Rove Emerges
ShareSeeking to buck up the party faithful, White House DCoS Karl Rove emerged today to defend President Bush's signature initiatives.
He told members of the Republican National Committee that Bush's record on tax cuts, on the Patriot Act and on judicial appointments make him one of the country's "most significant" presidents in modern history.
And he urged Republicans to confidently debate those policies as credible and tangible accomplishments that voters will embrace in November's elections.
The president's chief political adviser said nothing about corruption scandals in Congress or the Valerie Plame leak investigation.
Rove said Republicans "welcome a fair-minded" debate "about the meaning of the courts today" because "the force and wisdom of the Founders are on our side."
He said the conduict of Democrats on the judiciary committee was "ugly" and "backfired" by engendering sympathy for Judge Sam Alito.
He told Republicans to take pride in their impulse to cut taxes and to remind voters that Democrats oppose efforts to make tax cuts permanent.
Rove treated terrorism and Iraq as one subject.
"The global terrorist movement would be emboldened and made more dangerous than ever" if Democratic leaders got their way, he said. "To retreat before victory would be a reckless act, and this presdient and our party would not allow it."
He also called the NSA's domestic eavesdropping efforts critical to the war on terror.
"Let me be as clear as I can be: if Al Qaeda is calling someone in America, it is in our national security [interest] to know who they are and why they are calling."
Rove sounded what for him was an unusual concession: "Our politican opponents are our fellow citizens not our enemies. Honorable people should have honest political diffeences. We should strive for civility and intellectual integrity."
But, he said later, The Democratic Party is "ossified, drained of energy" and pessimistic.
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