General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWell, 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.
///////////////////////////////////////////////
Were 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, Im 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 Colleges results, and violently attempted to overturn the election.more at link...
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. Were told that these harmless, ordinary Americans are being persecuted as political prisoners.
Lets stipulate that while the thousands who went to the Capitol a year ago were wrong to insist the election was stolen, most werent violent as they exercised their First Amendment rights to gather peacefully on the Malljust 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 moments 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 officers 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.
elleng
(130,156 posts)More, please, due to paywall.
Tx; feels significant!
dalton99a
(81,073 posts)What if Democrats claimed that Donald Trumps 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 Clintons 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. Im certain of that.
Bongo Prophet
(2,641 posts)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 leaderships petty habit of aggravating partisan fault lines by indiscriminately condemning all who came to Washington that day.
We Republicans have a heavier burden. Ive 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. Thats true patriotism.
I guess that's something coming from that old ratfucker.
elleng
(130,156 posts)'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 leaderships petty habit of aggravating partisan fault lines by indiscriminately condemning all who came to Washington that day.'
Escurumbele
(3,340 posts)"To move beyond Jan. 6, 2021, we must put country ahead of party. For Democrats, that means resisting their leaderships 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)"overwrought denunciations of ... political opponents."
Bongo Prophet
(2,641 posts)And like the fecal form of his nickname, sometimes there can be little kernals of other things mixed in.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)Escurumbele
(3,340 posts)leftstreet
(36,081 posts)Roadies for Liz, no doubt
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)country to it's knees.
Grasswire2
(13,564 posts)You win.
Definitely.
KS Toronado
(16,911 posts)Come on Karl name some names! You know who the main guy is!
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)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:
mnhtnbb
(31,319 posts)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.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)JohnSJ
(91,965 posts)Grasswire2
(13,564 posts)Emile
(21,909 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)maxrandb
(15,192 posts)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.
malaise
(267,823 posts)The cancelled press conference was the death rattle.
JohnSJ
(91,965 posts)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)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)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.
2naSalit
(86,061 posts)Helped set the stage for the whole mess.
Best_man23
(4,890 posts)"What if [in January 2017] Democrats claimed that Donald Trumps 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 Clintons 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."
Septua
(2,234 posts)I guess one has to watch a lot of Fox to see a lot of Rove but a Google provided a few instances where he was anti-Trump cult.
He made Trump's shit list and condemned MTG.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-fox-news-fire-karl-rove_n_6041c6cfc5b6429d0832553e
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/karl-rove-marjorie-taylor-greene_n_601a235cc5b668b8db3cdb28
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-embraces-cancel-culture_n_60423071e4b0a937afb5781f
progressoid
(49,827 posts)they can split into the old GOP and the new GQP.
A divided right will be a big bonus at election time.