Former Bush administration adviser Karl Rove appeared on the Charlie Rose show just before Thanksgiving for a wide-ranging interview. When the subject turned to the Iraq war, Rove offered a surprising take: That Congress took up its war resolution too soon, sooner than the Bush administration wanted, and that Congress’ timing made the resolution and thereby the war political.

This sequence begins with Rove answering whether the Bush administration has made any mistakes in the war, then flows into the section on the war resolution.

I think it’s fair to say that this is a novel argument. I’ve certainly never heard anyone blame the alleged “rush to war” (a rush that took about a year from start to finish) on Congress.