Karl Rove

[Edie]

Interesting how long I have hated this guy and yet I am strangely sad about this. What a failure this administration has been and how much we have been set back will be the stuff of many conversations in the future.

 

Karl Rove to leave White House

 

By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent

 

 

Karl Rove, the political mastermind behind President Bush's races for the White House and an adviser with unparalleled influence over the past 6 1/2 turbulent years, announced his resignation Monday, ending a partnership stretching back more than three decades.

 

It was a major loss for Bush as he heads into the twilight of his presidency, battered in the polls, facing a hostile Democratic Congress and waging an unpopular war. A half dozen other senior advisers have left in recent months, forcing the White House to rebuild its staff at the same time the president is running out of influence.

 

"I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit," said a rueful Bush, announcing the departure alongside Rove on the White House South Lawn. Bush leaves office Jan. 20, 2009.

 

Bush nicknamed Rove "the architect" and "boy genius" for successfully plotting two national election strategies and helping strengthen Republican majorities in Congress in 2002 and 2004.

 

Critics derisively called him "Bush's brain." During Bush's presidency, he has been one of Washington's most powerful and controversial figures.

 

The president appeared glum as he joined Rove for the announcement. "Karl Rove is moving on down the road," Bush said. "We've been friends for a long time, and we're still going to be friends. I would call Karl Rove a dear friend."

 

Rove, his voice shaking with emotion, told Bush, "I'm grateful to have been a witness to history. It has been the joy and the honor of a lifetime."

 

He said it had been more than 14 years since he helped Bush run for governor of Texas and 10 years since they began plotting the first race for the White House. Rove said it was time to "start thinking about the next chapter in our family's life."

 

After a lengthy hug from Bush and then Laura Bush, Rove joined them on the president's helicopter. Rove, his wife and their son flew with Bush on Air Force One to Texas, where the president began his August vacation.

 

Rove has been no stranger to controversy in Washington. He came under scrutiny in a criminal investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's name. He testified five times before a federal grand jury, occasionally correcting misstatements he made in his earlier testimony, but he was never charged with any crime.

 

The trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on charges of lying and obstructing justice established that Rove was one of the administration officials who leaked the name of the CIA officer, Valerie Plame.

 

In a more recent controversy, Rove refused to testify before Congress about the firing of U.S. attorneys, citing executive privilege.

 

Rove said his resignation would not stop lawmakers from investigating him.

 

"I'm Moby Dick and we've got three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the part of Captain Ahab," Rove said. "So they're going to keep coming."

 

Brainy and combative, Rove was the most polarizing aide in the White House. He urged an uncompromising, take-no-prisoners stand in political battles.

 

"Karl Rove was an architect of a political strategy that has left the country more divided, the special interests more powerful, and the American people more shut out from their government than any time in memory," Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said.

 

In a telephone interview from the plane, Rove said his departure should not be taken as a sign of decline in Bush's presidency.

 

"Look, he's a very competitive guy," Rove said of Bush. "None of us is indispensable or unreplaceable except (Bush) and Dick Cheney, and they ain't going anywhere. And he will use every lever at his command and use every power that he's got as president

[stooka]

Do ya think they are gonna have enough Fall Guys to last through the rest of the term?

[isadorah]

i'm actually scared. now he's a private citizen and can legallydelete as many emails as he wants without congress investigating where the emails went.

 

maybe he truly will go into political retirement. i hope so.

[anodyne]

he's going to fade until after the 08 elections. then who knows?

 

he's still on the hook to testify before congress. the hollywood 10 went to prison for a year on charges of "contempt of congress". that's what rove is facing sometime in the next 60 days. hope he remembered to pack his toothbrush.

[a.miller]

Do ya think they are gonna have enough Fall Guys to last through the rest of the term?

Ideally, there would be one guy that could fall and there wouldn't be any more Fall Guys.

[MrRain422]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he's on the phone with Bush every day advising him, even after he's no longer at the White House. This is purely a political move to put some distance between Rove and the White House before he's forced to testify.

[Reni]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he's on the phone with Bush every day advising him, even after he's no longer at the White House. This is purely a political move to put some distance between Rove and the White House before he's forced to testify.

 

yup.

[John Smith]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he's on the phone with Bush every day advising him, even after he's no longer at the White House. This is purely a political move to put some distance between Rove and the White House before he's forced to testify.

 

Anyone who has worked in the corporate world knows that you make more as a contractor than as an employee. They can pay him a whole lot more now. And he will be free to freelance with the speech circuit and advisind candidates individually.