http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2014/01/rove-gates-waited-on-memoir-to-avoid-hurting-obama-181045.html?hp=r3Rove: Gates waited on memoir to avoid hurting Obama
By JOSE DELREAL |
1/12/14 10:28 AM EST
Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Sunday that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates intentionally waited to release his memoir, "Duty," which is at times highly critical of the Obama administration's handling of the war in Afghanistan, until after the 2012 presidential election.
"Some Gates insiders have told me this book was essentially ready before the 2012 election. Gates made a deliberate decision to delay his publication until well after the election so as not to have the incendiary charges intrude into the election," Rove said on "Fox News Sunday." "I think that is a statement about his character," he added.
Rove also condemned the administration’s leadership on the war in Afghanistan, accusing President Barack Obama of playing politics with the war.
"It also says something about President Obama that he, once having made this courageous decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan, did not follow through in a way that you would have anticipated and instead used their presence in the country for political purposes by bringing them home prematurely," Rove said.