Karl Rove to Call It Quits at the End of August
Well, this is one heck of a way to return from vacation. I plopped down at my computer this morning and was greeted by the news that "Bush's brain" is leaving. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Karl Rove, the political guru behind George Bush's two successful presidential campaigns, is leaving Aug. 31 for "the sake of my family."
Oh, come on -- that family stuff is like a running joke, used every time someone involved in politics quits. The real reason, as Cokie Roberts said today on Morning Edition, is that Bush's political life is over and there really isn't any reason for Rove to remain as the president's political adviser. But it wasn't until Josh Bolten, White House chief of staff, told staffers that, unless they left the administration by the end of this month, they were in it until the bitter end that Rove decided to pull the plug on his 14 years with Bush.
Not to mention that the Democrats have been pretty aggressive in their efforts to have him testify in the U.S. attorney firings investigation. Rove had already been through one wrenching investigation: He was frequently mentioned during the probe into the leaked identify of then-undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. In fact, as The Associated Press notes, the lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby (who was ultimately convicted of lying and obstructing justice in the case) told the jury at his trial that "Libby was the victim of a conspiracy to protect Rove. Details of any save-Rove conspiracy were promised but never materialized."
While Rove is "spending more time with his family," he'll probably be doing something else popular among those who have stepped out of the political arena (for now anyway): writing a book.
(P.S. Many thanks to Robert Smith for manning the fort while I was in the wilds of Massachusetts.)
9:45 AM ET | 08-13-2007 | permalink
