O’REILLY: Okay? The bottom line on it is that President Bush may have been right in a lot of the things that he said and did during the war on terror in his administration. But the Muslim world would not listen to him. They wouldn’t. They didn’t like him. 
They hated him. He was demonized. And they didn’t like him at all.
They hated him. He was demonized. And they didn’t like him at all.ROVE: No, I totally disagree with you.
O’REILLY: The Muslim world –
ROVE: Totally disagree with you.
O’REILLY: — the Muslim people. They didn’t like him.
ROVE: Well, no, no. Look, I disagree with you.
O’REILLY: Well, all the polls showed in every Muslim country that President Bush’s approval rating was 20 percent. So I mean how can you disagree?
ROVE: You know what? Who cares about whether or not they approve or like the president of the United States? The question is do they respect the policies of the United States government? And you bet they did. Because we showed strength and power and influence. I thought one commentator put it pretty good. The most powerful thing that Barack Obama has done to win the respect of the Islamic people, of the Muslim people around the world was three well-placed shots to in a negotiation with terrorists who had hijacked a U.S. boat.
ROVE: But perhaps the most important difference between conservatives and liberals can be found in the area of national security. Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. In the wake of 9/11, conservatives believed it was time to unleash the might and power of the United States military against the Taliban; in the wake of 9/11, liberals believed it was time to… submit a petition. I am not joking. Submitting a petition is precisely what Moveon.org did. It was a petition imploring the powers that be” to “use moderation and restraint in responding to the… terrorist attacks against the United States.” I don’t know about you, but moderation and restraint is not what I felt as I watched the Twin Towers crumble to the earth; a side of the Pentagon destroyed; and almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble.
Moderation and restraint is not what I felt – and moderation and restraint is not what was called for. It was a moment to summon our national will – and to brandish steel.
The thing I like about Karl Rove is that somewhere along the line, he tells the truth about what the policies of the Bush Administration really are were. Like for example:
ROVE: Well, remember, we removed, as you said, Saddam Hussein in 22 days. But then the enemy, the Al Qaeda extremists, decided to make the central battlefield in the global war on terror. This will be worth that if we win. If we win we will have dealt the enemy a huge blow in a battlefield they chose to confront us on.
And it will send a powerful message throughout the Islamic world. I think Bernard Lewis of Princeton is accurate. That the Muslim world is waiting to see who is going to win the conflict. Is it going to be the West or is it going to be Al Qaeda? And by winning, we will send a powerful message that the momentum is on our side. And it will rally the Muslim world to us. It will also create a huge influence in the Middle East. Think about the creation of the democracy in the historic center of the Middle East with the third-largest oil reserves in the world. If we have a functioning democracy in Iraq, that’s an ally in the war on terror, a counterweight to mullahs Iran and to Assad in Syria, this will create a very hopeful center of reform and energy for reform throughout the Middle East.
It’s the clearest statement of what they hoped to be doing in Iraq: Oil Reserves, Ally, Democracy, Counterweight, Center for Reform. You can almost taste it! But I like it best when Karl Rove talks tough – like a Marine, or a Biker guy. It’s when he says stuff like "three well-placed shots" or "to brandish steel" that the real depth of the Bush Administration really shines through. And I think he’s telling the truth. Like when he says,
"You know what? Who cares about whether or not they [Muslims] approve or like the president of the United States? The question is do they respect the policies of the United States government? And you bet they did. Because we showed strength and power and influence."
It’s when they do the Dirty Harry talk that the abject ignorance of the people we let run our country for eight years really comes through. I think they actually believe what they’re saying. And what an unlikely lot to talk like that – a Yale Cheerleader, a college drop-out, a Yale flunk-out… None of them had any military experience. None of them has the Dirty Harry charisma, yet when push comes to shove, they espouse a notion of world politics that went out of favor with the fall of the Monarchs and exists only in primitive places in the world. Sadly, I don’t think it goes any deeper than something like, "We need to kick some ass." They actually pulled their power play on us, you and me, and it damn sure didn’t make us respect them. They showed their "strength and power and influence" and it created an army of those of us who oppose them on a daily basis. And as for Rove’s comment, "Who cares about whether or not they [Muslims] approve or like the president of the United States? The question is do they respect the policies of the United States government?" We know the answer to his question. They don’t respect the policies of the United States government, and I don’t blame them after what we did in response to 9/11 – after what we did at Abu Ghraib.
These are not men of courage or conviction – Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, George Bush. These are the kind of men President Obama was referring to yesterday when he said,
- "The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort – a sustained effort – to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings. It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share."
Of course we needed to go after al Qaeda. We should’ve moved sooner like Richard Clarke tried to tell them. It was little different from the time of Imperialist Japan and Fascist Germany [a war that began in the week I was born]. But that’s not what these misguided men like Karl Rove are talking about. They were acting on the same simplistic notions of power actually held by our enemies in the war we celebrate winning tomorrow [DDay] — giving credence to the saying, "absolute power corrupts absolutely."
You know, I think the next Big Speech Obama needs to give is one on patriotism and courage, and explain to “turd blossom” and his ilk what real masculinity is all about. It ain’t about playing cowboy or channeling Dirty Harry, and it ain’t about talking tough on the radio.
Obama was more of a man in Cairo than any of those clowns will ever be.
I think President Obama is doing a wonderful job representing the United States. It is so novel to watch a president who makes a grown-up speech. I use to cringe when I watched President Bush make a speech when he was visitng another country. I only hope President Obama has time to extinguish the fires of hated created by some in the world who don’t care about the suffering of the masses. It looks like he is really trying and I think that most people believe he is sincere. I hope that he is well protected.