Bye bye Karl...

The mainstream media has announced the Karl Rove is resigning. From what exactly?

Oh... he's leaving the White House:

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.

See ya Karl... wherever you pop up next. Because I don't believe for one minute that you are 'retiring to your house in Ingram Texas.'

So -- who's campaign will you be orchestrating this time? Rudi's...? Fred's? Or maybe Jeb's? (Warning: Bush name may not be so viable right now.)

Karl, Karl... we so hate to see you go. Not that we ever 'saw' you anyway, other than that weird little dancing escapade. (Don't give up your day job.)

No - you like working in the background, in the shadows, where you can generate your propaganda spin and pull the strings. Anyone who things you're 'stepping out of the game' is a sucker. But of course -- a sucker is born every minute... right Karl? And guys like you were born to spin them like little sucker-tops.

From the Washington Post:

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.

-- snip --

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."

We're all giggling with ya, Karl.

A little GOP giggly entertainment for the road...



"Stormy weather... when we and our Karl... ain't together..."

It appears Senator Leahy isn't quite done with Karl, either in or out of the White House. I guess Senator Leahy is still a little miffed about that small, untidy business with Karl's flouted subpoena.

Senator Leahy - don't be a crab! Karl just wants to retire quietly to his little house in Texas. Don't be partisan, Senator Leahy. (Heh heh.)

From the Good Vermont Senator's website:

Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On The Resignation Of White House Deputy Chief Of Staff Karl Rove
August 13, 2007

“Earlier this month, Karl Rove failed to comply with the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to testify about the mass firings of United States Attorneys. Despite evidence that he played a central role in these firings, just as he did in the Libby case involving the outing of an undercover CIA agent and improper political briefings at over 20 government agencies, Mr. Rove acted as if he was above the law. That is wrong. Now that he is leaving the White House while under subpoena, I continue to ask what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are so desperate to hide. 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, and today, Mr. Rove added his name to that list. There is a cloud over this White House, and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelops Mr. Rove, even as he leaves the White House.”

A gathering storm (Shiver.) Are you going to drag his butt into the Senate, Mr. Leahy? Are you guys ready to back this tough talk with some tough action?

Because yes: we see the cloud. It's obscuring the entire horizon now. It just ate our 4th amendment.

Dare we might hope this 'storm' will ever spawn an impeachment tornado? Or are you waiting until the anger out here grows into a Cat 5 hurricane?