out of Washington with a full year left on their tickets to rob America blind, insult anyone but Evangelicals, and do unto others first. It's too early to characterize all of the departures as a function of "lame duck" syndrome. "Dead duck", maybe.

I assume a lot of them know they have acted illegally, especially while Gonzales was around to define pigs as fairies. Few in the Administration give sound bites now, fewer want to be associated with the Administration.

Perhaps all of them know or suspect they will pay a price for what they have done.

[pointedly]

Karl Rove is the O.J. Simpson of politics; the debacle in Iraq is the equivalent of one pair of bloody Isotoners.­..

[ReHoover51]

the sad point that should be made here is this:
all this discussion, fine writing, postering, et al will do absolutely nothing!
these guys get away with it, they will always get away with it and they know it!
we are helpless, and powerless to do anything!
hell, i got a letter from duncan hunter the other day thanking me for writing in regards to impeaching cheney, he let me know that cheney is of the finest cut in america!!!
i got an email from diane feinstein saying she agreed that cheney hasnt acted in regards to the manner a VP should, but she went on to say we need to heal and not go after these guys with justice!
these guys get away with it, they will always get away with it and they know it!
we are helpless, and powerless to do anything!

[Kajur]

Bush is worst political criminal-pupet in USA
history. He and his handlers know only how to lie, lie, lie. And they manage the art of it like nobody before them.

[DAWK]

KEEP UP THE FIRE UNDER ROVE'S LYING-COWA­RD-SNIVELI­NG- ASS,ARIANA,AS HE IS NOW IN 'FREELANCE PROPAGANDA' MODE,AND EVERYTHING HE WRITES-SAYS,GIVES MORE 'AMO'.... FOR CONVICTION VIA BUSH WAR CRIMES,WHICH HE ,(ROVE)IS A PART OF.
THIS AVENUE OF POST-WHITE HOUSE 'PROPAGANDA' MINISTER WILL BACKFIRE ON ROVE,AS ARROGANCE AND POWER,NO LONGER IS HIS.

[live by the golden rule]

Republicans seem to be getting away with rewriting the history of the 1980s, so why not try the Bush 43 years too, they must figure?

[Garvagh]

Karl Rove is a vicious liar and an enemy of the Republic. Great piece!

[retreadite]

Arianna; I assume you have an equal amount of contempt for WJC recent comments stating that he "opposed Iraq from the beginning". But yet he's quoted in a June '04 Time interview stating "I have repeatedly defended Pres. Bush against the left on Iraq"

4-03 WJC: "It is incontestable that on the day I left office, there were unaccounted-for stocks of biological and chemical weapons". Why not state that also?

[stdomsgirl]

Rove etal - I have to laugh ~ Dubya & his minions made a big-to-do about the 'stain' on the Oval office left by Bill Clinton. Well, the Nixonian - Cheney - Rove - Bush Stain, smeared on Lady Liberty is everlasting. Can never be removed in the eyes of the world. The Bushies lifted Lady Liberty dress & stained it with a pre-emptive strike on Iraq ~ at least Bill only stained that fat California girl's dress.

[Rosey]

I am sick sick sick of hearing all this BS from the Bushies. Bush is now trying to create a "legacy" but he will always be in the gutter with his (and his cronies) desire to bankrupt the US, foment terrorism all over the world, kill all efforts at curbing climate changes, create a corporate world where all small businesses and "the people" lose out to corporate greed, ...what? You say this is not what Bush wants.....­?? I dare say it is far too late for Bush to clean up his act and stop his BS.

[dartagnan]

Yes, Turdblossom Rove is shameless, remorseless and soulless. He is a sociopath, just like Smirky McChimp and Cheney. These bastards have no conscience, no compassion, no honor, no soul.

[MSB]

Since when is the lack of shame which enables a person to say any moronic thing viewed as genius? This guy is a loser. His gift is that he would do anything to be heard, topical, or powerful. Anyone with a brain could do this - all you need to do is rant about people's guilt and preferential stature. In other words, just appeal to the worst in folks. He's just a secular evangelist.

It is EASY to say what people want to hear. The difference between (as I see it) real Americans and children (most administration supporters) is that real Americans are not afraid to see our country for what it is warts and all. We love the IDEA of America and see it as a work in progress. We work to make it a better place for ALL citizens. The children..­.. well they think it is America - love it or leave it. (By the way, is there a stupider sentiment??? How many of us could just up and leave this country?)

The most infuriating part of the discussion is that the "real" Americans make the rights of the other side possible. It is us that defend the right of the other side to exist, a right that very few of them would grant us. It is the inability to empathize that is truly dangerous. This is what young children do. When children do this, good parents curb the behavior by many restrictive means. This is what we should be doing now. Those that would limit choice (of any type) should be forced to undergo a "time out" by the adults - the intelligent portion of the electorate. I don't need children dictating to me about what ideas I need to have - this is the entire platform of the current administration and all (but Ron Paul) of the rightwing candidates.

[ProfessorDuh]

Advertising is about manipulating the public, while journalism is about informing the public. Advertising, not journalism, is now the dominant mode of discourse in the United States.
George W. Bush was sold to the American people entirely as a product, as the image of a great leader who was, paradoxically, a “regular guy” with whom you’d like to have a beer — not as the reality of a combat-dodging C student and serial business failure who’d spent most of his adult life drunk. As is now the rule, the American people bought the image and ignored the reality, in part because they now see themselves as consumers, not as citizens.
Americans have now tried the product, and have found that it sickens them. They are fed up not only with the product, Bush, but with the brand, Republican.
A big part of our current national crisis IS the fact that the dominant mode of discourse in the U.S. is now advertising, not journalism.
In other words, the presumed purpose of the presentation of information is manipulation of people into doing what you want, not informing them so they can make sound decisions for their own good and the good of society.
That's why so many of the arguments the right wingers like Rove offer make no sense, even to them. They are weapons in a war, not tools with which to seek the truth. And in Rove's case, the war is scorched earth.

[BlueBoomer]

Arianna,

Huffingpost seems to be becoming softer and softer lately.

Can you tell us why there isn't a more prominent story on the Pakistan situation?

Just askin'

[MrJoyboy]

Next, Rove will be telling us he spent his formative years in an ashram in India studying under Ghandi.