Rove Wants to Spend Time with Family

Karl Rove resigns… his impact on American democracy will surely be missed.

Rove in the Middle of Latest Bush Scandal

When will the long national nightmare that republicans and the Bush administration have wrought be over? It is now clear that Karl Rove, Bush’s closest political advisor, is right in the middle of the latest Bush White House scandal:

"New emails show conclusively that Karl Rove was in the middle of this mess from the beginning. It is now imperative that he testify before Congress and give all the details of his involvement both in the proposal to fire the 93 U.S. Attorneys in the beginning of George Bush’s second term, and his involvement in the firing of the individual eight U.S. Attorneys who were fired throughout 2006.  If the White House prevents Karl Rove from testifying, it will be thumbing its nose at the American people and at the rule of law. The reason it’s so imperative that people testify under oath is that every time new information comes out, it proves that the White House was not telling the truth in their previous statements. Statements from those involved have proved to be false, false, false, time after time after time."

-U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer

You can see one of the emails incriminating Rove here.

Rove & Co Out of Touch

If true, Karl Rove and Bush & Co. are more out of touch than one suspected:

It’s an ugly rumor, but it’s spreading like wildfire: Karl Rove has lost his touch. In an amazing betrayal within a family where top political aide Rove is royalty, Bushies have been sneering at his pre-election happy talk that the gop would keep the Senate and take a slight hit in the House, both soon to be run by Democrats. And now we learn that President Bush really believed the GOP was safe, too. On the day before the elections, he asked embattled House gop leader Dennis Hastert to run for speaker again so he could guide the White House’s agenda in Congress.

Rove Forced Foley to Stay

Republicans are so desperate to retain control of congress that the GOP leadership, including those in the Bush administration, forced — yes, forced — Republican Mark Foley to run again for his safe congressional seat. Apparently Rep. Foley was ready to retire, but top Bush adviser, Karl Rove, intervened and ultimately convinced Rep. Foley to run again.

TalkingPointsMemo.com serves this bit of news from TNR.com:

It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important than confronting him over his extracurricular activities.

But there’s more to the story of why Foley stood for re-election this year. Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLIC that in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire from the House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark’s a friend of mine," says this source. "He told me, ‘I’m thinking about getting out of it and becoming a lobbyist.’"

[...]

According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn’t, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.

"He said, ‘The White House made it very clear I have to run,’" explains Foley’s friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist.

And there you have it folks, we have a Republican party, led by the Bush & Rove gang, so desperate to retain control, that they are willing to sacrifice just about anyone — including the young congressional pages — to remain in power and prevent Democrats from disturbing all those GOP skeletons that have piled up a mile high over the past six years.

Why I Like Dean

Here’s just one more example of why it is that many of us in the Democratic Party grassroots are such fans of Howard Dean, the DNC chair: he’s simply one of a handful of Democrats willing to go toe-to-toe against the Republican mouth pieces.