I would have thought Rove and company would have been somewhat chagrinned or embarrassed by the mess they left the country in. It continues to astound that they seem to have no sense of responsibility or remorse and continue to peddle their BS. But the larger question is, Why are they still given a forum to do so?

That's just classic Rove: keep saying outrageous falsehoods over and over again, brazenly and with total disregard for reality, until the lie takes. He's a talented liar. His entire career is based on that. So he's just doing his job here. Nothing more to see. These are not the droids you're looking for. Move along.

Once again, the use the counterfactual vision. The path not taken would have gone to utopia. But in this case, Rove is suggesting that doing nothing would have led to roughly the same results that Dems are projecting. But only one prediction will be tested.

"Rove really seems to believe this is just some routine economic downturn, and that a stimulus bill will "slow" recovery."

No, he doesn't. He's an evil f*cking liar. He KNOWS the stimulus bill will have the desired effect. He just wants it in print that a: the economy would've recovered anyway, and b: it would've happened sooner WERE IT NOT for the stimulus bill. It gives Republicans a talking point in subsequent elections: "Yeah, the economy got better, NO THANKS TO OBAMA."

Oh, and did I mention that he's an evil f*cking liar? I'd bet money, were you to peek in his calendar, Roy Cohn's birthday would be highlighted.

Bottom line, if you're reading Rove's piece in the Wall Street Journal, then you know who he is, what he's done, you know anything he writes will be masturbatory fodder for the uber-right, and you're reading it because either you're OK with it or you want to know what he's lying about THIS TIME.

If you don't know who Karl Rove is...you're probably not reading the WSJ in any of its permutations.

It's a two-fer, preahcing to the choir while metaphorically showing his oppoents photoshopped pics of their naked mothers he taped on the boys' room wall at his private prep school.

And this is the mentality to which Obama wants to engage in bipartisan politics.

Singing to the choir. I really wish this could be printed alongside Roves piece.

Rove is really trying to set the talking points up so republicans can claim the economy would have recovered without this stimulus package and at election time he will claim the economy would have already recovered if Obama and the dems hadn't interfered and slowed it down.. Rove only goes where he knows no one will call him out on his nonsense. The man is a seditious lying criminal who belongs in prison.

"It's a two-fer, preahcing to the choir while metaphorically showing his oppoents photoshopped pics of their naked mothers he taped on the boys' room wall at his private prep school."

slappy magoo wins! he should be advising Obama on all bipartisan issues.

I agree with FreeProton's comment up above. This is just Karl Rove lying. Again. Arf. Move on.

Joey - I agree. Rove is setting this up so the Republicans can claim that the economy would've recovered anyway without the stimulus - only faster without the Dems interference. He does belong in prison, along with Cheney and Bush...but I only dream.
Now this is totally off subject, but since I brought up Criminal Cheney, is there any chance we will ever know who he met with (I believe in 2001) to create his "secret" energy plan? Would the Freedom of Information Act enable us to know who sat in? Sorry, this just bugs the heck outta me!

the great news is that rove is writing for the wsj editorial page. it's a place not to be taken seriously.

Karl who?

No denying Rove is a tool, and the WSJ a toolshed.

But why is the apparent liberal consensus that the stimulus is such an unalloyed "Good Thing"?

I like the precedent of government intervention, fiscal policy when monetary policy is constrained. I like the general idea that the economy is there to serve us, not the other way around (as long as we don't kill the golden goose).

But, the stimulus, meh.... Don't really care. Debt spending for homes, renovations, and consumption were growing at unsustainable levels, and were the only things keeping the US economy from a pretty big structural adjustment and stagnant growth. Things that are unsustainable, eventually stop.

I'm for social spending for poor people, the old, the handicapped, the needy, the sick. And sure, deficit spend if we think the economy can be kick-started out of a lower growth equilibrium due to misplaced underconfidence....

But the problem this time isn't a lack of confidence(although that IS true in the credit markets)... the consumer problem is we massively overextended, and we've gotta pay the bills sometime.

Why hasn't the Seargent at Arms arrested Rove yet? Congressional subpoenas aren't optional.

Steve, Steve, Steve.

Why are you reading the editorial in WSJ? You could just have Rush on in the background and get the same crapola.

Better yet, or your health, for this year, avoid (1) Faux News; (2) editorial page of WSJ; (3) any blowhard rightwinger on talk radio.

If you need to know what the right is thinking, try George Will instead.

Here you have the "bitch" of the Republican party who has to get out of the White House and lands a job at this rag. The only thing different now is that he just writes lies. Before he would have to say them and then the WSJ would print it and make it the truth.

My suggestion is that the Onion print one of Rove's editorials backwards. Only then can it approximate accuracy.

Rove really seems to believe this is just some routine economic downturn, and that a stimulus bill will "slow" recovery.

What slappy magoo said. Rove is setting up GOP talking points for down the road when the recovery does work.

I agree with slappy and the others above. Rove is setting up talking points for the GOP for 2010. If things get better before then, the Repubs can say "Well, sure, but it would be even better if not for the stimulus bill!"

The best think we could all do now regarding Rove and company is to ignore them. Most of the country now realizes he and his boss were and still are full of sh_t.

Why hasn't the Seargent at Arms arrested Rove yet? Congressional subpoenas aren't optional.
Posted by: doubtful on February 12, 2009 at 2:53 PM

I believe they extended the deadline to something like the 20th due to some other litigation. Anyway, he's not in contempt-- yet. I am truly looking forward to him being arrested. Barring that, he'll at least have to sing.

You quote Karl Rove: "The Democratic stimulus will slow recovery, but not stop it. Recessions don't last forever and, if history is a guide, sometime late this year or early next the economy will rebound on its own. When that happens, Democrats will argue that their untargeted, permanent spending actually revived the economy."

Let's see if I've got this right. The Democratic plan is bad, but it will pass and the economy will recover anyway -- and the Democrats will get the credit. And nothing the Repubs do will make any difference.

So the Repubs are totally f#*ked. I almost feel sorry for them.