Edmund Burke described prudence as the “first of all virtues”. To Bush and Rove, though, prudence equals prejudice. They were just as much true believers in multicultural dogmas as their Democratic opponents and the press corps.
Thus, for example, Rove somehow forgets to mention his amazing 1997-2001 crusade alongside Beltway Right activist Grover Norquist to win the (ludicrously small) Arab and Muslim vote by abolishing the Clinton Administration’s use of ethnicity in profiling for airport security and also the use of “secret evidence” against terrorism suspects. According to Norquist, Rove phoned him not once but twice during the October 11, 2000 Presidential debate to point out Bush’s demands for less protection against skyjackers. Rove asked Norquist to “put the word out” among Muslims voters.
But, three days later, Al Gore agreed with Bush at a meeting with Muslim politicians. So, because it lacked partisan salience, Bush’s campaign to make sure Mohammed Atta didn’t get extra scrutiny at the airport has vanished from the American media’s memory.
There is one interesting historical tidbit in Courage and Consequence. I had long heard assertions by Islamist extremists, such as Sami al-Arian, that Bush was actually scheduled to meet with them in the White House on the afternoon of September 11, 2001 to brief them on his war on anti-terrorism. But that was so bitterly ironic that I assumed it must be an urban legend.
Remarkably, however, in his chapter on 9/11, Rove blithely confirms that it’s true (p. 266):
“Coincidentally, the president was to have met at 3:05 p.m. with American Muslim leaders after his planned return from the Florida education event. He had been scheduled to spend forty minutes, first with a small group in the Oval Office and then with a larger one in the Roosevelt Room.”
Rove’s attitude seems to be this: The Democrats didn’t criticize Bush for it, so there’s no reason not to admit it.
To Rove, this anecdote merely illustrates Bush’s “compassionate conservatism”.
Why is it that both the Democrats and the Repubicans are out to destroy the United States in the name of diversity?
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