The president has a Nixon-like "enemies list," charges GOP strategist Karl Rove. His provocation: An advertisement from the Democratic National Committee that accuses "Bush cronies" Rove and Ed Gillepsie of channeling "secret foreign money" into ads attacking Democrats, and levels similar charges at the Chamber of Commerce. The DNC ad comes after days of Democratic allegations that the Chamber and Rove's American Crossroads fund are using donations from foreign companies, including state-run oil firms, to influence the midterms elections. Who is playing dirty tricks here? (Watch The Week's Sunday Talk Show Briefing about "foreign money")
Good for Rove for calling Obama out: The DNC's "loathsome ad" is "a despicable abuse of power," says William Teach in The Pirate's Cove. Its personal attacks on Rove and others is a dissent-quashing "violation of the spirit of the First Amendment," and attacking the Chamber of Commerce is proof that the Democrats are, in fact, "anti-business." Don't think the Chamber will forget this in 2012.
"Democrats continue attacked Chamber Of Commerce"
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Don't fall for Rove's "crocodile tears": "Innuendo" about a Nixon-style enemies list from Rove, long "defined by his use of dirty tricks," carries an "obvious element of chutzpah," says Sam Stein in The Huffington Post. Maybe he secretly admires how the White House has turned this foreign-funding issue "into partisan red meat." But Rove, and the Chamber, can "clear the air" at any time by disclosing who is giving them the attack money.
"Karl Rove accuses Obama of having an 'enemies list'"
If these are dirty tricks, the GOP can relax: Asking Rove and the Chamber to prove that they are not spending foreign money is like asking Obama to show the "Birthers" that he is not foreign-born, says David Freddoso in The Washington Examiner. But the most telling part of this flap — which, let's be honest, will make "most people's eyes glaze over" — is that, weeks before disastrous midterms, the "Democrats have no better ammo than this."
"Schieffer shoots down White House smears against the Chamber of Commerce"