The Republican attacks on Barack Obama just keep coming. Speaking at a National Rifle Association convention today in Kentucky, Karl Rove laid into Obama for what he called the candidate's "dismissive" opinion of gun rights and owners. Rove referred over and over again to Obama's now infamous comment about guns and faith. Addressing the audience, Rove said, "You know in the age of Barack Obama I don't know exactly what to call you, because after all, as he said, because we're bitter and economically anxious, we 'cling to our guns and we cling to our faith.' Does that make us clingers or cling-ons?"
Actually, you might wonder if it makes Rove anything at all -- several sources, including Christopher Hitchens and "Bush's Brain" author Wayne Slater, have said that Rove does not believe in god.
Then, as if to make sure he didn't miss a single talking point, Rove described Obama as an intellectual, elitist liberal. "We believe in the wisdom of the founders even more than the wisdom of a liberal senator from the south side of Chicago," Rove said.
As The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder points out, Rove also used Obama's anticipated counterattack against the candidate. Rove said of Obama, "We know what he's going to say -- it's divisive, distractive, keeps us from coming together. After all, he says, we are the change we have been waiting for. What the heck does that mean?"
In the conclusion to his speech, Rove urged voters to "do all you can to shape the outcome of this election to stand for our values and against those who would belittle them."
Shares