Karl Rove, a former aide and strategist in the Bush/Cheney White House, has a new line of criticism against President Obama: he attends too many fundraisers during moments of crisis. Obama “makes time for [fundraising] no matter how pressing world or national affairs are,” Rove complained.
And if, at this point, you’re thinking that Rove’s old boss also made time for fundraising during moments of crisis, a habit Rove never complained about before, Simon Maloy has you covered.
On March 2, 2004, suicide bombers conducted coordinated attacks on Shiite shrines in Baghdad and Karbala that coincided with the holy day of Ashura. Nearly 200 people were killed, which made it the deadliest day in Iraq since Bush had declared major combat operations over. The next evening, Bush flew out to Los Angeles for a fundraiser, where he joked about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role in Terminator 3.Just over a week later, on March 11, 2004, terrorists exploded bombs on commuter trains in Madrid in a coordinated attack that left nearly 200 people dead and over 1,800 wounded. That morning, Bush condemned the attacks. That evening, he flew to New York for a Bush-Cheney campaign fundraiser.On October 2, 2006, eight U.S. soldiers were killed in Baghdad by small arms fire and roadside bombs. Another three soldiers had been killed in the previous two days. Bush spent the evening of October 2 in Nevada at a fundraiser for Dean Heller…. A week later, on October 9, 2006, North Korea detonated its first nuclear weapon…. The next evening he jetted off to Macon, Georgia to headline a fundraiser for Mac Collins.
Note, Rove did not remain at the White House for the entirety of Bush’s two terms, but he was a top presidential aide during each of these fundraisers. In other words, Rove was in a position to say, “Sir, you couldn’t possibly leave Washington for a campaign fundraiser during this time of crisis,” but he didn’t.
Rove only discovered his outrage later, once President Obama was in office, taking on some of the same fundraising responsibilities his predecessor did.
Arguably just as interesting, though, is how often this comes up.
As long-time readers may recall, I’ve long been fascinated by Rove’s ironic failures of self-awareness. Indeed, he’s arguably taken the practice of projecting one’s flaws onto one’s foes to a level of performance art.
Rove, for example, whose boss left his successor with high deficits, a weak economy, a divided electorate, and violence in the Middle East, has said Obama might leave his successor with high deficits, a weak economy, a divided electorate, and violence in the Middle East.
* Rove has tried to buy elections, so he accuses Democrats of trying to buy elections.
* Rove has relied on scare tactics, so he accuses Democrats of relying on scare tactics.
* Rove embraced a permanent campaign, so he accuses Democrats of embracing a “permanent campaign.”
* Rove relied on pre-packaged, organized, controlled, scripted political events, so he accuses Democrats of relying on “pre-packaged, organized, controlled, scripted” political events.
* Rove snubbed news outlets that he considered partisan, so he accuses Democrats of snubbing news outlets that they consider partisan.
* Rove had a habit of burying bad news by releasing it late on Friday afternoons, so he accuses Democrats of burying bad news by releasing it late on Friday afternoons.
He’s quite a pundit, isn’t he?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."