"Liberals" or "Liberals"?

In an attempt to turn Rove's hate speech into a wedge issue, many on the right, led by RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, have taken to arguing that Rove said "liberals" and not "democrats."

This is just so much semantic gamesmanship by these right-wingers. Many on the right have constantly referred to almost every elected Democrat as a "liberal." If the media ever allows a Democratic view to be voiced, it is accused of "liberal" media bias. Sheesh ... these right-wingers even have taken to refering to the likes of Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter as "liberals" when they join opinions these righties don't like.

Given the full context of the speech and the setting it was delivered, Rove's speech clearly was an attack on all liberals and Democrats who voiced criticism of Bush's foreign policy.

Regardless, are we to believe broad-brush hate speech against liberals is, in fact, okay?