Rove-a-Dope

I'm loving this Karl Rove kerfuffle (posts here and here). All day prominent Dems have been running to cameras to call for Rove's resignation and an apology from Rove, Bush and probably me. What's funniest about the whole thing is that Rove never used the word "Democrats" - he referred to "Liberals". If the Dems were smart (I know, purely hypothetical) they would have shut up and ignored his statement and simply claimed when asked that he wasn't referring to them. But instead, they chose to proclaim their outrage throughout the land. In other words, they admitted that they were the very people that Rove was talking about. Too funny.

The Dems love to attribute all sorts of devious behaviour to Rove, and I can't help but wonder if he planned this speech knowing that a few well chosen words would draw the Dems into a fight they couldn't possible win. Engaging Rove on this speech merely points out the hypocrisy of the Dems who were unanimous in excusing Durbin's outrageous speech attacking both our military and the administration last week.

There's no way the White House should back off on this. They should just sit back and let the Dems punch themselves out. Their protestations are so blatently silly following their selective outrage when it comes to the statements of Durbin and Howard the Donkey before that, they've proven that they simply cannot be taken seriously, either on matters of appropriate political conduct, or for that matter, national security.

UPDATE: Gov. George Pataki responds to Hillary's demand that he repudiate Rove (h/t HH):

"I think it is a little hypocritical of Senator Clinton to call on me to repudiate a political figure's comments when she never asked Senator Durbin to repudiate his comments. Senator Clinton might think about her propensity to allow outrageous statements from the other side that are far beyond political dialogue --insulting every Republican, comparing our soldiers to Nazis or Soviet gulag guards-- and never protesting when she serves with them."