Rove's Cheap Dig on "Liberals"

It's been commented on, so all I'll say is here's what I've sent to my representatives:

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The New York Times today reports that last night, Wednesday, June 22nd, Karl Rove spoke before the Conservative Party of New York, and criticized "liberals" saying they had "placed American troops in greater danger by criticizing their actions." Besides being offensive and despicable, this statment is yet another symptom of the problems affecting political discourse in this country today. Discussion and criticism is a necessary part of a healthy democracy, and cheap personal attacks do nothing but hinder progress. I urge anyone with a conscience to condemn inflammatory and counterproductive remarks like these.

Knocking down the "weak on defense Liberal" strawman may be an effective cheap shot to gain points before a Conservative audience, but a wholesale questioning of the patriotism of all "Liberals" is reprehensible and does nothing but deflect attention away from the serious problems our troops are facing every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bush Administration had broad bi-partisan support for it's military actions in Afghanistan, so Mr. Rove saying Liberals "wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers", (rather than go to war) is nothing more than dishonest mudslinging. The strength of our nation lies in open, honest discussion and criticism, not in personal attacks on one's critics.

In summary, Mr. Rove may have intended to gain points from his attack on "Liberals", but questioning the patriotism of an entire chunk of the population is insulting and further degrades the quality of political discussion in our country. I urge you to condemn such tactics by key political figures.

Thank you,



** UPDATE ** Painfully embarrasing typo corrected. Also, this was sent to my local paper and I was called back by an editor, and got the impression that this was going to print.