Karl Rove poisons the discourse again, by proxy:

A Republican congressman from North Carolina told CNN on Wednesday that the "evidence is clear" that Iraq was involved in the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001.

"Saddam Hussein and people like him were very much involved in 9/11," Rep. Robin Hayes said.

Told no investigation had ever found evidence to link Saddam and 9/11, Hayes responded, "I'm sorry, but you must have looked in the wrong places."

Hayes, the vice chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism, said legislators have access to evidence others do not....

Rove needed a body to tell this lie, as a follow-on to last night's speech. I guess this guy either volunteered or was assigned the task. This wasn't spontaneous.

When the dust settled after 9/11, Karl Rove did what he does best: He found a way to milk the situation for political advantage. He improvised the plan to make Bush look like a noble war president -- and it pulled the wool over most Americans' eyes until early this year. Now Rove seems to have stopped improvising -- he's just running plays from the same playbook, hardly even bothering to update them. He's a vile and loathsome human being -- but I wonder if he's any good at the loathsome things he does anymore.

(Link via Memeorandum.)