Rove and Barnes Respond

In an earlier post information came to light that at least one member of Journolist, the email chat room for liberal journalists, suggested that in order to take the heat off of Obama because of the Rev. Wright story it would be appropriate to smear prominent conservatives like Karl Rove or Fred Barnes as racists.  Rove and Barnes have now responded:

Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes and former White House senior adviser Karl Rove told The Daily Caller they were disappointed that there was not more criticism from other Journolist members for Ackerman’s plan of attack.

“I’d like to hear an explanation from those who participated in the Journolist about this,” Barnes said. “Why didn’t they quit the thing when smearing other journalists to help Barack Obama was advocated? Why didn’t they denounce the idea in unison?”

Rove played down the notion that members of the mainstream press agreed with Ackerman but he said he found it curious that such talk was tolerated within the group. It was important, he added, not to judge the motives of members who chose not to respond.

“I thought it was a revealing insight in the attitude of one minor player in the D.C. world of journalism,” Rove said of Ackerman’s comments. “It’s an even more important insight into a broader group of more prominent journalists that they seem to be willing to tolerate the suggestion that they should all tell a deliberate lie or that they should take somebody’s head and shove it through a plate glass window. I would hope that somebody would say, ‘Mr. Ackerman, do you really believe we ought to fabricate a lie about people just because we don’t agree with them?’”

Barnes added that even if there was an effort on the left to smear opponents as racists, the plan wouldn’t work.

“The charge has been made so often without any evidence that it has lost its sting,” he said. “It has become the last refuge of liberal scoundrels.”

Washington Independent writer Kevin Drum, who participated in the Journolist discussion, said in an interview Monday that charges of racism should only be used “sparingly.”

“It’s not something you should do unless you’re really, really sure,” he said.

Barnes is right about the fact that a charge of racism doesn't carry much water these days. Look how badly it all worked out for the NAACP when they tried it on the Tea Party.