Daschle Rebuts Rove: He’s A ‘Joke’ Who Is ‘Trying To Sell Some Books’

On the Bill Press Show this morning, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) dismissed Karl Rove’s false claim that Democrats in Congress — not the Bush administration — forced a war vote prior to the 2002 midterm elections. Daschle called Rove’s “outrageous statements” a “joke” and a clear effort to “sell some books”:

Well, I was called last week a couple of times and I literally thought it was a joke. I thought somebody was trying to pull my leg. I can’t believe that anybody would make such an outrageous statement and I was interested in that several of the former Bush high level people have now disputed it as well. But, he’s saying it and I guess he’s trying to sell some books.

Daschle also reiterated the fact that he had “directly” asked President Bush to delay the vote on the war in September 2002:

I reminded the President that his father waited until after the election for the 1991 war. It was a wise thing to do and allowed him to build consensus around the world and de-politicize it here at home. I turned to him and said that he ought to do the same thing. I wish you’d consider that. He looked at the Vice President. They smirked a little bit and then looked at me and said. “Can’t do that.”

Listen to it:

Despite the fact that he has been contradicted by three members of the Bush administration who were involved in pre-war planning, Rove continues to push his “far-fetched” and “not-credible” story.

On Fox News Sunday yesterday, Rove cherry-picked old quotes by Daschle that he claimed as proof that Daschle wanted the pre-election vote as much as Bush did. But as Think Progress noted and Daschle reiterated today, the former Senate Majority Leader repeatedly sought to delay the vote.

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