Friday, November 09, 2007

Quotes of the day: The man who wrote the book on civil, rational political discourse (he's agin it) puts "nutty" bloggers in our place: "angry kooks"

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"The Web has given angry and vitriolic people more of a voice in public discourse."

"People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog."

--standup comic Karl Rove, at yesterday's Citizen 2.0 gathering in Washington, D.C.

Today's reading has been pretty heavy going, no? We all need some comic relief, right? Amanda at ThinkProgress catches us up on the antics of the man known to the politically wise as "Mr. Civility":

Rove Decries ‘Nutty’ ‘Vitriolic’ Bloggers Who Spew ‘Bad Words’

Yesterday, ThinkProgress attended a Yahoo-sponsored Citizen 2.0 event in Washington, DC, at which Karl Rove discussed the intersection of politics and the Internet. Rove lamented the loss of civility in politics on the web, but then proceeded to use his speech as a partisan bashing of the netroots. According to Rove, bloggers are “nutty,” “vitriolic,” and “kooks.” The Washington Times reported on his remarks:

The Web has given angry and vitriolic people more of a voice in public discourse,” said Mr. Rove, who served as one of President Bush’s top strategists until he resigned this past summer, and is a noted technology nut.

People in the past who have been on the nutty fringe of political life, who were more or less voiceless, have now been given an inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox, a blog,” Mr. Rove said during a speech about politics and the Web at the Willard InterContinental, a hotel just blocks from his former place of employment.

“I’m a fan of many blogs. I visit them frequently and I learn a lot from them,” Mr. Rove said. “But there also blogs written by angry kooks.”


He also claimed that liberals use more “bad words,” comparing sites like DailyKos and Democratic Underground to Townhall and FreeRepublic. The “netroots often argue from anger rather than reason, and too often, their object is personal release, not political persuasion,” said Rove.

The Internets is not the reason hyperpartisan politics have been elevated; people like Karl Rove are. A look at some of Rove’s contributions to anger and vitriol in public discourse:

--When Bush ran against Democratic Texas governor Ann Richards in 1994, Rove was connected to a rumor that Richards was a lesbian.

--A former Rove staffer said that during the 1996 Alabama Supreme Court race, the campaign of Harold See--run by Rove--“initiated a whisper campaign” that See’s opponent “was a pedophile.”

--“Political operatives” have charged that Rove orchestrated a “widely disseminated rumor that John McCain, tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, had betrayed his country under interrogation and been rendered mentally unfit for office.”

During the Q & A session, Rove admitted that despite the coarseness of the political debate, he hopes the netroots “keep at it” because it helps Republicans. If only the blogosphere were as civil as Karl Rove.

[Note: For the links throughout Amanda's post, check out the ThinkProgress version.]
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10 Comments:

At 10:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, you should feel honored. It sure sounded like Karl was talking directly to DownWithTyranny!

The Web has given angry and vitriolic people more of a voice in public discourse,” and "The “netroots often argue from anger rather than reason, and too often, their object is personal release, not political persuasion,”

I mean honestly, isn't that amazingly like this blog?

 
At 10:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think Karl Rove is a traitor who should be hanged. Does that make me nutty, or a patriot?

 
At 11:19 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Go back under the rock you crawled out from, Karl.

 
At 11:26 AM, Blogger KenInNY said...

Well, I have to admit, if there's anyone you figure would know about "angry kooks," it's our Karl.

Ken

 
At 12:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

He's projecting.

 
At 2:33 PM, Blogger DownWithTyranny said...

me said (at 10:50), many of us feel the same way as you do about Rove but let's not call for threats of violence. The right has a ruthless way of using it against people and it isn't a road we should go down. Now, if you mean to say he should be tried in front of a jury of his peers that's something else again.

 
At 3:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's not for his politics, it's for his treason. And it's not violence. I want a trial and a conviction. It shouldn't be that difficult.

 
At 3:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

dwt, of course I'm calling for a trial. I was the one who tried to calm you down a few months ago after the suggestion of bloody revolution, remember?

I'd be perfectly happy to let the law take its course. The problem is, both law and lawmakers have been hijacked by a criminal enterprise. Extracting ourselves from this mess will be very difficult.

 
At 4:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To make it perfectly clear, I am opposed to political violence. In addition, I am convinced that it cannot improve our situation. The only thing that will help our country is if these criminals are removed from power legally. And the sooner the better.

 
At 7:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If anyone missed the terror warnings today was 11/9 like in 9/11 reversed and veterens day is this weekend. Rove can go find these conspiracies:



http://www.lankamission.org/other%20pages/News/2007/November/2007-11-09poppy.htm


http://media-newswire.com/release_1057300.html

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/strange/article_212114086.shtml

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/08/AR2007110802250.html

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071109/FRONTPAGE/711090323

http://pressmediawire.com/article.cfm?articleID=2747


http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mKnJUA-F4GY


http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page

http://blogger.sharedbook.com/?source=yadwords


The last two are just fun.

 

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