always thinking about the Family.

COMMENTARY

'The Mark of Rove'
By PAUL A. GIGOT
August 13, 2007; Page A15

WSJ Online

Washington

These are the days of Republican doubt, with President Bush fighting an unpopular war, Congress in opposition hands, and a 2008 presidential field trailing Democrats in nearly every poll. But don't tell that to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's political alter ego, who even as he prepares to resign from the White House after six and a half years sees recovery ahead.

Sitting in the book-lined living room of his townhome on Saturday afternoon, a relaxed, cheerful and typically rambunctious Mr. Rove hands over two sheets of paper on which he has tapped out a pair of outlines. One says "Up to Now," and summarizes what he thinks are the achievements to date of the Bush presidency. The second, "Months Ahead," lays out an agenda for the next year and a half.

"He will move back up in the polls," says Mr. Rove, who interrupts my reference to Mr. Bush's 30% approval rating by saying it's heading close to "40%," and "higher than Congress."

Looking ahead, he adds, "Iraq will be in a better place" as the surge continues. Come the autumn, too, "we'll see in the battle over FISA" -- the wiretapping of foreign terrorists -- "a fissure in the Democratic Party." Also in the fall, "the budget fight will have been fought to our advantage," helping the GOP restore, through a series of presidential vetoes, its brand name on spending restraint and taxes.

As for the Democrats, "They are likely to nominate a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate" by the name of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Holding the White House for a third term is always difficult given the pent-up desire for change, he says, but "I think we've got a very good chance to do so."

If that quinella pays off, however, Mr. Rove will have to savor it from somewhere other than his West Wing office. He's resigning effective Aug. 31 -- 14 years after he began working with Mr. Bush on his campaign for Texas governor, 10 years after they began planning a White House run, and after 79 months in the political cockpit of a tumultuous presidency.

"I just think it's time," he says, adding that he first floated the idea of leaving to Mr. Bush a year ago. His friends confirm he had been talking about it with others even earlier. But Democrats took Congress, and he didn't want to depart on that sour note. He then thought he'd leave after the State of the Union, but the Iraq and immigration fights beckoned. Finally, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten told senior White House aides that if they stayed past a certain point, they were obliged to remain to Jan. 20, 2009.

"There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family," Mr. Rove says. His son attends college in San Antonio, and he and his wife, Darby, plan to spend much of their time at their home in nearby Ingram, in the Texas Hill Country.

Mr. Rove doesn't say, though others do, that this timing also allows him to leave on his own terms. He has survived a probe by a remorseless special counsel, and lately a subpoena barrage from Democrats for whom he is the great white whale. He shows notable forbearance in declining to comment on prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who dragged him through five grand jury appearances. He won't even disclose his legal bills, except to quip that "every one has been paid" and that "it was worth every penny."

What about those who say he's leaving to avoid Congressional scrutiny? "I know they'll say that," he says, "But I'm not going to stay or leave based on whether it pleases the mob." He also knows he'll continue to be a target, even from afar, since belief in his influence over every Administration decision has become, well, faith-based.

"I'm a myth. There's the Mark of Rove," he says, with a bemused air. "I read about some of the things I'm supposed to have done, and I have to try not to laugh." He says the real target is Mr. Bush, whom many Democrats have never accepted as a legitimate president and "never will."

CONTINUED AT WSJ Online

designed to cover up. Alternatively what is Rove now freed up to do(besides writing a book) that he couldn't before. I realize I've turned into a mean,paranoid person, but those are the first two questions that come to mind.

_{"George Washington did not cross the Delaware for Capitalism," Shmuley Boteach}

Rove promoted the Monday Night Football mindset, he's 100% party line; perhaps he's moving into position where he can help the party keep control for a 3rd term. He's shown brilliance in sub rosa smear campaigns; his strategies worked well more than once. Distraction? To the average American, Rove doesn't matter, but he also may be making some sort of move that will put him beyond the apparently insignificant arm of Congress.

Any move made by this man is reason to at least pay attention.

Karl Rove turned a former alcoholic into a two-time election winner, but he is now considered damaged goods by his own party, writes Julian Borger

Guardian Unlimited, By Julian Borger, August 13

It is an over-used phrase, but today really does mark the end of an era in American political history. Karl Rove, who has announced his retirement, has been the country's most influential electoral strategist for over a century.

He transformed George Bush from a recovering alcoholic and the black sheep of a staid political dynasty into the disciplined, populist standard-bearer of an aggressive, new American conservatism. In the process, he helped reduce the Democratic party to a self-doubting mess, a state from which it has only just begun to recover.

The man the president calls "The Architect" gave an upbeat account of his reasons for leaving to a sympathetic columnist on the Wall Street Journal. It was "just time" he said, and explained it was "for the sake of my family". [Not to mention to beat a Labor Day deadline imposed by Josh Bolten] He insisted that the president's miserable popularity ratings would rebound, as would the situation in Iraq.

Few in the Republican party would agree with that assessment. Almost all of its 2008 presidential contenders are trying to distance themselves from the president and the conduct of the Iraq war. Mr Rove's vision of a "natural" Republican majority that would endure for decades, also looks like hubris in the wake of the Democratic victory in 2006.

[...]

Mr Rove is now considered damaged goods by his own party, but redemption is very much part of the American political process, and it would not be entirely surprising if he bounced back. After all, this was a man who ran against the Clinton economic miracle and got a political novice elected president, and then got him re-elected despite the Iraq war. He may not have transformed American politics, but he clearly knows a thing or two about elections.

===

Rove comments [Guardian Unlimited: Karl Rove quits White House] on the legacy of the Bush years:

He said he believed Mr Bush would leave behind two lasting pillars of future foreign policy - that harbouring a terrorist makes a nation as guilty as the terrorist, and the act of pre-emption.

===

The BBC also has some quotes of Rove, "Karl Rove in his own words":

This one is the best:

As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.

Raw Story - MSNBC host Chris Matthews predicted Congressional Democrats will "have a better chance" of compelling Karl Rove to testify on his role in the firing of nine US Attorneys now that he is resigning from the White House.

"You have to wonder about his exposure now because he's used executive privilege to protect himself from Pat Leahy on the Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Henry Waxman, both hot to trot to get him in a witness chair," Matthews said on NBC's Today Show Monday after news broke that Rove was resigning as the president's top political adviser. "He's exposed now, it seems to me on the leak case. In terms of the eight US Attorneys who were fired, I think he's also exposed there not having the White House position any more."

NBC White House correspondent David Gregory, filling in as a Today Show co-host, asked Matthews whether Democrats would have a better chance of getting Rove to comply with subpoenas demanding his testimony.

"You gotta bet they're gonna try," Matthews said. "And you gotta bet they're gonna have a better chance now with the courts."

A Judiciary Committee spokeswoman told RAW STORY that Leahy, the committee's chairman, would address Rove's resignation later Monday.

Matthews said Rove has long been a target of Democrats, who believe he is behind numerous scandals in recent years.

"This guy is the democrats' Moby Dick. ... They believe he got a guy elected to the presidency who didn't have the brains to get there on his own," Matthews said.

The following video is from NBC's Today Show, broadcast on August 13.

Flash vid at link

While listening to CNN, one point was stressed - Rove will still be protected by Executive Privilege. Bush has done that for Harriet Miers, so it's pretty certain he will throw a protective cloak over Rove. Leahy may find a way around that, but????

The Associated Press
08.13.07, 12:08 PM ET

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 Barack Obama.

We worked together so we could be in a position to serve this country. And so I thank my friend. I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit. - President Bush.

Mr. Rove's apparent attempts to manipulate elections and push out prosecutors citing bogus claims of voter fraud shows corruption of federal law enforcement for partisan political purposes, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation into this serious issue. The list of senior White House and Justice Department officials who have resigned during the course of these congressional investigations continues to grow ... There is a cloud over this White House, and a gathering storm. - Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Senate Judiciary Committee chairman.

Karl Rove has made an enormous contribution to our country and our party. - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Karl Rove's resignation signals the final chapter in the Bush administration's betrayal of the identity of a covert CIA officer. When this breach of national security occurred, the president promised the American people that anybody in his administration responsible for the leak would be removed. Rove, identified by the prosecutors as one of the leakers, not only was not summarily dismissed, but has been allowed to leave on his own terms, to praise from the president. - Former Ambassdor Joseph Wilson, whose wife, Valerie Plame, was the CIA officer whose name was disclosed by Rove and others.

He is brilliant, he is funny and he is a passionate advocate for the president and his policies and I know that he will continue to play that role outside of the administration ... He was always upbeat. I don't recall ever seeing him down. - Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes.

It's a tragedy that an administration that promised to unite Americans has instead left us more divided than ever before. Without doubt the architect of that political strategy was Karl Rove, who proved the politics of division may win some elections but cannot govern America. - Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

I love how most of the bush administration are content to leave our country broken.

Trust me.

Oh we need to let all the Joe Sixpacks and their NASCAR loving Republican voting Christian go'n families have a shot at buying a home! So lets make the money and loans available and while were at it we make the economy stronger. And after a while: oh dear the economy really needs this home building to continue so lets make even more money available. And after a longer while: oh dear oh dear if they ever stop building new homes the economy is going to be in a world of hurt because its so over dependent on construction and we promised Wall Street that we would throw money at'm even if things go bad so let's keep making cheap money available because its "the economy stupid" and we have these elections to win and even later oh Mr. Greenspan isn't up to this any more so lets replace him with some brown noser named Bernanke; he'll keep it going. Ah geez this credit thing is just bull keep it going Bernanke... and on and on until someone or some entity who is really rich and powerful looses some money; then after all the other things that have happened Rove is gone.

since Junior's polyps were removed last month, and the actual source of his higher cerebral cortical functions was discovered during routine tissue pathology.

campaign manager.

I did inhale.

4 August 2007 07:47

Bush's brain goes missing as Karl Rove retires

To Republicans, he is a brilliant strategist who kept their man in power. To Democrats, he is a ruthless manipulator whose machinations banished them to the sidelines. Now Karl Rove is retiring.

By Leonard Doyle
Published: 14 August 2007

"Karl Rove RESIGNS!!! Karl Rove Resigns - Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead [breaking news - no irony] Short and Sweet: Rove resigns!"

The bloggers were at it early yesterday morning, as the online bush telegraph breathlessly passed on the news that the man the Democrats love to hate, the tousle-haired and bespectacled Andy Warhol lookalike, Karl Rove, had announced his departure from the Bush White House.

For the past seven years, Karl Christian Rove, who holds the titles of deputy chief of staff and senior adviser, has been the unseen hand of American politics, the invisible mender of the Republican Party and the Rasputin of the White House all rolled into one. He steered George Bush to victory after victory. Using every weapon that came to hand, he helped engineer Mr Bush's re-election, before coming to grief in last year's midterm elections when the increasingly unpopular Republicans lost their grip on Congress.

The man known as "Bush's Brain" has been talking about leaving for the past year, and the spin yesterday morning was that he was quitting to spend more time with his family, especially his wife Darby and his 17-year-old son. Soon he will be packing up his beloved books from his elegant three-storey brick home and heading back to Texas.

"If he wanted to spend time with his family," one blogger asked, "he surely would have done it before his son went to college". Mr Rove, who is 56, narrowly escaped being indicted in the CIA leak case and he has been under intense scrutiny for his behind-the-scenes role in sacking US attorneys who were considered politically suspect.

He ignored a congressional subpoena, citing executive privilege. Two weeks ago, he defied Congress again by refusing to attend a hearing into the White House's use of the email accounts of the Republican National Committee to avoid the scrutiny.

In the White House, the belief is the increasingly pointed congressional investigations have been aimed at forcing out Mr Rove.

He now says he is finished with political consulting and intends to write a book about the Bush presidency. Yesterday morning, he wore a green tie as he appeared on the White House lawn with President Bush for an emotional farewell.

"We've been friends for a long time, and we're still going to be friends," Mr Bush said with Mr Rove by his side. "I would call Karl Rove a dear friend. We've known each other as youngsters interested in serving our state.

"We worked together so we could be in a position to serve this country. And so I thank my friend. I'll be on the road behind you here in a little bit."

Mr Rove's voice and face betrayed emotion as he then offered his farewell. "I'm grateful to have been a witness to history," he said. "It has been the joy and the honour of a lifetime." Choking up at times, Mr Rove recalled his 14 year association with Mr Bush. He was proud he said, of the way Mr Bush had brought America to a war footing, strengthened the economy and reformed public life.

Those are not attributes that currently fill Americans with pride and, with the ongoing disaster of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the financial markets in meltdown, many will have difficulty recognising the successes being pointed to.

When he leaves the White House, Mr Rove said, he will become one of those "ordinary Americans who tell you they are praying for you." The two men then hugged for the cameras before boarding the Marine One helicopter together. They then flew off to Andrews Air Force Base, to join their families for a flight on Air Force One back to Texas for a summer holiday.

Mr Rove's forte has been his ability to create a new political reality in the minds of voters. As he and his hobbled master headed out of town, there was a palpable feeling that the curtain had been finally been pulled back on the Wizard of Oz.

When the Vanity Fair journalist Todd Purdum, recently asked Mr Rove if he thought George Bush would be better off if he had done more to emphasise the gruelling realities that the Iraq war would entail. "I think he has, frankly," Mr Rove said "Go take a look at every one of those speeches," he said, invoking Churchill, "and there's an optimism about ultimately prevailing, which was there in all but a handful. You know, you have to go to April 1940 to get a speech in which there may be the hint of, you know, the night is descending on Britain. But there is an optimism in Roosevelt, there is an optimism in Churchill, there's an optimism in Bush."

But, as Republican Senators and Congressmen discover every time they return to their home constituencies, Mr Rove's interpretation of events have long since run out of road.

It is for his success at the dark political art of spin that Mr Rove may be best remembered, according to Bob Borosage a veteran of several progressive presidential campaigns who last ran Jesse Jackson's bid for the presidency. "With Rove it was all about politics and spin and never about policy," he said yesterday.

"He believed that America's overwhelming military might could create its own foreign policy reality. We saw this in his scorn for all the attempts at reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan after the invasions.

"The same is true on the domestic front where politics replaced policy as they tried to create their own reality and failed.

"Rove's legacy is that he has been an architect of one of the worst administrations in our history, one where short term political objectives dominated."

As he prepares to leave his windowless office in the White House, Mr Rove has let it be known that he wants to teach at university and, while he does not have a job lined up, the offers will not be long in coming. More notably, he has no plans to attach himself to any of the Republican candidates for the Presidency, nor will any be seeking his public endorsement. A kiss of death surely given the contempt in which the administration is held across the country.

Mr Rove is but the latest high-profile presidential aide to have headed out the revolving door as the Bush administration enters its death throes. Over the past few months, the presidential adviser Dan Bartlett has gone - as has the budget director Rob Portman, as well as a string of other longtime political operatives. But none have come close to the political clout of Mr Rove whom the Washington Post described yesterday as "the most prominent political strategist of his generation and a bête noire for liberals and even a number of conservative critics".

President Bush dubbed him "The Architect" for his crucial role in winning the fiercely controversial 2000 elections. He was also credited the midterm Congressional election victories for Republicans in 2002 and Mr Bush's triumphant re-election victory over John Kerry in 2004.

It was last year's hounding out of power of the Republican Congress that ended his Midas touch and finally gave power to his enemies.

Karl Rove's uncanny control over US politics came from his extraordinary ability to categorise, classify and finally harvest voters for the Republican party. From his earliest days, he was an expert in direct mail shots, fine tuning messages to nudge voters in the right direction. He helped design scurrilous attack TV ads and has excelled in digging up a cast of characters, be they gays, liberals, terrorists, or trades unions who his candidates could then use to needle a vulnerable electorate into submission.

As Tod Purdum comments, "As much as anyone, it was Rove who made a once implausible governor of Texas into the President of the United States."

Mr Rove came of age politically in the mid- to-late sixties, at a time when the United States believed itself to be going through a great flower-power revolution.

While left wing politics was getting all the attention in the turbulent university campuses of the US, there was an equally powerful resurgence on the right among the College Republicans.

These were people who thought that the time of the political right had come. Their history is similar to the Marxist-tinged groups that dominated student politics across Europe, full of intrigue, attempted coups and counter-coups. The king of the college Republicans was one Karl Rove. He had emerged from Utah by volunteering in a US Senate campaign. Always affable and extrovert - he has a bull horn voice and a face of apparent innocence. His pale-blue eyes, wind-blown straw blond hair, and quick to flush pale skin reveal little of the éminence grise of American hardball politics.

On Christmas Day, 1969, on Karl's 19th birthday, his father walked out of the family home. Shortly thereafter, Mr Rove discovered the man he believed was his father actually wasn't. He and his older brother - in a family of five - were in fact children of a secret lover of his mother.

Mr Rove's mother eventually committed suicide, in her car in Reno, Nevada, in 1981.

His ability to play dirty and his ruthlessness as a political operative was clear from the outset. In 1970, he pretended to volunteer for a Democrat who was running for office and stole some letter-headed stationery from the office. On that, he printed handouts promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing," distributing them at a rock concert, and a soup kitchen, and to homeless people on the street, causing an unruly crowd to turn up at his opponents headquarters.

A few years later, he was caught on tape bragging that he had spied on opponents in an election of young Republicans.

George Herbert Walker Bush, the party's chairman, who would go on to head the CIA, concluded that nothing out of order had occurred and Mr Rove became leader of the college Republicans.

More than 20 years ago, he outlined his basic political philosophy in a memo in which he quoted Napoleon on warfare: "The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack."

He might have added that, in political warfare, there is a second requirement of never leaving fingerprints on your dirty work. It is widely believed it was Mr Rove who spread the rumours that Ann Richards was a lesbian, when George W Bush ran against her for governor of Texas in 1994.

There were also rumours that the presidential candidate John McCain was gay, mentally unstable, and the father of a mixed-race child, during his South Carolina race battle against Bush, in 2000.

It was under the presidency of George W Bush that Rove extended his influence into policy making. He helped design the deep tax cuts that boosted the President's ratings but also created an enormous budget deficit. He also provided the intellectual heft under which the Bush presidency tried to bring about an extended period of Republican political dominance.

As the neo-cons attempted to break the mould of US foreign politics and "remake the Middle East", Rove had a long term dream of a "rolling re-alignment" of the American body politic behind the Republican party.

Today, both projects are failing badly. Mr Rove's dream of creating a Republican coalition that brought together an unlikely alliance of evangelical Christians, red in tooth and claw capitalists and dreamers of an American empire is now in tatters.