Rove and the Truth at Odds

Just when you thought Karl Rove would take a little vacation from his political outrages, he's at it again. Rove has no shame when it comes to smearing opponents or plain lying.

His latest public stunt was to tell a TV interviewer that it was Congress, not the Bush administration, that wanted to rush ahead with a war resolution on Iraq before the 2002 congressional election.

Talk about revising history.

With a straight face, Rove alleged that Congress, and principally Democrats, sought a quick resolution, not Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld.

Former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic leader at the time, recalls a much different scenario: Rove "has a faulty memory, or he's not telling the truth."

On this dispute, I'll take Daschle's word over Rove's. No contest.

When Rove left the White House a few months ago in a cuddly photo op with the president, it was a mistake to think he'd stop the mudslinging for a while.

Newsweek, for some reason, hired him as a columnist along with a largely no-name liberal to show some balance.

You can never obtain balance from Rove, with his slashing, say-anything-do-anything methods. His goal of electing Bush called for vicious attacks first on fellow Republican John McCain and then on Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry.

Many years ago, a defeated Democrat who lost to a Republican in a campaign managed by Rove offered these apt words: Rove doesn't want to just beat you; he wants to destroy you.