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Grasswire2

(13,564 posts)
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 03:10 AM Jan 2022

Well, well. Karl Rove has surfaced in WSJ w/ an article criticizing Jan 6 and followup.

[link:https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-jan-6-responsibility-anniversary-riot-storm-capitol-trump-protesters-investigation-11641417707?st=t8id9s5fo0qvapd&reflink=share_mobilewebshare|

I didn't hit a paywall there; hopefully you won't either.
///////////////////////////////////////////////


We’re in an acrimonious period of partisan tribalism and have been for some time. Both parties are guilty of overwrought denunciations of their political opponents. My criticisms are often aimed at Democrats; on the anniversary of Jan. 6, I’m addressing squarely those Republicans who for a year have excused the actions of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, disrupted Congress as it received the Electoral College’s results, and violently attempted to overturn the election.

These apologists say those who stormed the Capitol were innocent patriots, tourists visiting the seat of the national government to petition their elected representatives peacefully. We’re told that these harmless, ordinary Americans are being persecuted as political prisoners.


Let’s stipulate that while the thousands who went to the Capitol a year ago were wrong to insist the election was stolen, most weren’t violent as they exercised their First Amendment rights to gather peacefully on the Mall—just as I had seen liberals gather to protest both inaugurations of President George W. Bush.

But last year there were several thousand protesters willing to use force to disrupt Congress in its constitutional duty to receive and certify the electoral vote. Some went to Washington with that purpose in mind. Others were swept up in the moment’s savagery, led astray by stronger wills with dangerous motives.


The leaders of this group were intent on committing violence, some having planned to do so for weeks. Many wore tactical gear. Some came armed with chemical agents, flagpoles, batons and sticks. They broke through barricades and assaulted approximately 140 police officers, in some cases with an officer’s own shield or gear. They smashed doors and windows, illegally entered the Capitol, ransacked offices and searched for leaders of Congress, and made dire threats about what would happen if they found them.

more at link...
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Well, well. Karl Rove has surfaced in WSJ w/ an article criticizing Jan 6 and followup. (Original Post) Grasswire2 Jan 2022 OP
WOW! elleng Jan 2022 #1
Kick dalton99a Jan 2022 #2
Some more from source Bongo Prophet Jan 2022 #3
Thanks. elleng Jan 2022 #5
This paragraph makes no sense after all else he writes about Escurumbele Jan 2022 #9
It seems like... hmm, what's an appropriate phrase? Oh, yeah, there it is in his opener: JHB Jan 2022 #22
+1 2naSalit Jan 2022 #23
Of course he got his dig in. He is, at heart, a piece o'shit. Bongo Prophet Jan 2022 #27
The Turd Blossum speaks.a bit of truth CentralMass Jan 2022 #4
He who should have paid some time in jail, along with many more of the GW "administration" Escurumbele Jan 2022 #10
Sounds like they're getting the band back together leftstreet Jan 2022 #6
Ya, back to the good old days of lying us into war, torture, robbing the coffers and bringing the CentralMass Jan 2022 #7
bingo, bingo, bingo Grasswire2 Jan 2022 #29
Wonder who Rove considers "The leaders of this group" KS Toronado Jan 2022 #8
Most succinct analysis of 1-6 I have seen from anyone! Laura PourMeADrink Jan 2022 #11
The Bush folks are supporting Liz Cheney mnhtnbb Jan 2022 #12
Compared to the murderous lunatic, will take it! Laura PourMeADrink Jan 2022 #14
Same here, because it could be so much worse JohnSJ Jan 2022 #19
As much as I hate Karl Rove, letting him slay the dragons would be useful. nt Grasswire2 Jan 2022 #30
I found it hard to read past the Both parties are guilty quote! Emile Jan 2022 #13
Keep on reading! Laura PourMeADrink Jan 2022 #15
Dear Karl, what the Retrumplican Party has "stood for, for decades" maxrandb Jan 2022 #16
+1 Emile Jan 2022 #17
Rove knows the Slobfather is history malaise Jan 2022 #18
I don't think so malaise. Just look at Kevin McCarthy. As for that cancelled press conference, JohnSJ Jan 2022 #20
Agreed... Ohio Joe Jan 2022 #28
This is a good op-ed, but stops short of the obvious Johnny2X2X Jan 2022 #21
Interesting coming from someone who... 2naSalit Jan 2022 #24
Here's a piece of this article to use against those continuing to deny 1/6 Facts Best_man23 Jan 2022 #25
"Karl Rove has surfaced..." Septua Jan 2022 #26
I hope more come out so progressoid Jan 2022 #31

dalton99a

(81,073 posts)
2. Kick
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 03:24 AM
Jan 2022
So, on this anniversary, here’s a simple thought experiment: What if the other side had done it? What if in early January 2017, Democrats similarly attired and armed had stormed the Capitol and attempted to keep Congress from receiving the Electoral College results for the 2016 presidential election?

What if Democrats claimed that Donald Trump’s razor-thin victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin resulted from extensive voter fraud and should be rejected, despite having failed to establish in a single court that extensive fraud had actually occurred?

What if some of these Democrats breached the Capitol defenses and threatened violence against the Republican speaker, Paul Ryan, and Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell ?

What if they insisted that in his role as Senate president then-Vice President Joe Biden had sole authority to seat Hillary Clinton’s electors from any contested states and thereby hand her the presidency?

If this happened, would some of my fellow Republicans have accepted it as merely a protest? Would they have called patriots those charged with violent acts against our country, its laws and Constitution? Would they have accepted such extralegal means to change the outcome of a presidential election?

No they would not. I’m certain of that.

Bongo Prophet

(2,641 posts)
3. Some more from source
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 03:28 AM
Jan 2022

The next few paragraphs ask Repubs to do a thought experiment if the shoe was on the other partisan foot, then the closing paras...


If Democrats had done what some Trump supporters did on that violent Jan. 6, Republicans would have criticized them mercilessly and been right to do so. Republicans would have torched any high official who encouraged violence or stood mute while it was waged and been right to do so. Republicans would have demanded an investigation to find who was responsible for the violence and been right to do so.

To move beyond Jan. 6, 2021, we must put country ahead of party. For Democrats, that means resisting their leadership’s petty habit of aggravating partisan fault lines by indiscriminately condemning all who came to Washington that day.

We Republicans have a heavier burden. I’ve been a Republican my entire life, and believe in what the Republican Party, at its best, has represented for decades. There can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy. Love of country demands nothing less. That’s true patriotism.



I guess that's something coming from that old ratfucker.

elleng

(130,156 posts)
5. Thanks.
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 03:33 AM
Jan 2022

'Something,' indeed: 'There can be no soft-pedaling what happened and no absolution for those who planned, encouraged and aided the attempt to overthrow our democracy.'

Not so much: 'For Democrats, that means resisting their leadership’s petty habit of aggravating partisan fault lines by indiscriminately condemning all who came to Washington that day.'

Escurumbele

(3,340 posts)
9. This paragraph makes no sense after all else he writes about
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 06:03 AM
Jan 2022

"To move beyond Jan. 6, 2021, we must put country ahead of party. For Democrats, that means resisting their leadership’s petty habit of aggravating partisan fault lines by indiscriminately condemning all who came to Washington that day."

"by indiscriminately condemning all who came to Washington that day." Where does he come up with that? Is this a "move forward" kind of crap?

There is no "indiscriminately condemning...", Democrats are trying to find ALL who participated, and none of them should be allowed to get away with murder, that includes the planners because by the rule of law they may have not have killed with their own hands, but the fact they planned a violent act which they knew could result in deaths, that also makes them guilty of murder...remember Charles Manson, he got life in jail for being the mastermind of the crimes, that rule applies to trump and many republicans involved in the planning.

JHB

(37,132 posts)
22. It seems like... hmm, what's an appropriate phrase? Oh, yeah, there it is in his opener:
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 08:57 AM
Jan 2022

"overwrought denunciations of ... political opponents."

Bongo Prophet

(2,641 posts)
27. Of course he got his dig in. He is, at heart, a piece o'shit.
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 12:54 PM
Jan 2022

And like the fecal form of his nickname, sometimes there can be little kernals of other things mixed in.

CentralMass

(15,265 posts)
7. Ya, back to the good old days of lying us into war, torture, robbing the coffers and bringing the
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 03:44 AM
Jan 2022

country to it's knees.

KS Toronado

(16,911 posts)
8. Wonder who Rove considers "The leaders of this group"
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 03:46 AM
Jan 2022

Come on Karl name some names! You know who the main guy is!

 

Laura PourMeADrink

(42,770 posts)
11. Most succinct analysis of 1-6 I have seen from anyone!
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 06:26 AM
Jan 2022

Thank you WSJ for putting this outside paywall!!

Who in a million years would have thought it would have come from the most unlikely person ever.

And after rereading, don't think he was excluding any ptb on top - the bolded line has trump's name written all over it:

Republicans would have torched any high official who encouraged violence or stood mute while it was waged and been right to do so.

mnhtnbb

(31,319 posts)
12. The Bush folks are supporting Liz Cheney
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 06:51 AM
Jan 2022

No surprise. They had their own agenda which was spoiled when the orange one took the nomination away from Jeb.

This gives them a toe hold in trying to resurrect the Bush/Cheney side of the Republican party. I wouldn't be surprised to see Liz be the party nominee in 2024. And just like that all the moderate Republicans of old from Nicolle Wallace to The Lincoln Project will be back in the fold again.

maxrandb

(15,192 posts)
16. Dear Karl, what the Retrumplican Party has "stood for, for decades"
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 07:59 AM
Jan 2022

Is precisely what you saw on January 6.

Go fuck yourself sideways with a First Edition, Hard Cover copy of Atlas Shrugged, you worthless piece of amphibian shit.

JohnSJ

(91,965 posts)
20. I don't think so malaise. Just look at Kevin McCarthy. As for that cancelled press conference,
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 08:28 AM
Jan 2022

I suspect he got a lot of pressure not to because he might jeopardize himself legally with the Jan 6th committee, and the DOJ which seems to be closing in

Ohio Joe

(21,656 posts)
28. Agreed...
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 01:00 PM
Jan 2022

He has hopes of salvaging something of the repug party... He wants to try and convince other repugs not to go down with the sinking ship.

Johnny2X2X

(18,745 posts)
21. This is a good op-ed, but stops short of the obvious
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 08:54 AM
Jan 2022

This was not an unorganized mob simply encouraged by Republican Leaders, it was a planned assault and Republican leaders led the planning of the violence. Trump and several other prominent Republicans wanted blood shed and they got it, their only regret is the mob didn't kill our elected leaders.

Best_man23

(4,890 posts)
25. Here's a piece of this article to use against those continuing to deny 1/6 Facts
Thu Jan 6, 2022, 09:39 AM
Jan 2022

"What if [in January 2017] Democrats claimed that Donald Trump’s razor-thin victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin resulted from extensive voter fraud and should be rejected, despite having failed to establish in a single court that extensive fraud had actually occurred?

What if some of these Democrats breached the Capitol defenses and threatened violence against the Republican speaker, Paul Ryan, and Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell ? What if they insisted that in his role as Senate president then-Vice President Joe Biden had sole authority to seat Hillary Clinton’s electors from any contested states and thereby hand her the presidency?

If this [had] happened, would some of my fellow Republicans have accepted it as merely a protest? Would they have called patriots those charged with violent acts against our country, its laws and Constitution? Would they have accepted such extralegal means to change the outcome of a presidential election?

No they would not."

progressoid

(49,827 posts)
31. I hope more come out so
Fri Jan 7, 2022, 01:57 AM
Jan 2022

they can split into the old GOP and the new GQP.

A divided right will be a big bonus at election time.

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