Karl Rove: Obama Keeping "Enemies List"
During a Sunday appearance on Fox News, Republican strategist Karl Rove fired back at recent accusations that he has "funded" conservative groups responsible for pouring money into nationwide conservative causes, and disputed the validity of statements made by President Obama and the Democratic National Committee.
"The president is completely inaccurate," Rove said during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," of Mr. Obama's recent statements that Rove had "funded and advised" conservative groups American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS.
"He says I funded it. I wished I had the billions of dollars that George Soros has that he has used to fund Democrats in the past. I'm helping both of these groups by raising money for them as is allowed under the laws of the United States," Rove said on Sunday.
Rove went on to slam a recent Democratic ad criticizing his past political contributions, and accused Mr. Obama for having an "enemies list."
"This is a desperate political ploy by the White House," Rove said. "The president of the United States accused the Chamber of Commerce, and the Democratic National Committee in its new ad accuses Ed Gillespie and I of a criminal violation of our law by getting foreign money and spending it on American political campaigns, and they have not one shred of evidence to back up that baseless lie. This is a desperate and I think disturbing trend by the president of the United States to tar his political adversaries with some kind of enemies list, with being unrestrained by any facts or evidence whatsoever."
Over the weekend, the Democratic National Committee released a new ad attacking Rove and former RNC head Ed Gillespie for "spending millions from secret donors to elect Republicans to do their bidding in Congress," and otherwise "stealing our democracy."
Mr. Obama has recently condemned the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for alleged ties to foreign donors, and the White House refuses to back down despite the Chamber's adamant denialof the validity of those claims.
"The American people deserve to know who is trying to sway their elections," Mr. Obama said at a recent Philadelphia campaign rally, according to the Washington Post. "It could be the oil industry. It could even be foreign-owned corporations. You don't know because they don't have to disclose."
"If the chamber opens up its books and says, 'Here's where our political money's coming from,' then we'll know," said top Obama adviser David Axelrod on CBS's "Face the Nation" this week. "But until they do that, all we have is their assertion."
On Fox, however, Rove claimed it was Democrats who could not back up their assertions.
"Have these people no shame?" Rove asked during his interview. "Does the president of the United States have such little regard for the office he holds that he goes out there and makes these kind of baseless charges against his political enemies? This is just beyond the pale. How dare the president do this?"
This is not the first time Rove has accused the White House of having a so-called "enemies list": Just a year ago, during an October 18, 2009 appearance on Fox News Sunday, the GOP strategist accused the Obama administration of "engaging in its own version of [Nixon's] media enemies list."
Watch the full clip of David Axelrod on "Face the Nation":
See the full DNC ad attacking Rove, Gillespie and the Chamber of Commerce:
