The Fire Karl Rove Slogan Contest.

This is not MY personal blog. I have a political blog. You are the bloggers here.

Send in your letters, soldiers. I will vet them and then publish them.

As a rule, I do not post letters from people who have not fought (just like me), but this is a sentiment I share. I have a dear friend in Iraq right now fighting for America and he is as liberal as they come. Haven't heard from him on Karl's treason flip-flopping, but this blogger just sent this to me after hearing the Randi Rhodes call:

Who is Karl Rove talking about???

``Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.''... ``[Conservatives] saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war.'' --Karl Rove

I have a lot of conservative friends. I don't know a single one that "prepared for war," unless preparing for war means watching more Fox News Channel, listening to more Rush Limbaugh, hanging a flag (maybe), and paying less taxes.

Let me tell you a story about one of my liberal friends. He is a 38 year-old U.S. Citizen of Arab descent. He has a masters degree, and works for a Defense Contractor. His months after 9/11 were spent ostracized by friends, co-workers, and assorted strangers. They shamed this American, removing him from a commercial airplane on Thanksgiving Wednesday, as he tried to make his way to Virginia to celebrate the Holiday with his family.

In 2004, he campaigned for Governor Howard Dean during the Democratic primaries. He even took time off from his job to travel out-of-State for the Dean campaign.

Today, this friend is in Iraq. He has volunteered to help the USA make reconstruction a reality, or even a possibility. As an expert Arabic translator with an advanced degree, he is that rare category of person we need desperately if we are to have any remote hope of completing the mission successfully. He left in April, with full knowledge that he would become "public enemy number 1" for the insurgents in Iraq. He is an Arab/Muslim helping the US effort ~ and that places the bull's-eye squarely on his chest.

While my conservative friends continue to "prepare for war," my liberal friend, whom I have known for half my life, serves in a real war. He has never supported this war idealogically [sic]. But he supports the USA with his body...with his life. He may very well return in one of those coffins that will never be seen on television, and he does it for Karl Rove's Country.

Karl Rove, you didn't offend me. You offended my friend. But if my friend heard your comments, he would just stiffen his lip, and go about his business. He knows, as do I, that in your America, you can't be a liberal. You can't be an Arab. And you certainly can't be a Muslim. But even being all three, my friend and I both know that you, Karl Rove, will still welcome him....to go to your Iraq.

I am going to tell her about what you all have been writing...and about the call for new letters.

Stay tuned.


Well, I got on and now the world knows. If you are a current service member or veteran, write to this site and tell us what you think about Karl Rove's flip-flopping on the issue of treason.

Scroll down to see previous letters and if you are not a service member (like me) then write some letters to the editor about what you have read here.

And if you blog, join the blogroll by clicking at the right.

Take it to him, America.

A Call for New Letters

What is Karl Rove hiding in his closet?

Time for this site to illustrate the main contrast between liberals who answer the call of duty and Karl Rove, who smears them and participates in endangering them in order to play politics. Link this site tonight. Karl Rove is running scared and Bush is protecting him. This is your moment to go on the offensive.

This is a call for new letters to this site. Tell Karl how you feel about his involvement in leaking Valerie Plame's name to the press.

Here are some important stories:

Video of today's press conference from Crooks and Liars.

Transcript from Raw Story.

Newsweek confirmed that Rove leaked Plame.

CBS reports that the White House has fallen silent.

[links courtesy of Shakespeare's Sister]

Sounds like he is trying to understand the root causes of terrorism. And he raises the possibility that they include reasons other than "hating freedom." GASP!

Folks, the Nebraska Democrats are taking the fight to Karl today. Click here to read about it and help them raise money online in response. It would be great if every time Rove showed his face in public, it would hurt the administration and party that supports him.

You see Rove's face = You give money.

Take it to him.

And keep up the chatter about the site.

[From Corked Bats]

Here we are again. After a summer of scandal and shark attacks, we find ourselves again proclaiming solidarity with innocents and innocence attacked.

The world is getting used to this. And, unfortunately, the significance of that fact could not be more chilling. New York 2001, Bali 2002, Madrid 2004, London 2005--who is next?

If it had not already been realized, does today's event not show us once and for all that the Osama bin Laden crowd has the freedom of choice and enough patience to exercise that freedom?

We are as vulnerable as ever. Given the moves we have made since 9-11 (and according to official reports), I suspect we are even more vulnerable than we were before.

For all we may wish it, terrorism is not zero sum. If it is occurring in Iraq, it can occur anywhere in the world. That we are "defeating terrorists" in Iraq says nothing of what we are doing to defeat them at home--and for all of that talk, we have 7-7-2005.

9-11,11-M,7-7...

Today, we are all Londoners.

Tomorrow will we be someone else?

From the mailbag:

I have served for 23 years through good and bad times. What is happening today inside and outside of the military is something I still cant believe. The deception perpetrated upon us by an administration consisting of born of privilege, chicken hawks, masquerading as Christians is beyond impeachable. We have lost over 1700 precious sons and daughters of this great country to a lie. Perhaps if any on these chicken hawks ever had a child who worked for a living they might be able to understand how much this hurts. This administration has funneled over 100 billion tax dollars into the coffers of corporate America in the name of this concocted "war on terrorism". Now to top it off, we who stand up to condemn this murdering traitorous administration are written off as weak, lily livered, liberals. Keep on thinking that, we may be down but we aint out, and we will never quit fighting for the country we love and believe in.

[submitted]

[Correction: This person's tour ended in June.]

From the mailbag:

Please publish my name. Unlike these phony Republicans, I have nothing to hide. My name is Edward Stengel. I live at [withheld address] in Chicago. My fomer service # is [withheld]. I was in the army from 10/19/67- 5/22/69. I am a lifelong decocrat. I did everything I could to avoid going to Vietnam. I tried to influence a member of my draft board, I tried to pay my way into the National Guard, and I even went on a starvation diet before my induction because the army had certain eight and weight standards, which they simply ignored. I spent a year and 15 days in Vietnam, involved in a war I was against at all times and never wavered my position on. Karl Rove is a draft dodging yellow bellied coward who wouldn't serve if bombs were falling on Washington, D.C., and so is AWOL George Bush, fat assed Denny Hastert, fat assed Dick Cheney, fat assed Tom Delay, and the dope dealing drug addict fat assed Rush Limbaugh. I was on college campuses in the 60's., and I know what these "patriotic" republican draft dodgers did - every time they walked by a draft card burning or war protest, they silently rejoiced, never letting anyone know the way they really felt because it would be embarrassing. They secretly hoped that these war protesters would end the war and keep their sorry butts from having to go there. They're all a bunch of John Wayne's ( America's most notorious draft dodger who used every trick to stay out of World War 11) - all talk and no action. They support wars that other people fight while they watch them on T.V.

[submitted]

From the mailbag:

Not too long ago I asked a chopper pilot who flew over the complex of villages at Song My at the height of the My Lai massacre what he saw below.

"Nazis", he replied.

"American Nazis."

So he dropped his aircraft to the ground, landing between the advancing 'Nazis' and their target, a huddled clump of old men and women, and children, babies.

He told his door gunner to cover him, and to shoot any 'Nazis' that got past him,
and jumped off the skid to confront the American Army officer in charge of the slaughter, Lt. William Calley.

You know the rest.

Today, those little conservative puppies who then saw Calley as a hero now
rule from the White House, DOD, congress and a good deal of the media. They flaunt their gestures of patriotism with the same enthusiasm they had for avoiding all but the safest military service, if even that.

Card, Wolfowitz, Cheney, Feith, Gannon, Bush, et al. Drunken cocaine party boys(Bush), gay prostitutes(Gannon), shameless hypocrites(Cheney), outright liars
(Wolfowitz, Feith); these are our Nazis.

But unlike Calley, these Nazis haven't the stomach to get their hands dirty, relying instead on a volunteer military that is in truth a mercenary force of conquest and occupation.

As much as I understand their situations and histories, I can't forgive them nor support what they are doing in Iraq, any more than I can forgive the whole Nazi
Neocon crowd that loudly demands that everyone bow down and support our troops while
making sure that they and their kids aren't one of them.

We must act.

To do less, to simply say less, is to support what is now obvious: America's war in Iraq is a Christian war of conquest. And it will soon destroy any remaining
shred of self respect we have if we don't stop it.

We are not Silent Germans.

Right?

[submitted]

From the mailbag:

I am the daughter of a Marine. Not just any Marine; [withheld name], Deceased. He was a combat veteran of WWII, Korea, covert mission(s) into [withheld], and [withheld]. I am also the cousin of two Marines and two USAF officers.

I am well read on topics such as world history, military history, strategy, philosophy, etc. I was raised to understand the difference between a fact and
an opinion; to instinctively mistrust and to investigate anything my government tells me; and to trust my own instincts and intellect in all things.

In von Clauswitz's On War, there is a chapter on what war is not, and what it should never be used for. Bush is obviously dislexic; he's done every single
thing a leader is not supposed to do.

He has sadly misused one of the premier fighting forces this planet has ever seen, and made us a laughing stock; worse, emboldened our enemies, by giving the appearance of weakness and incompetence. This is the second time in my life this has happened, and the first time I am glad my father is dead, because this would kill him.

There is a new twist, though, perhaps one the mental heath professional who posts here could address:

It doesn't seem to be 'politics as usual' but, 'the politics of greed'. I think I'm on to something here, because, unlike Bush, I have this axiom carved on my bones: Know thine enemy, so that their defeat is not only possible, but likely.

Thank you for providing this forum, where I can read so many eloquent statements by men and women in uniform, and hear the voice of my father. He may be gone, but the message lives on.

"The Bush administration has built a house of cards and the wind is blowing. And guess what? It's hurricane season!"

Sincerely,
[withheld]
Semper Fidelis

[submitted]

PDiddie has it here.

P.S. Still moving...keep an eye on this story.

From the mailbag:

My name is [withheld].
I am in the [withheld], in Iraq as I write this. Back home I am a student and a member of the ANG but I was called to service by my president and I went. That having been said I am a liberal though not a democrat and am active in the anti-war movement.

I would have to say that Mr. Rove's comments were at best lacking a historical prospective and at worst a moronic ramblings of the village idiot. Well with the hopes that we are not being lead by idiots (this is a mere hope) lets say he is just A-historic. As a history student at University I have found liberals to be in the right 100% of the time when history plays its course. I will present a number of issues and we will see that liberals where as we see things now in the right:

1. The extermination of Native Americans, liberals said this was wrong and...
2. The enslaving of Africans, liberals said this was wrong and...
3. Having social security at all, liberals said this was good and...
4. Ending segregation in the south, liberals said this was good and...
5. Ending the war in Vietnam, liberals said this was good and...


I could go on and on but needless to say we will wait and see if the terms of the liberal struggle tend to show a correctness which our children looking at the situation in Iraq may see. We were brought here for the wrong reasons and though we continue to fight many of us here feel betrayed and feel lied to, so please do not also call us cowards Mr. Rove.

[withheld]
A Soldier First!

[submitted]

I am still in the process of moving, but I have been receiving some great email and I will update tomorrow during the day.

Have a happy and safe Independence Day and please remember that we all appreciate your service to our country.

More later.

Bob Brigham has a run-down on the story at MyDD.

One of the links in there is from Lawrence O'Donnell, who claims that he has known for months that Karl Rove leaked Plame's name and that since revealing this on Friday he has had it confirmed once again by a source in the know.

I will be moving for the next couple of days. Posting will be scarce but keep sending email and keep adding yourselves to the blogroll. And, by all means, keep following Karl's antics and keep reading these letters. Stay active. If Karl leaked Plame, you will be in the headlines.

Here is the HTML button that you can add to your site:

Copy/Paste this code to create it:

<a href="http://takeittokarl.blogspot.com/2005/06/blogroll-for-those-of-you-who-support.html"><img src="http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/2452/ttftkbutton6mq.png" /></a>

Michael Moore has linked you all in the last week. You have a voice. Stay active.

I am writing an opinion piece using quotes from the post-9/11 vets and people who wrote about post-9/11 liberals and the military. I will post it when I have completed it.

Keep finding blogs and keep telling your friends about this site. The blogroll is growing. Encourage people you know who have fought in Iraq or Afghanistan to send in an email.

Keep the pressure on. If you have written a letter to the editor, send it to me in email with "LTE" in the subject line. I may post those here. If this Rove story breaks, you will be on the front lines.

The rumors are flying tonight that on the McLaughlin Group, Lawrence O'Donnell fingered Karl Rove as the one who leaked Valerie Plame's identity. If this is true and if O'Donnell's sources are correct, it would mean Karl not only insulted many Americans and troops, but betrayed them as well. Can any of you confirm that this is what O'Donnell said?

UPDATE: Uh-oh, Karl. Editor and Publisher has the O'Donnell quote:

"What we're going to go to now in the next stage, when Matt Cooper's e-mails, within Time Magazine, are handed over to the grand jury, the ultimate revelation, probably within the week of who his source is.

"And I know I'm going to get pulled into the grand jury for saying this but the source of...for Matt Cooper was Karl Rove, and that will be revealed in this document dump that Time magazine's going to do with the grand jury."

This is not ripe yet, but it may portend some interesting Rove press to come. You must stay tuned.

Click on the card:

From the mailbag:

Many “liberal” Democrats, and some of the Republicans who are now falling out of favor with the extreme right wing of their party (ie: McCain, Ridge, Hagel), are among our more distinguished and decorated veterans.

Meanwhile, some of the biggest blowhard supporters of this current war either shirked their own duty when they had the chance, or copped a cozy spot in the “rear with the gear” if they did serve. Check out the balance of “served” vs. “did not serve” between the parties on the list below, and take particular note of the alibis of some of the “Conservatives” who didn’t bother to serve - also how quickly the list of distinquished “conservative” veterans seems to peter out.

DEMOCRATS:

* Bill Clinton: Avoided draft with student deferments.

* Jimmy Carter: Annapolis graduate, seven years in Navy sub service.

* Al Gore: served in Vietnam as an enlisted army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade (after graduating Harvard).

* John Kerry: Navy 1966-70, Vietnam.

* John Edwards: did not serve.

* Daniel Inouye: Army Infantry 1943-47; Battlefield commission, Medal of Honor.

* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor.

* John Glenn: Marine pilot in WWII and Korea; many decorations in more than 150 combat missions flown (not to mention space flights, the last one in his seventies).

* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver & Bronze Stars, Purple Heart triple amputee

* Wesley Clark: U.S. Army, 1966-2000, West Point, Vietnam, Purple Heart, Silver Star. Retired 4-star general.

* George McGovern: WWII bomber pilot, many missions. Silver Star & Distinguished Flying Cross

* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars, and Soldier's Medal.

* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.

* Tom Lantos: Holocaust survivor who served in anti-Nazi Hungarian underground in WWII.

* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.

* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII, Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.

* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.

* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.

* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.

* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.

* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.

* Chuck Robb: Marine Corps officer, Vietnam

* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.

* Howell Heflin: USMC, WWII, Silver Star

* John Conyers: Army 1950-57, Korea

* Tom Daschle: 1Lt, Air Force 1969-72.

* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953

* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57

* John Dingell: WWII veteran

* even Ted Kennedy! - Army, 1951-1953.

REPUBLICANS:

* George W. Bush: Air National Guard pilot.

* George H.W. Bush: Navy pilot in WWII, 58 combat missions, shot down by Japanese, Distinguished Flying Cross.

* Ronald Reagan: Army Capt WWII, served active duty in Hollywood making training movies.

* Gerald Ford: Navy Lt. Commander, WWII

* Duke Cunningham: Navy pilot - Navy Cross, Silver Stars, Air Medals, Purple Hearts, nominated for Medal of Honor.

* John McCain: POW, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.

* Bob Dole: Army officer WWII, Purple Heart, severely wounded in combat.

* Tom Ridge: Infantry Staff Sergeant/squad leader (after graduating Harvard), Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam.

* Chuck Hagel: two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star, Vietnam.

* Donald Rumsfeld: Navy pilot / flight instructor, Pensacola 1954-57.

* Richard Lugar: Navy Intelligence officer 1957-60

* Jeff Sessions: Army Reserves, 1973-1986

* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.

* Dick Cheney: did not serve (had "other priorities", received seven deferments).

* John Ashcroft: did not serve (deferment to "teach business").

* Dennis Hastert: did not serve ("bad knees" - yet remained on his college wrestling team)

* Tom Delay: did not serve (has been quoted saying he would have gone to Vietnam but all the positions were filled with blacks and hispanics).

* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve (this US Senator from Georgia who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism had a "bad knee" – and is an avid jogger today)

* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve (on the "Today" show on October 28, 2004, blamed our troops for the missing explosives at the Al QaQaa storage facility in Iraq).

* Jack Kemp: did not serve ("knee problem" - then played in NFL for eight more years)

* Jeb Bush: did not serve.

* Karl Rove: did not serve.

* Bill Frist: did not serve.

* House Whip Roy Blunt: did not serve.

* George Pataki: did not serve.

* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.

* Rick Santorum: did not serve.

* Trent Lott: did not serve.

* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.

* Vin Weber: did not serve.

* Richard Perle: did not serve.

* Douglas Feith: did not serve.

* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.

* Richard Shelby: did not serve.

* Jon Kyl: did not serve.

* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.

* Christopher Cox: did not serve.

* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.

* Phil Gramm: did not serve.

* JC Watts: did not serve.



PARTY “UNCERTAIN"

*Zell Miller – Democratic(?)Senator from Georgia, wrote a book about his tales of guts and glory serving three years as a stateside Marine in the mid-50's AFTER the Korean War (famous quote: “Nuthin’ makes this Marine madder than hearing our troops called Occupiers instead of Liberators!!” – from his chest-pounding speech at the Republican Convention, 2004).

"CONSERVATIVE" JUDGES:

* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.

* Clarence Thomas: did not serve

Pundits and other Pathetics:

* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (disqualified "4-F" from draft for "anal (pilonidal) cyst")

* Sean Hannity: did not serve.

* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.

* Neal Boortz: did not serve.

* Michael Savage: did not serve.

* Joe Scarborough: did not serve.

* Ralph Reed: did not serve.

* George Will: did not serve.

* Chris Matthews: did not serve.

* Paul Gigot: did not serve.

* Bill Bennett: did not serve.

* Britt Hume: did not serve.

* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.

* Bill Kristol: did not serve.

* Michael Medved: did not serve.

* James Carville: Marine Corps, 1967-69 (Odd, isn’t it? Bill Clinton’s buddy and the only “liberal” in the bunch!)

DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS - I SURE HAVE !!!

NOTE: This list was assembled by someone other than the author, but the author has also assured me that he researched each name to verify the claims and made some unique additions. Send this one around.
[submitted]

Updates will occur tonight. And since the email has slowed, I will post about moving forward.