Rove resigns.

Karl Rove has resigned as the White House political advisor, effective at the end of this month. He’s spending more time with his family, as the euphemism goes. Given how loyal he’s reputed to be, and how loyal President Bush has shown himself to be to his staff, I can only assume that Rove knows that one of these investigations is about to pop, and he wants to prevent or delay it from reaching into the White House. CNN wrongly reports that Rove said that he believes that Sen. Clinton will win the 2008 presidential election; in fact, he merely said that she’s likely to be nominated.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

12 replies on “Rove resigns.”

  1. I’m not so sure that’s why he’s leaving. If anything, he’d be better protected by staying in his WH position because then he would have a more secure claim to executive privilege as a current Presidential advisor.

    This is a moment in which Rove can leave under his own terms. A moment when there isn’t a loud chorus of people demanding his resignation. Things aren’t likely to get any more fun over the next year and a half. Bush is hobbled and has no legislative agenda. Spin doesn’t work any more. The Republican party is turning on Bush as it’s new leaders (the Presidential candidates) fall all over each other to criticize him. What does Rove really have to work with at this point? He’s an offensive political strategist with no talent for plotting a defensive game in a hostile political environment. He has nothing much to offer Bush heading into the last year of the administration. It was the right time for Karl Rove to wrap things up.

  2. If anything, he’d be better protected by staying in his WH position because then he would have a more secure claim to executive privilege as a current Presidential advisor.

    Nah, that doesn’t make any difference.

  3. I agree with Waldo. If the fact of being an adviser was to protect him, or rather, him resigning would open him up to scrutiny, then Harriet Meyers would have sung by now. She doesn’t work there either, and she claims just as much Executive Privilege as if she did.

    I wouldn’t think Karl can give it up this easily. He must have a reason that is good. Like, say, he is getting indicted soon.

    Never underestimate his power to reach out in the ‘administration’, he won’t give up the behind the scenes tinkering.

  4. No one that high up ever stays for all 8 years, do they? I agree with Jack that as the calls for him to resign from his political opponents are (relatively) silent right now it was a good time to leave on his own terms. One also might consider the possibility that he simply told the truth about the WH CoS saying anyone who stayed past Labor Day would be compelled to stay until the end and he was over it.

  5. Well, we’ll know within a couple of months why he resigned, I guess. Maybe it will become apparent a great deal sooner. If none of these cases break open in a way that involves Rove, we’ll know that I’m wrong. If I were a betting man, I’d put down my money on his departure not just being to “spend more time with his family.”

  6. It is being speculated about on MSNBC that Rove might become a conduit between the ’08 R candidates and the White House. The ‘next chapter’ he speaks of is about trying to protect or invent Bush’s legacy.

    Sounds plausible.

    Side Note: Rove’s invocation of a particular higher power is the height of hypocrisy. Can these people do anything without thanking the Lord? I know, athletes do it too, and it strikes me just as odd when they do it.

  7. Judge Smails, that link didn’t work for me. I am so happy he’s leaving, this is the best news in a long time. I’m betting Waldo is right as to why. I have this picture of the oval office getting lonelier and lonelier, somehow this does not upset me……

  8. Rove’s invocation of a particular higher power is the height of hypocrisy. Can these people do anything without thanking the Lord? I know, athletes do it too, and it strikes me just as odd when they do it.

    Well, given that he’s an atheist, yes, it is kind of funny. :)

  9. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…and a resignation is simply someone moving on.

    I suspect Jack is right, and though I’m rarely inclined to bet on anything, I’d bet a $10 cigar that Waldo’s hunch proves incorrect.

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