Demagogue

In a column in today's Washington Post, Dana Milbank writes about Karl Rove's appearance yesterday at the American Enterprise Institute:

... Bush has not vetoed a single bill since he became president. But Rove said that it was "39 veto threats" that had the effect of "restraining spending to the levels proposed in the president's budget."

The questioners were skeptical. NPR's Mara Liasson wondered why "so many conservatives don't seem to agree with you and are really up in arms about spending."

"They're missing the facts," Rove said.

Apparently, so is Rove.

The Wall Street Journal's Jeanne Cummings pointed out that Congress did, in fact, miss Bush's spending target despite a veto threat on the highway bill.

"You can't find any other bill where they've breached his target," Rove revised.

And even if you could find another such bill, something tells me that Rove, undaunted, would dare you to find a third example.