By Kenneth J. Theisen, 8/14/07
On Monday, August 13th, deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove announced that he will be leaving the Bush regime at the end of the month. Rove has been the chief political strategist for Bush since the beginning of Bush’s political career. He has been so close to Bush that he was called “Bush’s brain.” Rove made his announcement on the White House lawn with Bush at his side.
| CounterPunch – Exposing Karl Rove |
| Think Progress – Rove History |
| CNN – White Hose invokes exec. privilege for Rove |
Bush stated, “Karl Rove is moving on down the road. We’ve been friends for a long time, and we’re still going to be friends. 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.” While Bush was likely referring to after January 20, 2009, we can not afford to wait that long to start him on that road. After the announcement Bush and Rove left for a Texas vacation together.
While it is not clear at this time exactly why Rove is leaving (he claims the reason is to spend more time with his family), he is departing while under a political and legal cloud. He escaped indictment in the Valerie Wilson CIA leak scandal, while Scooter Libby took the fall for that one, but most recently Rove has been ducking a Congressional investigation into the attorney firings” scandal. He refused to comply with a subpoena and refused to show up at a congressional hearing about his improper use of Republican National Committee e-mail accounts. He cited executive privilege to justify his lack of compliance. He now faces a possible contempt of Congress citation.
Rove is among several rats that have jumped the ship of state under the Bush regime over the last several months who were involved in the attorney firings” case. Others who have left include chief White House counsel Harriet Miers who has also refused to testify in the attorney firings scandal and who has already been issued a contempt of Congress citation. Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs Sara Taylor also left in the wake of that scandal. She reported directly to Rove. Several attorneys in the Department of Justice who were involved in the firings were also forced to resign. Further there has been increasing pressure on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign because of his role in the firings.
Rove is also currently under Congressional investigation for his prominent role in a series of political briefings provided to various executive department agencies and their staffs by various top White House officials. These briefings appear to violate the Hatch Act which forbids political officials from using government resources for partisan purposes. The briefings were held to assist Republicans across the country win elections according to Rove’s critics.
To those who hate the Bush regime and all that it stands for, the departure of Karl Rove, like the departure of Donald Rumsfeld, is welcome news. But we can not be content with just the departure of Bush’s brain. We need to speed the departure of Bush, Cheney, and all their henchmen and women for the sake of the world’s people.
World Can’t Wait will continue to report on this story and the various scandals with which Rove has been involved. His resignation will not put them behind him, nor protect the other top regime officials also involved.