Rove Runs for Cover
Bush’s top adviser deserts troubled ship… or does he?
by Jeff Davis
A news article in the Wall Street Journal reports “Karl Rove, President Bush’s longtime political adviser, is resigning as White House deputy chief of staff effective Aug. 31, and returning to Texas, marking a turning point for the Bush presidency. Mr. Rove’s departure removes one of the White House’s most polarizing figures, and perhaps signals the effective end of the lame duck administration’s role in shaping major domestic policy decisions, where the former Texas political consultant was a driving force. Mr. Rove revealed his plans in an interview with Paul Gigot, editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.”
It is of course pure coincidence that the Wall Street Journal was just purchased by neocon media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who also owns the official government news agency, Fox News.
The same article continues “President Bush made a formal announcement Monday morning. ‘Karl Rove is moving on down the road,’ Mr. Bush said, appearing grim-faced on the White House’s South Lawn with Mr. Rove at his side. “We’ve been friends for a long time and we’re still going to be friends… I’ll be on the road behind you here in a bit,’ he said.”
Since that comment comes from what is now a Murdoch and hence an official neocon organ, one can’t really rely on the “grim-faced” bit. I won’t regurgitate the rest of the article; it’s one of these things that tries to get 20 column inches out of one inch of fact.
So what exactly is going on here? On the surface, one would think that Rove would cling to Dubya like a drowning rat clings to a piece of driftwood, hanging on to his executive immunity for dear life in hopes of dodging all those Congressional subpoenas. So why is he (supposedly) jumping ship right now? There are a number of possibilities, all of them fascinating.
The first possibility is that Rove and Dubya have fallen out over some especially bone-headed move Bush is about to pull, like attacking Iran, and Karl has decided he wants no part of it. He’s bailing out now to avoid the blowback and blame.
The second possibility is that Karl is soon to be found guilty in something REALLY big, possibly having to do with the eight fired U. S. Attorneys, possibly something to do with Iraq, possibly even a good old fashioned Clinton-style sex-and-murder scandal and Bush is throwing him overboard to distance himself from ROVE’S blowback.
The third possibility, and I think the most likely one, is that Rove isn’t really resigning at all. He will make a big spectacular departure for Texas around Labor Day, get himself photographed by the media sunning himself around the pool in Houston, and then as the leaves begin to turn in Washington, he will silently and surreptitiously slither back to Washington and into the White House through some basement window that has been conveniently left open for him. Staff and Secret Service will occasionally glimpse him flitting along the corridors or slithering along under the carpets in the hallways, and sometimes when people enter the Oval Office, if they look up they will see Karl Rove hanging upside down on the ceiling like some monstrous bug.
His little black box will remain under Dubya’s coat and his voice will continue to whisper in Bush’s ear through the little wireless earphone, telling him what to say and do and think. Karl Rove may desire the ultimate immunity from future investigations: invisibility. By not being officially around when the Iran attack begins, he can deny all knowledge. He can also not be officially involved when another 911-style attack takes place next year, canceling the November 2008 election. Until then, Rove wants to maintain a much lower profile.