Rove quits

Karl Rove will leave the White House at the end of the month:
President Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, is to leave the White House at the end of the month, it emerged today.

"I just think it's time," he told the Wall Street Journal, which described him as "Mr Bush's political alter ego".

Mr Rove is one of the most senior - and controversial - figures in the Bush administration.

The 56-year-old was among those questioned after the identity of the CIA agent Valerie Plame was leaked to the press.

He admitted telling journalists about Plame's identity, making five appearances before a grand jury but ultimately avoiding charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Earlier this month, Mr Bush set up a possible court showdown with Democratic senators by citing executive privilege in rejecting a subpoena for Mr Rove to appear before the Senate judiciary committee in an investigation into fired federal prosecutors.

The president's opponents have sought to force Mr Rove and other aides to testify about the firing of nine US prosecutors last year.

Democrats said the firings could have been intended to influence investigations of Democratic or Republican lawmakers. Mr Bush and the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, said they were justified but mishandled. [Guardian]

Rove told the Wall Street Journal that as much as he'd like to stay on, he's got to leave for the sake of his family.

Bush plans to make a statement with Rove on the South Lawn of the White House before he leaves for his summer vacation.

Comments

[voxy]

I guess this means he can answer that subpoena now.

[The J Train]

Now for the big question: will the 2008 GOP nominee put Rove on his team?

On the one hand, they need his talents to pull out a victory. On the other, he represents exactly the aspects of Bushco that the nominee would be smart to run away from.

I'm guessing he'll get a nice wingnut welfare position from which he'll advise the campaign in secret.

[cfrost]

Wants to spend more time with the family-

The old Turdblossom wouldn't have any ulterior motives, anything up his sleeve would he?
I would think that leaving the White House must leave him a bit more vulnerable with respect to congressional inquiries. I guess the BushCo team must have devised some sort of bulletproof defense for the potato-headed genius. Either that, or he's in such deep shit that they want him overboard and as far back in the wake as possible, posthaste.

I'm sure a lot of Iraqis who have lost family and the families of dead coalition soldiers would like to have spent time with family members they'll never see again.

Bon voyage asshole.

[Autumn Harvest]

I don't think this makes him more vulnerable to a subpoena. The relevant question for executive privilege claims would be whether the past activities that you're being questioned about are covered by executive privilege, not who you happen to be currently working for. Harriet Miers left the White House a long time ago, and she's still refusing to testify.

Of course, the overly broad executive privilege claims from the White House are crap; I'm just saying that this move doesn't have any bearing on how crappy or uncrappy they are.

[mudkitty]

How can he spend more time with his son, when his son is going off to collage?

[ChrisR]

Joining the Romney campaign in 5, 4, 3, 2, ...

[voxy]

in the same vein autumn harvest: completely agreed.

Romney (as you all likely know) has already named(mentioned) jeb666 as a running mate. Scary stuff.

[herbert browne]

hmmm... Karl Rove leaving the White House, now, seems like the equivalent to Frank Gehry choosing to leave a building of his own design and take his chances outside, during an earthquake. He had a certain quaver in his voice today, in an audio clip, that was kind of touching... ^..^

[greensmile]

I don't know how to mix "gas bag" and "vacuous" in the same adjective phrase, but NewsMax has a column from a guy with his head firmly wedged in some stinky orifice extoling the "perfect timing" and obvious brilliance of Rove's move. I won't dirty your comment space with a link.

[cfrost]

He had a certain quaver in his voice today, in an audio clip, that was kind of touching...

And the Guardian's headline was:
"Close to tears, Bush's right-hand man bids farewell"

Jesus Christ. I'll give you something to cry about pal.

[shrimplate]

Rat leaves sinking ship. That story.