Rove hits Democrats on security

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

Karl Rove yesterday reprised one of his favorite post-September 11 campaign themes for Republicans, saying Democrats have an outdated — but not unpatriotic — view of national security.

"They've come in this primary season to adopt irresponsible words and irresponsible stands on the most important issue facing America: the security of our country and the security of our people," said President Bush"s former chief political strategist.

Republicans, by contrast, have "talked about how to keep America safe from the threats that we face both here and abroad," he told state party executive directors at the annual winter meeting of the Republican National Committee at the Capital Hilton hotel.

Mr. Rove, who is credited with devising Mr. Bush"s electoral successes, said Democratic nomination front-runners Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York are vulnerable. He offered encouragement to the Republican Party operatives by gleefully noting that many Democrats braved bad weather on Tuesday to, in effect, vote against Mrs. Clinton in the Michigan primary.

"Senator Clinton's name was on the ballot, and none of her principal opponents were," Mr. Rove said. "Fifty-five percent of the people turned out and voted for her. ... But 236,723 people turned out in the Democratic primary to vote for 'uncommitted.' Think about that. She's running against nobody, and 'nobody' gets 40 percent of the vote."

He didn't spare Mr. Obama, who on the stump regularly attacks the "politics of fear" that he says Republicans use to sway voters.

"He has voted the Democratic Party line more than 95 percent of the time," Mr. Rove said. "And nonpartisan ratings say that he has a more liberal and a more straight-party voting record than Senator Clinton does — pretty hard to do."

Democratic presidential hopefuls may squabble with one another, Mr. Rove said, but they share an aversion to cutting taxes that is matched only by their affinity for increasing taxes on married couples, small businesses, capital gains and inheritances.

"They're big-government health care advocates," he said. "Given a choice between expanding the role of government and making the government more in charge of health care decisions or doing more to put patients and doctors and families in charge, they choose the former rather than the latter."

Mr. Rove ignored his party's real problems, some Republicans thought.

"There is nothing fundamentally wrong with what Karl said except that he is missing the obvious point," said Republican author Craig Shirley. "He is complaining about Democrats' behavior like Democrats are the problem. But the problem for Republicans is not Democrats but the Republican Party's abandonment of its platform and principles."

Mr. Rove called the presidential election a YouTube campaign and said Republicans should refer to Mrs. Clinton as "Senator Clinton," because "Hillary" humanizes and personalizes her too much.