Pop psychology dept.

Most folks who watched Karl Rove accuse liberals of wuzziness after 9/11 probably didn't make much of his stammering — unless, of course, they had raised children.

Here's what he said, reading from prepared remarks, and approximately how he said it:

Conservatives saw the savagery of 9-11 and the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the sava-savagerary of the 9-11 attacks and wanted to pre-pa-pare-pare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.*

As a mother, and for a time a nanny for a living, I want to tell you what usually happens when a child who finds himself in trouble tries to get out of it. He stammers. This is often true of adults, too, and that's my point.

Think about Rove's remarks. Some pundits have brushed them off, saying Rove was just talking to his base, but I don't think so. What he said carried a clear implication yet was carefully crafted for plausible deniability — as in, "Golly gee-whiz, he never said Democrats!" and, "He was obviously talking about people like Moveon.org!"

Moveon.org, by the way, supported the invasion of Afghanistan and against the Taliban, but truth doesn't seem to be a factor here.

Rove knew exactly what he was up to. I propose that since he was reading his remarks and is a clever, articulate fellow, there was no reason to stumble over his words, yet he surprisingly stumbled twice as he uttered the remarks. And I propose that's because he was just a tad nervous for he knew their purpose and likely effect; he uttered them in a cynical calculation to unleash a storm that would distract from the President's woes.


*To see and hear for yourself, copy and paste the following URL: http://movies.crooksandliars.com/Rove_Resign.wmv.