The Washington Post puts the Karl Rove “controversy” on the front page today. That’s funny. Durbin’s remarks never made the front page (June 17, A-11; June 18 in briefs, A-5; June 19, A-6; June 22 apology, A-6). This seems like Democratic party news judgment, not an independent person’s news judgment. Durbin compared American soldiers to Soviet henchmen in the gulag, and that’s less outrageous to the Posties than saying liberals thought therapy was the answer to terror. Durbin was dead serious. Rove was in campaign red-meat humor mode. The easy answer to the Rove controversy is to simply go look at the public record. Did liberals preach “moderation and restraint” and wonder about all the ways we asked for it? Yes. You can find examples of that all over. Did many Democrats speak like flag-waving patriots in the aftermath? Yes, they did. But Rove wasn’t talking about Democrats. He was talking about liberals. It’s funny how the media thinks politicians like Hillary or John Kerry shouldn’t be painted as “liberals,” and yet watch them get very angry (as if they are under attack) when you attack liberals. Any-hoo, Rove’s saying liberals are soft on terror — um, Clinton indicted Osama bin Laden in Manhattan. That WAS his policy. Oh, that and bombing pharmaceutical factories in Sudan.

PS: Maybe the Post is mad because one of their own liberals found America’s come-uppance in the attack, and found all kinds of ironic comparions between the enemy and us. For example:

“Americans felt they had the power, and the right, to act alone, to pursue national interests regardless of the wishes of others. In that spirit…a new administration came to Washington this year determined to pursue its vision of American interests without much regard for the wishes of others, even old allies. The United States, the world’s finest monument to the rule of law, has often shied away from international arrangements that might protect our interests. At home we long ago rejected the idea that might makes right; in world affairs we’ve been much less certain. Now, ironically, we have been attacked by murderers who, through twisted logic and a blinding hatred, seem to have concluded that their might will set us right.” — Washington Post associate editor Robert Kaiser writing in the September 16, 2001 “Outlook” section.