Karl Rove, Propagandist to President Bush, to Resign
Bush's brain, the biggest liar, the greatest propagandist in modern times, and one evil son-of-a-bitch slips out the back door in the middle of the night to hide under a rock.
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Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush's two national campaigns and his most prominent adviser through 6-1/2 tumultuous years in the White House, will resign at month's end and leave politics, a White House spokeswoman said this morning.
Bush plans to make a statement with Rove on the South Lawn this morning before the president departs for his ranch near Crawford, Tex. Rove, who holds the titles of deputy chief of staff and senior adviser, has been talking about finding the right time to depart for a year, colleagues said, and decided he had to either leave now or remain through the end of the presidency.
"Obviously it's a big loss to us," White House spokeswoman Dana M. Perino said this morning. "He's a great colleague, a good friend, and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed. But we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this was the right time to be giving more to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends."
Rove, 56, who escaped indictment in the CIA leak case, has been under scrutiny by the new Democratic Congress for his role in the firings of U.S. attorneys and in a series of political briefings provided to various agencies across government. Citing executive privilege, he defied a subpoena and refused to show up for a congressional hearing just two weeks ago on the allegedly improper use by White House aides of Republican National Committee email accounts. Fellow Bush advisers have said they believe the congressional probes have been aimed in part at driving Rove out.
The White House said his departure was unrelated to the investigations. In an interview published this morning, Rove told Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul A. Gigot that he had been interested in leaving last year but did not want to go immediately after the Democrats took over Congress, nor did he want to abandon Bush as he fought for his troop buildup in Iraq and an immigration overhaul.
"I just think it's time," Rove told Gigot in comments confirmed by the White House. The Journal said White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten told Rove and other senior aides that if they stay past Labor Day, they would be expected to remain through the end of the second term, Jan. 20, 2009.
"There's always something that can keep you here," Rove said, "and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family."
Rove said he was finished with political consulting and plans to spend much of his time at his house in Ingram, Tex., with his wife, Darby, and near their son, who attends college in San Antonio. He said he plans to write a book about Bush's years in office, a project encouraged by the president, and would like to teach at some point, but has no job lined up for now. He does not plan to work on a presidential campaign nor would he endorse a candidate.
Rove is the latest of a string of high-profile presidential aides to head for the door as the Bush administration enters its final stages. In recent months, presidential counselor Dan Bartlett, budget director Rob Portman, deputy national security advisers J.D. Crouch and Meghan O'Sullivan, political director Sara M. Taylor, strategic initiatives director Peter H. Wehner and a string of other longtime aides have resigned one after the other.
None came close to Rove's stature or influence, however. His departure is the end of an era in modern GOP politics, the conclusion of 14 years that began with advising the son of the last Republican to hold the White House, then guiding that son first to the Texas governor's mansion and, ultimately, to the White House. Along the way, Rove became the most prominent political strategist of his generation and a bete noire for liberals and even a number of conservative critics.
Along with Karen Hughes and Joe Allbaugh, Rove was part of a group known as the "Iron Triangle" who were central to Bush's early political success in Texas, but he was the most enduring of the three. Bush termed him "The Architect" for his role in capturing the White House in 2000 and Rove was similarly credited with midterm Congressional election victories in 2002 and Bush's reelection over Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004. The ouster of the Republican Congress in 2006, punctured Rove's long winning streak and empowered his enemies.
Rove's influence extended far beyond the politics of electioneering, deep into policymaking. He helped craft the first-term Bush agenda of tax cuts, which succeeded, and the second-term agenda of Social Security private accounts, which did not. More broadly, he provided the intellectual and historic framework for the Bush presidency and hoped to use it to open a new era of Republican political dominance, a project that today looks potentially crippled by the unpopularity of both the president and the Iraq war.
Rove was investigated for his role in leaking the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative whose husband publicly criticized the administration's handling of prewar intelligence. Although White House spokesman Scott McClellan initially spoke with Rove and publicly denied that Rove had anything to do with the leak, the investigation later determined that he had in fact divulged or confirmed Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.
Special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald brought Rove before the grand jury multiple times and considered charging him in the case but ultimately decided not to. Fitzgerald did indict I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to investigators, although Bush later commuted his sentence. Libby's attorney asserted at his trial that he was being sacrificed to protect Rove.
Rove told Gigot that he remains confident Bush will recover politically despite his low approval ratings. "He will move back up in the polls," Rove said. And he said Republicans could still retain the White House next year. The Democrats are likely to nominate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), "a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate," he said, but Republicans have "a very good chance" of beating her.
Rove laughed off his own reputation as the svengali of the Bush presidency. "I'm a myth," he said. "There's the Mark of Rove. I read about some of the things I'm supposed to have done and I have to try not to laugh."
By Peter Baker and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 13, 2007; 7:34 AM
Staff writer Howard Schneider contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2...
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Karl Rove has been a key player in George W. Bush's political career dating back to the president's 1994 victory in the Texas gubernatorial race.
Age: 56; Born: Dec. 25, 1950.
Education: Attended the University of Utah, the University of Texas at Austin and George Mason University; has taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and in the journalism department at the University of Texas at Austin.
Experience: Senior adviser and assistant to President Bush, January 2001-present; chief strategist for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign; president of Karl Rove Company, an Austin-based public affairs firm, 1981-1999; deputy chief of staff to Texas Gov. William Clements, 1981; executive director of the Fund for Limited Government, 1977-78; special assistant to Republican National Committee Chairman George H.W. Bush, 1973-74.
Family: Wife, Darby; one son.
Career Timeline: Political adviser Karl Rove's history with the Bush family
1973 _ Rove became chairman of the College Republicans. During his time in Washington, D.C., he became a special assistant to Republican National Committee Chairman George H.W. Bush and met George W. Bush.
1977 _ Worked for a political action committee dedicated to making the elder Bush president in 1980.
1978 _ Advised younger Bush during his unsuccessful Texas congressional campaign.
1980 _ Assisted George H.W. Bush's unsuccessful presidential campaign.
1994 _ Adviser for George W. Bush's successful Texas gubernatorial campaign.
1998 _ Adviser for Gov. Bush's successful re-election campaign.
2000 _ Chief strategist for Bush's presidential campaign.
2004 _ Chief strategist for re-election campaign.
2005 _ Currently assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush.
© 2007 The Associated Press
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WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON ROVE, HIS PROPAGANDA, AND HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE???
.
.
.
.
Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush's two national campaigns and his most prominent adviser through 6-1/2 tumultuous years in the White House, will resign at month's end and leave politics, a White House spokeswoman said this morning.
Bush plans to make a statement with Rove on the South Lawn this morning before the president departs for his ranch near Crawford, Tex. Rove, who holds the titles of deputy chief of staff and senior adviser, has been talking about finding the right time to depart for a year, colleagues said, and decided he had to either leave now or remain through the end of the presidency.
"Obviously it's a big loss to us," White House spokeswoman Dana M. Perino said this morning. "He's a great colleague, a good friend, and a brilliant mind. He will be greatly missed. But we know he wouldn't be going if he wasn't sure this was the right time to be giving more to his family, his wife Darby and their son. He will continue to be one of the president's greatest friends."
Rove, 56, who escaped indictment in the CIA leak case, has been under scrutiny by the new Democratic Congress for his role in the firings of U.S. attorneys and in a series of political briefings provided to various agencies across government. Citing executive privilege, he defied a subpoena and refused to show up for a congressional hearing just two weeks ago on the allegedly improper use by White House aides of Republican National Committee email accounts. Fellow Bush advisers have said they believe the congressional probes have been aimed in part at driving Rove out.
The White House said his departure was unrelated to the investigations. In an interview published this morning, Rove told Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul A. Gigot that he had been interested in leaving last year but did not want to go immediately after the Democrats took over Congress, nor did he want to abandon Bush as he fought for his troop buildup in Iraq and an immigration overhaul.
"I just think it's time," Rove told Gigot in comments confirmed by the White House. The Journal said White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten told Rove and other senior aides that if they stay past Labor Day, they would be expected to remain through the end of the second term, Jan. 20, 2009.
"There's always something that can keep you here," Rove said, "and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family."
Rove said he was finished with political consulting and plans to spend much of his time at his house in Ingram, Tex., with his wife, Darby, and near their son, who attends college in San Antonio. He said he plans to write a book about Bush's years in office, a project encouraged by the president, and would like to teach at some point, but has no job lined up for now. He does not plan to work on a presidential campaign nor would he endorse a candidate.
Rove is the latest of a string of high-profile presidential aides to head for the door as the Bush administration enters its final stages. In recent months, presidential counselor Dan Bartlett, budget director Rob Portman, deputy national security advisers J.D. Crouch and Meghan O'Sullivan, political director Sara M. Taylor, strategic initiatives director Peter H. Wehner and a string of other longtime aides have resigned one after the other.
None came close to Rove's stature or influence, however. His departure is the end of an era in modern GOP politics, the conclusion of 14 years that began with advising the son of the last Republican to hold the White House, then guiding that son first to the Texas governor's mansion and, ultimately, to the White House. Along the way, Rove became the most prominent political strategist of his generation and a bete noire for liberals and even a number of conservative critics.
Along with Karen Hughes and Joe Allbaugh, Rove was part of a group known as the "Iron Triangle" who were central to Bush's early political success in Texas, but he was the most enduring of the three. Bush termed him "The Architect" for his role in capturing the White House in 2000 and Rove was similarly credited with midterm Congressional election victories in 2002 and Bush's reelection over Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004. The ouster of the Republican Congress in 2006, punctured Rove's long winning streak and empowered his enemies.
Rove's influence extended far beyond the politics of electioneering, deep into policymaking. He helped craft the first-term Bush agenda of tax cuts, which succeeded, and the second-term agenda of Social Security private accounts, which did not. More broadly, he provided the intellectual and historic framework for the Bush presidency and hoped to use it to open a new era of Republican political dominance, a project that today looks potentially crippled by the unpopularity of both the president and the Iraq war.
Rove was investigated for his role in leaking the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative whose husband publicly criticized the administration's handling of prewar intelligence. Although White House spokesman Scott McClellan initially spoke with Rove and publicly denied that Rove had anything to do with the leak, the investigation later determined that he had in fact divulged or confirmed Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.
Special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald brought Rove before the grand jury multiple times and considered charging him in the case but ultimately decided not to. Fitzgerald did indict I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to investigators, although Bush later commuted his sentence. Libby's attorney asserted at his trial that he was being sacrificed to protect Rove.
Rove told Gigot that he remains confident Bush will recover politically despite his low approval ratings. "He will move back up in the polls," Rove said. And he said Republicans could still retain the White House next year. The Democrats are likely to nominate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), "a tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate," he said, but Republicans have "a very good chance" of beating her.
Rove laughed off his own reputation as the svengali of the Bush presidency. "I'm a myth," he said. "There's the Mark of Rove. I read about some of the things I'm supposed to have done and I have to try not to laugh."
By Peter Baker and Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, August 13, 2007; 7:34 AM
Staff writer Howard Schneider contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2...
--------------
Karl Rove has been a key player in George W. Bush's political career dating back to the president's 1994 victory in the Texas gubernatorial race.
Age: 56; Born: Dec. 25, 1950.
Education: Attended the University of Utah, the University of Texas at Austin and George Mason University; has taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and in the journalism department at the University of Texas at Austin.
Experience: Senior adviser and assistant to President Bush, January 2001-present; chief strategist for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign; president of Karl Rove Company, an Austin-based public affairs firm, 1981-1999; deputy chief of staff to Texas Gov. William Clements, 1981; executive director of the Fund for Limited Government, 1977-78; special assistant to Republican National Committee Chairman George H.W. Bush, 1973-74.
Family: Wife, Darby; one son.
Career Timeline: Political adviser Karl Rove's history with the Bush family
1973 _ Rove became chairman of the College Republicans. During his time in Washington, D.C., he became a special assistant to Republican National Committee Chairman George H.W. Bush and met George W. Bush.
1977 _ Worked for a political action committee dedicated to making the elder Bush president in 1980.
1978 _ Advised younger Bush during his unsuccessful Texas congressional campaign.
1980 _ Assisted George H.W. Bush's unsuccessful presidential campaign.
1994 _ Adviser for George W. Bush's successful Texas gubernatorial campaign.
1998 _ Adviser for Gov. Bush's successful re-election campaign.
2000 _ Chief strategist for Bush's presidential campaign.
2004 _ Chief strategist for re-election campaign.
2005 _ Currently assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to President George W. Bush.
© 2007 The Associated Press
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WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON ROVE, HIS PROPAGANDA, AND HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE???
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Buddy 'Friendly' Wachenheimer on
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Karl Rove Image by Richard Track
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Permalink Reply by Ricart Prats on -
He probably has a better gig ...
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Permalink Reply by Mary Baum on -
I think there's another shoe to drop -- or maybe the resignation wasn't even the whole first shoe. So one toe is down, and over the next few days maybe we'll hear the rest of it land: a scandal involving the favored Jeff Gannon, perhaps? How 'bout the sudden emergence of those lost emails? Or is he up to his neck in the warrantless data mining?
He didn't precisely say he was going to spend more time with his family -- just that he owed this decision to his family. Kind of like, his first duty to his family is to stay out of prison, and his second is to keep the money coming in, in ever-greater quantities.
As for his accessibility to Bush in the coming months? As long as he's got bars on his iPhone, he can strategerize (sic) all the campaigns he wants.
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Permalink Reply by russler on
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They (whoever they are) must make preparations for the new rollout of the next marketing push (remember Andrew Card) after Labor Day and dear ole Karl must not be included. But have no fear, with his databases of zip codes with lists of voter tendencies, he'll be quietly pushing the levers of manipulatiion planning nasty push polls, giving speeches to oilmen and planning the layout of the Bush Library (how the doublewides will line up, end-to-end or side-by-side) at some Jr. College in the Hill Country . . . while using all his skills to somehow rehabilitate his and Dub's place in history . . .
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REALITY CHECK=Rove is going to the private sector to help the GOP with the 2008 election, plus continue to pull Bush's marionette strings from afar. He doesn't give a shit about his family, there is money to be made and deals to do for the Republican'ts. His departure PR is propaganda just like everything else he touches. A lie.
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Permalink Reply by everysandwich on -
Generally, I think the departures are just timing. The election cycle is earlier than ever, and the public focus on existing policy matters will fade as we look ahead. Tony Snow, (whom I admire, incidentally) announced he wouldn't be in his current role until the end, either. I agree with the commenter who suggested Rove will use his downtime to rehabilitate his own image and all who are associated with it.
This distaste for Rove by others in the persuasion industry got me thinking, or trying to, anyway.
The lines between PR, journalism, and advertising have been dubious, at least since Edward Bernays polished Coolidge's image, and as ad people, collectively, we've lined our pockets with his (Bernays's) techniques -- product placement, celebrity endorsements, the "independent" scientific study.
While not clued into the all specific dirty dealings of Rove, I'd be surprised if they were more odious than other dirty dealings by other political wranglers on both sides, now and through the years -- or some of the tactics used within our own industry for whatever product or service.
Persuasion skills are a political necessity because politics is a field built on compromise, negotiation and public opinion. (And, frankly, having lived through the Carter administration, I'm fairly sure I don't want another leader who proudly claims not to be a Washington insider, though I wish it were that simple to clean up Washington.)
Within in the advertising discipline of the persuasion industry, ad types are not above using scientific studies such as active MRIs of brain physiology as it reacts to sell messages, advertising nutritionally unsound food to children, invading privacy, running 150-word disclaimers in tiny type in financial spots for two seconds, even turning our fellow man into "brand ambassadors," undercover commercial shills in real-life venues where advertising isn't expected. I keep a copy of an Enron commercial on my hard drive, along with some spots for the Saudi embassy (which may have come through Rove, for all I know,) just to remind myself where advertising is these days.
So, I'm not certain the ad industry has the moral high ground here (reflected in public polls of the ad industry,) I guess the resentment is for Rove's success in pushing policies to which his critics are opposed, not necessarily the means by which he achieved it.
I don't know about you, but I'd love to work on a problem with those stakes, instead of, say, whitening strips. Not only is it a chance to do something important with one's skills and work for your own beliefs, but it's a venue to to see what your own character is made of.
Factoid: Seeing Rove in the pic as a Nazi is an interesting little propaganda piece in itself, and it reminds me of something I saw in the great documentary, Century of the Self, which I hate to admit is where I first heard of Bernays. In it we learn that nazi propagandist Goebbels read and admired Bernays as well as FDR and the New Deal. The documentarian, Adam Curtis, put out another documentary about terrorism being a myth called The Power of Nightmares, It too, has a lot of interesting information, but I think he applied some of the things he learned in Century of the Self. Your mileage may vary.
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"""""While not clued into the all specific dirty dealings of Rove, I'd be surprised if they were more odious than other dirty dealings by other political wranglers on both sides, now and through the years -- or some of the tactics used within our own industry for whatever product or service."""""
Everysandwich, just a couple clues of the hundreds available regarding "the dirty dealings Rove had a lot to do with." Other politicians OR the ad industry have NOT helped to... start a senseless war where countless people died or were wounded for nothing, or drive up our national debt to all time record heights through reckless spending of money we don't have on vested-self-interests, etc...all accomplished by Rove helping Bush tell greater and more lies than others ever dreamed of doing.
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Permalink Reply by everysandwich on
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Who knows what his legacy will be, but if there's nastiness and a paper trail, maybe Sandy Berger can help him steal the documents from the National Archive.
I think Rove was maddeningly successful at what he did, but is he a liar? That depends on what your definition of "is" is. I do think persuasion and politics make for a fascinating, powerful, and dangerous mix, where, in the words of Mac MacAnally, "the lord and devil fight left and right."
The opposition could learn a lot about what to do and what not to do by studying him.
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""""but is (Rove) a liar? That depends on what your definition of "is" is."""""
Cute (thank you Bill Clinton), but wrong.
Actually it depends on what you definition of "liar" is. And by any definition that exists, Rove is one. Rove is also guilty of the lies of omission, half truths, misinformation, and disinformation...
""""The opposition could learn a lot about what to do and what not to do by studying him.""""" Yeah, just what we all need to learn-how to be better liars. People would be better off learning how to make Jello-popsicles.
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Permalink Reply by Mary Baum on
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The starting a war on the basis of lies thing, I believe, actually has a precedent in the Gulf of Tonkin incident. If I understand what I've read about Robert McNamara's book -- Steve, of AdCracker fame, might correct us if we're wrong -- that incident, which led to the resolution that got us in up to our necks in Viet Nam, never happened.
What's new about Rove and this administration is the thorough infiltration of the executive branch by political operatives of the Republican Party. For 200 years, it has been understood that the executive branch of government existed to enforce the laws that Congress passed. It was easy to understand that, because that's what the Constitution says it's supposed to do. We also have a statute -- the Hatch Act -- that makes the use of federal resources for electioneering a felony. But things have changed.
Under this administration, the executive branch -- the Justice Department and the regulatory agencies set up to administer the various acts of Congress -- have been explicitly told that their job is to serve the political and policy agendas of first the White House and second the Republican Party.
They have been directed to spend their resources in states and counties where Republican Congress members and Senators up for reelection could use the pork. In agencies whose mission has been to further scientific knowledge, political operatives have taken senior-level roles and edited or suppressed research results that didn't promote the White House agenda. Accurate scientific information has disappeared from government web sites. Established facts -- evolution and even the Big Bang -- the foundations of all modern science -- are at best labeled controversial when references to them show up at all. The former Surgeon General had a comprehensive public-health plan suppressed for his entire tenure because it was a comprehensive plan that offered real solutions instead of a public-relations document for the religious right.
And wherever there's been a job opening, the graduates of Regent University -- founded by Pat Robertson -- have had the inside track, ahead of the best of the Ivy League and Nobel laureates.
And then, of course, there's been the Justice Department. In the Civil Rights division, the emphasis has been on hiring only the most loyal Bush-supporting Republicans and then, once they're in the field, making sure they use their power to prosecute as a way to intimidate low-income and minority voters and suppress Democratic turnout, and to smear Democratic candidates. This is the issue that's at the core of the US Attorney-firing scandal, which is a misnomer. Of course, the President has the right to fire US Attorneys whenever he wants. It was just stupid of the White House to fire those nine when they did, because it called attention to what was really going on.
But back to Rove: Rove also has to share blame for the shredding of the Constitution. At this moment, by Executive order, the president, and evidently the vice president, with no input from Courts or Congress, can declare anyone an enemy combatant or a material obstacle (or impedance -- I'm not sure that's the word, either) to the war in Iraq. Enemy combatants get disappeared to Gitmo or worse, tortured and potentially put away for life. Material obstacles can have their assets frozen -- essentially, made paupers, unable to function in society, without so much as a working debit card. Again, no recourse, no counsel, no rights. On the president's whim. I wonder: By writing this post, do I suddenly fall into those categories? There are no exemptions for American citizens.
Then we have the signing statements on Congressional acts: Bush signs them into law, then adds a statement that he doesn't have to obey the parts he doesn't like. And finally, the new doctrine of executive privilege that means there's no such thing as Congressional oversight -- the Congress, and therefore the people, have no right to know what goes on in the White House on any level. Not who goes in and out, not who shows up for meetings or what they talk about and certainly not whether anyone inside is breaking any laws. And not only is the White House a privileged place -- so is everyone in it, and they stay that way for life, even after they leave, even if all they did was mop a floor! Or, is this only going to be true when the president is a Republican?
Okay. So maybe those things happened over his strong protests. Maybe he really believes in the Constitution and couldn't understand why Bush-Cheney were so bent on dictatorial power.
Now. Is Rove a liar? Let's check the accuracy of some memes he let loose at critical times in past elections.
"John McCain has an illegitimate black baby."
"Ann Richards is a lesbian."
"Max Cleland is soft on terror."
"John Kerry never released his full war records."
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Permalink Reply by Harry Webber on
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What if there was no Republican Candidate in 2008, only a republican agenda?
What if Karl Rove was simply an errand boy for the real brain trust?
What if Obama worked for them?
Think darker.
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Permalink Reply by Mary Baum on
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Well, this week's Newsweek had Fred Thompson on the cover, practically anointing him as the Repub nominee.
There's the California electoral-vote referendum set for June.
And the Dems in Congress finding eleventy million reasons not even to try to do what they were explicitly elected to do, seeming to buy the lie that they were elected from the right and not the left.
Or will President Obama will do the bidding of the invisible brain trust? And is David Byrne of The Talking Heads right -- that this is the Same As It Ever Was?
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