Last night on Fox News, host Alan Colmes confronted former White House aide Karl Rove for attacking Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) as a “big blowhard doofus.”
Rove said he thought he was in an “off-the-record setting” but admitted to calling Biden a doofus because “he’s overrated.” However, Rove then backtracked and said he criticized Biden only because of his Iraq plan (the original report of the attack makes no mention of Rove talking about Biden’s Iraq plan). Rove then apologized — not for calling Biden a “doofus” — but for “disagreeing with his plan.” “Hey don’t take his bait, I’ll say it, I think you were right,” protested co-host Sean Hannity.
Rove later said “we’re winning the war” in Iraq, but when Colmes asked, “How many years after ‘Mission Accomplished?’” Rove repeated the canard that the banner was meant for the aircraft carrier, not the war:
ROVE: The “Mission Accomplished” banner, as you know was to compliment the USS Abraham Lincoln for having served the longest sustained tour of duty by any U.S. aircraft carrier.
Watch it:
Last night on a campaign flight, a reporter asked Biden to respond to Rove’s initial attack. “You can call me anything you want,” Biden said. “I learned a long time ago you can call me anything you want.”
“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble resuming the campaign” after Hurricane Gustav, Biden said, referring to the fact that politics were supposed to be suspended during the crisis. “I guess Karl did it already. I guess he didn’t get the memo.”