WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2007
Rove's Version of Iraq War Vote Disputed
Both Democrats And Republicans Say Former White House Advisor Made False Claim About 2002 Vote
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Karl Rove's repeated claim that Democrats in Congress were responsible for speeding up a vote on an Iraq resolution prior to the 2002 elections, in contrast to White House wishes, was shot down by Democrats, Rove's former colleagues, and President Bush's own statements at the time. (AP Photo/Kevin Glackmeyer)
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Former White House aide Karl Rove said yesterday it was Congress, not President Bush, who wanted to rush a vote on the looming war in Iraq in the fall of 2002, a version of events disputed by leading congressional Democrats and even some former Rove colleagues.
Rove said that the administration did not want lawmakers to vote on a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq that soon because it would "make things move too fast," before Bush could line up international allies, and politicize the issue ahead of midterm elections. But Democrats and some Republicans involved with the issue at the time said yesterday that Bush wanted a quick vote.
The fresh clash over the five-year-old vote made plain how political leaders on all sides are trying to shape the history of that moment. Former president Bill Clinton this week asserted that he flatly opposed the war from the beginning, a contention challenged by a former White House official who briefed him at the time. Some presidential candidates, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), have portrayed themselves as more skeptical than others recalled.
Speaking on PBS's "Charlie Rose" talk show last week, Rove said Congress pushed to have the vote before the election. "The administration was opposed to voting on it in the fall of 2002," Rove said. Asked why, he said:
"Because we didn't think it belonged within the confines of the election. There was an election coming up within a matter of weeks. We thought it made it too political. We wanted it outside the confines of it. It seemed to make things move too fast. There were things that needed to be done to bring along allies and potential allies abroad."Democrats accused him of rewriting history. "Either he has a very faulty memory, or he's not telling the truth," said ex-Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.). In an interview, Daschle said he asked Bush during a breakfast to delay the vote until after the election. "They told us time was of the essence and they needed the vote and they were going to move forward," he said.
Steve Elmendorf, chief of staff to then-House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), said it would not benefit Democrats to vote before the elections. "That does not ring true to me," he said of Rove's remarks. "I can't imagine why it would be in our interest to do that."
Rove repeated his assertion in an interview yesterday, pointing to comments made by Democrats in 2002 that they wanted a vote. "For Democrats to suggest they didn't want to vote on it before the election is disingenuous," he said. The vote schedule, he said, was set by lawmakers. "We don't control that."
News accounts and transcripts at the time show Bush arguing against delay. Asked on Sept. 13, 2002, about Democrats who did not want to vote until after the U.N. Security Council acted, Bush said,
"If I were running for office, I'm not sure how I'd explain to the American people - say, 'Vote for me, and, oh, by the way, on a matter of national security, I think I'm going to wait for somebody else to act.'"While some Democrats urged delay, news accounts reported that some party leaders wanted a quick vote to move the issue off the front burner and leave several weeks before the election to focus on pocketbook issues that they felt would be more advantageous. Daschle said Sept. 17 on PBS that he expected a vote "sooner rather than later." Two days later, Bush sent a proposed resolution to Capitol Hill, saying: "We've got to move before the elections."
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Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary at the time, said Daschle had pressed Bush over the summer to bring the matter to Congress but for consultation, not necessarily a vote. Bush decided to seek a vote authorizing force, Fleischer said. "It was definitely the Bush administration that set it in motion and determined the timing, not the Congress," he said. "I think Karl in this instance just has his facts wrong."Sometimes his mouth gets ahead of his brain.
Andrew Card, speaking of Karl RoveFormer White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr. was asked on MSNBC yesterday about Rove's comments but told only that Rove asserted Democrats pushed Bush into war. Card laughed and said that "sometimes his mouth gets ahead of his brain." Card later said that he had not actually seen Rove's interview and was simply reacting to the host's mischaracterization.
After being sent Rove's comments, Card said he did not want to argue with him. He said he recalled much discussion in the White House about whether it was wise to seek a congressional vote before deciding it would demonstrate American unity. But asked if the White House opposed having the vote before the election, he said, "I don't remember that. I don't remember it being done in the context of the election."
© 2007 The Washington Post Company
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See all 89 CommentsWhat Rove must have meant, was that REPUBLICANS in Congress were pushing hard for the war.
Their YES vote on the war was all but unanimous.
Actually this is what Tojo said on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack: "I''m not sure how I"d explain to the Japanese people or the Emperor - "oh, by the way, on a matter of national security, I think I''m going to wait for the Americans to act first."
you should be shot or hang for what you have done to this country.
Hmm, isn''t Rove considered Bush''s brain?
F''chrissakes, just shut up and leave us alone. If I were you, I''d lay real low and hope they don''t come looking for me after January 21st, 2008.
Haven''t you done enough damage? Just take your pile of dirty money and go away. Go to Paraquay and spend your time setting up Georgie''s little hideaway compound where he can fight off attempts to extradite him and Darth.
bush is getting there it up to 500,000 and cheney is up to 750,000
The survey found that 58 percent of Republicans polled reported having excellent mental health. Only 38 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of Independents reported the same.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx
The study concluded it was unclear why there was such a strong correlation, but the relationship between party affiliation and mental health was virtually constant even within categories of income, age, gender and other factors.
"The reason the relationship exists between being a Republican and more positive mental health is unknown, and one cannot say whether something about being a Republican causes a person to be more mentally healthy or whether something about being mentally healthy causes a person to choose to become a Republican," the study said.
The study speculated that the fact that Republicans have on average higher incomes than members of others parties could play a factor. But in the study, even Republicans making less than $50,000 a year reported having excellent health far more than Democrats earning the same.
The study was based on interviews with 4,014 American adults who were at least 18 years old, conducted from November 2004 through 2007. The margin of error was 2 percent. (we''ve all known that Liberalism is a Mental Disorder for years now)
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx
and read it all.
It reveals what I suspected for years. Democrats are unhappy, bitter, angry, and chronically mentally unstable. Mental illness is rampant among liberals. And, because they are mentally ill, they don%u2019t even know it. They have no idea how they appear to the rest of us. It%u2019s sad that most of them do not seek the help they so desperately need.
complete SCUMBAG......
he probably takes the little boys suplied to him by dyncorp and has them rub all over his fat stomach.
To me he sounds like a few screws are lost in his Brain.
Thanks to the Internet and Cspan, some voters are a little more informed and remember who is responsible.
ROFL
Most reasonable people will agree these GOPigs are despicable beings.They should be charged for the air that they breathe. Because,IF it was up to King W,and his Corrupt pals,.ALL Water and ALL air would be heavily polluted due to their GREED!They Lie,Steal,kill and breed evil each and Every day ! Remember " Friends don`t let friends vote republiCON !"
That is mild to what I would call them but I have to be careful to offer my opinion as a Canadian.
People tend to jump on my back
NeoCons repaint history with a wide brush...
It''s up to the real patriots to put them in prison.
Between the State Department''s remembrance of things that happened, and now Mr. Rove''s recollections, pretty soon Dubya isn''t even going to get credit for the war the CLAIMS he''s winning!!!!
Once again, the republicons think they can have it both ways! Geezus!!! Somebody feed these folks some gensing or something...
Don''t let the Neocon-artists do it America!
The Repubs. went waaaaaaaaaaay overboard to convince anybody and everybody that if we don''t act fast that Iraq will use WMD.
That was the story they (the GOP/ a complicit media) told.
Here''s another story we were told Iraq and Saddam had an operative connection to Bin Laden and 9-11.
How about the State of the Union Yellow Cake story,
More lies!
Oh, and yet another story we were told, remember this one:
AN END TO MAJOR COMBAT
Sorry Neocons you have NO CREDIBILITY!!!
Use your brains people!!!
Vote them out!!!
In fact, the "surge" levels can''t be maintained indefinitely, thus, a troop reduction is not really their choice anyway.
I''d like to ask Rove the truth of what all Jeff Gannon (male escort) was really doing at the White House between 2003 and 2005, beside throwing softballs (planted questions) at Bush''s new conferences. Perhaps he was helping to foster Republican family values. In a vein similar to what Senator Larry Craig was doing in public men rooms across this great land.
Oh, which could it possibly be?
If Americans suck up this pack of lies, they deserve Bushit as president.
Rove, Bushit''s brain, and Darth, Bushit''s balls, sold this war to Congress and the American public. Their credibility and reputations rested on there being WMD in Iraq. They were wrong.
If the neoconscum had a shred of honor they would have resigned years ago.
Is there any life form lower than Darth Bushit neoconscum?
Those who said yes, got connected to their party; those who said no, got disconnected. Now, after all these years, one of the Emperor Bush II''s gang comes out from under his rock and says that the Emperor didn''t want to go to war but that the evil Democrats pushed him into it! In other words, the Great Emperor is "a victim of circumstance"! Sounds familiar!
Of course, the Great Emperor Bush is concerned about his "legacy" and what history will say about him (we already know what people and most of the world think about him!). It is obvious that the Emperor does not want to go into the history books as the first leader of the USSA who was the "aggressor" in invading Iraq and Afghanistan, and also having lost the war on "terrrror". And so it is time to re-write as much history as possible, showing the world the Emperor was "duped" into his adventures in the Middle East.
Apparently, he was also "duped" into vetoing all the legislation he has vetoed in the past 12 months also.
When it all comes down to it, the picture the neocons are now painting of the Emperor is of someone who isn''t very smart, possibly having an IQ under 100, and is at home in a 2nd grade classroom reading a children''s book about "Winnie the Poo"!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
Posted by MichaelT302
Too bad you MORONS don''t understand the english language. These repubs BELIEVE they have better mental health (and arrogance). There is no proof that they actually have better mental health. Just like the brat boy, they think they''re correct even when proven nto be wrong!!!!
Bushs'' legacy will be that of death, greed, lies, privitization of corporations and distain for the American people and their government.
Rove has joined the other repub has beens who have either caved in to some honest relevance or the continuation of lies.
The history of the repugs stories have changed with the weather, whatever suits their immediate needs.
Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rice all need to be jailed, they are the vomit of America!!!
Bush, Cheney Rove, Rice and Rumsfield---chief culprits of the world problems today--no matter how it''s twisted, the circle comes back to them!
"We''re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
%u2014White House.
Pride goeth before a fall.
%u2014Proverbs.
huh????
Mr. Bush your house is crumbling, why don''t you just get out now...
The authorization was sought by President George W. Bush. Introduced as H.J.Res. 114 (Public Law 107%u2013243), it passed the House on October 10, 2002 by a vote of 296-133, and the Senate on October 11 by a vote of 77-23. It was signed into law by President Bush on October 16, 2002.
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