Karl Rove to resign!!! [Archive] - Comic Book Resources Forums

Stony

08-13-2007, 03:07 AM

WASHINGTON - Karl Rove, President Bush's close friend and chief political strategist, plans to leave the White House at the end of August, joining a lengthening line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the administration.

A longtime member of Bush's inner circle, Rove was nicknamed "the architect" by the president for designing the strategy that twice won him the White House.

Bush was expected to make a statement Monday with Rove.

"Obviously it's a big loss to us," White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said. "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."

Since Democrats won control of Congress in November, some top administration officials have announced their resignations. Among those who have left are White House counselor Dan Bartlett, budget director Rob Portman, chief White House attorney Harriet Miers, political director Sara Taylor, deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch and Meghan O'Sullivan, another deputy national security adviser who worked on Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was forced out immediately after the election as the unpopular war in Iraq dragged on.

Rove is expected to write a book after he leaves.

"He's been talking with the president for a long time — about a year — regarding when might be good to go," Perino said. "But there's always a big project to work on, and his strategic abilities — and our need for his support — kept him here. He said there's never a good time to leave, just the `right' time."

Ha!! Beat you!!
Just claim-staking. :)

the4thpip

08-13-2007, 03:13 AM

Ha!! Beat you!!
Just claim-staking. :)

I posted it 45 minutes earlier on the YABS board. (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=5294490&postcount=4599):p

Stony

08-13-2007, 03:22 AM

I posted it 45 minutes earlier on the YABS board. (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=5294490&postcount=4599):p

Ah, but I'm posting from an advanced time-zone! It's Monday night here.

Wait.... that makes me later..... or does it? Lesse, if I'm posting from the future.... then this must be the Lone Pine Mall...

Deathstroke

08-13-2007, 04:08 AM

Considering he should be in jail on treason charges, the fact he can be resigning should leave him feeling like a lottery winner.

J. Robb

08-13-2007, 04:37 AM

Another rat abandons the sinking ship.

Drew Van T.

08-13-2007, 04:57 AM

Will he get the usual Halliburton retirement package? Or maybe it's going to be Intel, or a pharmaceutical company, or any of the companies whose interests he defended over the years...

cactusmaac

08-13-2007, 05:11 AM

He's writing a book and then after that perhaps going into teaching.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118697458949295744.html?mod=todays_free_feature

Michael P

08-13-2007, 05:47 AM

He's writing a book and then after that perhaps going into teaching.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118697458949295744.html?mod=todays_free_feature

What's the title? "Raping Democracy For Fun And Profit?"

moebius

08-13-2007, 05:55 AM

Considering he should be in jail on treason charges, the fact he can be resigning should leave him feeling like a lottery winner.

Yup. (character limit)

Dreadstar

08-13-2007, 06:34 AM

Wow, I didn't know the ship was sinking. Let me check.

. . .

Well, it *is* riding low in the water, but it appears to be a lock to make it to the next port. Go figure.

Shellhead

08-13-2007, 06:46 AM

Wow, I didn't know the ship was sinking. Let me check.

. . .

Well, it *is* riding low in the water, but it appears to be a lock to make it to the next port. Go figure.

It might be a lousy metaphor. But if high-level members of the Bush Administration thought that they had done a great job and everything was going well, they would stay on the job until the very last day of Bush's second term. When so many are leaving early, it starts to look bad and possibly even suspicious. Hmm, maybe the rat part of that metaphor is pretty accurate after all.

Winslow

08-13-2007, 06:51 AM

Wow, I didn't know the ship was sinking. Let me check.

. . .

Well, it *is* riding low in the water, but it appears to be a lock to make it to the next port. Go figure.

There was a pretty interesting article on the failed presidency of President Bush in The Atlantic this month. It compared him to Hoover - dogged determination to "stay the course" in spite of mounting public opposition - it setup FDR and over a decade of democratic leadership and influence.

I think it's over-stated, but interesting to read.

Dreadstar

08-13-2007, 06:52 AM

cactusmaac

08-13-2007, 06:55 AM

It might be a lousy metaphor. But if high-level members of the Bush Administration thought that they had done a great job and everything was going well, they would stay on the job until the very last day of Bush's second term. When so many are leaving early, it starts to look bad and possibly even suspicious. Hmm, maybe the rat part of that metaphor is pretty accurate after all.

"I just think it's time," he says, adding that he first floated the idea of leaving to Mr. Bush a year ago. His friends confirm he had been talking about it with others even earlier. But Democrats took Congress, and he didn't want to depart on that sour note. He then thought he'd leave after the State of the Union, but the Iraq and immigration fights beckoned. Finally, Chief of Staff Josh Bolten told senior White House aides that if they stayed past a certain point, they were obliged to remain to Jan. 20, 2009.

................

Dr. Hfuhruhurr

08-13-2007, 06:59 AM

Personally, I wish he would have stayed on. He's been the best friend the Democrats have ever had. The Valerie Plame affair, while not the scandal it should have been, given that it may be the only administration in history to have committed treason against itself, it still did much to isolate the neocons as a respected voice, along with the disastrous invasion of Iraq. Rove's gameplan of using 9/11 to hammer the Democrats imploded once the general public saw the administration was more interested in politics than in fighting terrorism.

Rove's attempts at creating a permanent Republican majority have created the groundwork for its utter destruction. The religious right is on the verge of breaking with the GOP. I think a Romney candidacy could maintain the truce between the two wings, albeit just barely. But a Guiliani candidacy will rupture it beyond repair, once the religious right stop fooling themselves that Guliani embraces even a single one of their core beliefs.

And, lastly, George W. Bush's "legacy" is going to be as perhaps this nation's worst President. Democrats will be able to use the Dubya "boogeyman" against the Republicans for a generation to come, in much the same way that they have used Nixon. Certainly, I think the theory of the "unitary executive branch" is doomed. The Democrats have recently found the consequences of not opposing Bush enough; I doubt they make that mistake again in the time Bush has left. And, once gone, I think it will take little time for Congress to undo much of the overreaching of the past 6 years.

All in all, the guy has destroyed his political party and his President. Too bad he did it while compromising our country's power and prestige around the globe.

Shellhead

08-13-2007, 07:35 AM

And, lastly, George W. Bush's "legacy" is going to be as perhaps this nation's worst President. Democrats will be able to use the Dubya "boogeyman" against the Republicans for a generation to come, in much the same way that they have used Nixon.

It makes perfectly good sense that that Democrats should have been able to use Nixon as the Boogeyman for a whole generation after Watergate. But really, it was only good for a few years, just long enough to get Carter into office. The enduring legacy of Watergate has been Republican loathing for the media.

cactusmaac

08-13-2007, 07:42 AM

moebius

08-13-2007, 08:35 AM

Republican loathing began with the rise of the conservative movement with Goldwater's campaign in the 60s.

The legacy of Watergate has been the media investigating politicians (and celebrities) far more heavily than they did prior to that.

And, I think combined with Vietnam, a lack of trust in the government's ability to be square with the people. People in America seem to think the government is out to get them or cheat them, which is usually the sort of relationship between State and Society you associate with Communism.

Athena Bast

08-13-2007, 08:43 AM

Is he the guy that The Daily Show rags on all the time about how he'll say something at one press conference and then the following week say he never said that?

Merey

08-13-2007, 08:49 AM

Is he the guy that The Daily Show rags on all the time about how he'll say something at one press conference and then the following week say he never said that?

Rove was the ultimate behind-the-scenes man, you're thinking of Rumsfeld - who has also stepped down.

Nick Soapdish

08-13-2007, 09:10 AM

Rove was the ultimate behind-the-scenes man, you're thinking of Rumsfeld - who has also stepped down.

I thought that was Tony Snow. He's flip-flopped a lot in press conferences as well.

I think moreso than his two predecessors, but it could be because I wasn't paying as much attention to them.

Michael P

08-13-2007, 09:11 AM

Is he the guy that The Daily Show rags on all the time about how he'll say something at one press conference and then the following week say he never said that?

You're going to have to narrow that down. Maybe a hair color.

The Mirrorball Man

08-13-2007, 10:08 AM

Unfortunately, I don't think this will have any political consequences. Rove's job is done.

Drew Van T.

08-13-2007, 10:18 AM

Rove's gameplan of using 9/11 to hammer the Democrats imploded once the general public saw the administration was more interested in politics than in fighting terrorism.

Accusing the Democrats of treason was an important element of the 2004 election. But that's not Rove's overall gameplan: the big scheme was forging a coalition between the rich/corporate players on the one hand and the Religious Right on the other (reeling the latter in using Culture War and hot-button issues like gay marriage).

And really, it was working fine. It would still be working just fine IMO if it hadn't been for Iraq: 90% of why the Rove formula has stopped working is Iraq, because even the evangelicals and the most Republican-minded corporations are getting uncomfortable with Iraq.

That's the really scary thing about this guy: it took a truly enormous policy disaster, one that's in the media every single day for four years, to make a serious dent in Karl Rove and his strategy. Everything else he was more or less shrugging off. But not a long war.

king mob

08-13-2007, 10:33 AM

And, lastly, George W. Bush's "legacy" is going to be as perhaps this nation's worst President.

I was talking with some mates down the pub about who the worst ever British PM was. We decided that even Thatcher & Blair did a few good things that have helped the UK.

Then the subject moved onto American Presidents & we tried, really tried to think of just one good or useful thing Bush has done in his time. Has Bush done anything of any worth at all, or has he just wasted the last 7 years creating mess after mess for his successors to clean up?

Michael P

08-13-2007, 10:39 AM

Has Bush done anything of any worth at all

He will on January 21, 2009.

Athena Bast

08-13-2007, 11:54 AM

You're going to have to narrow that down. Maybe a hair color.

Slightly youngish?

Political types all look the same to me. Except Loren, Loren more dorky news anchor that politico.

Lance

08-13-2007, 01:04 PM

Athena, check out MC Rove (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWRSgjDEQy0&mode=related&search=).

Athena Bast

08-13-2007, 01:05 PM

Athena, check out MC Rove (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWRSgjDEQy0&mode=related&search=).

okay... I'm thinking of, I guess, the press secretary twat.

Lance

08-13-2007, 01:10 PM

okay... I'm thinking of, I guess, the press secretary twat.

Do you mean former Fox News douche bag, Tony Snow?

http://www.goofigure.com/images/library/tony_snow.jpg

Mike Smash!

08-13-2007, 01:14 PM

Do you mean former Fox News douche bag, Tony Snow?

http://www.goofigure.com/images/library/tony_snow.jpgI honestly think the man's strategy is to act like as big of a dick as possible to take the heat off of his bosses.

Athena Bast

08-13-2007, 01:15 PM

Do you mean former Fox News douche bag, Tony Snow?

http://www.goofigure.com/images/library/tony_snow.jpg

Ya.. that's the dingleberry.

J. Robb

08-13-2007, 02:21 PM

What's the title? "Raping Democracy For Fun And Profit?"
It will be called "If I Did It", wherein Rove hypothetically admits to masterminding two invasions and the mass murder of thousands.

Pinnacle

08-13-2007, 02:27 PM

What I'm afraid of is that Rove will now concentrate on getting his next puppet elected. I wonder which Republican will most willingly sell his soul to get the evil genius's expertise in how to win or fix an election.

phoenixrising

08-13-2007, 05:32 PM

Ray R.

08-13-2007, 05:34 PM

I think I know a former NYC mayor who needs an evangelical makeover!

Hallejulah! I'm taking bets on when Rudy sees the Virgin Mary in the lox on his Lender's bagel, and rediscovers God in his heart.

Good to see you, pho. You've been missed.

phoenixrising

08-13-2007, 05:38 PM

Hallejulah! I'm taking bets on when Rudy sees the Virgin Mary in the lox on his Lender's bagel, and rediscovers God in his heart.

Good to see you, pho. You've been missed.

Awww...thanks. Its been so damn busy, I'm never just being aimless online anymore.

beetlebum

08-13-2007, 06:25 PM

I'm gonna have to disagree with all the statements made about Goldwater here. It is the fact that the Republicans have deviated so far away from Goldwater that they are loathsome. LBJ did a good hob convincing the nation that Barry Goldwater was a crack pot, what with that "Daisy Girl" commercial and convincing people that he would be harmful by escalating the conflict in Vietnam(only to have Johnson lie about the Gulf of Tonkin and do the things he promised he would not do)

But Barry Goldwater was a maverick. He supported the investigations into misconduct by the Nixon administration saying "Nixon was the most dishonest individual I have ever met in my life. He lied to his wife, his family, his friends, his colleagues in the Congress, lifetime members of his own political party, the American people and the world."He was a strong advocate for a woman's right to choose. He also supported gay rights, at a time when the Religious Right was beginning to cement it's hold on the GOP. And he made his opposition to them very clear with statements like "I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass."(that was in response to Falwell's opposition to Sandra Day O'Conner) and "Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."

But getting back on topic, although I despise hem with all of my being, Karl Rove was a genius. He was able, first and foremost, to convince Bush to run for the presidency. Then he was able to smear John McCain successfully. Rove's operation proceeded to target McCain with false stories: McCain was a stoolie for his captors in the Hanoi Hilton (this from a lunatic self-promoting Vietnam "veteran"); McCain fathered a black daughter out of wedlock (a despicable reference to McCain's adopted Bangladeshi daughter); Cindy McCain's drug "abuse"; and even McCain's "homosexuality." In the spirit of Segretti, Rove engineered a victory for Dubya but at the cost of trashing an honorable man and his family.

It's funny how history has a way of repeating itself. Iraq is Vietnam, Bush is LBJ and Nixon rolled into one. Cheney is Spiro Agnew. The Patriot Act is far worse than third rate burglaries and asking J. Edgar Hoover to keep tabs on your enemies. And Karl Rove is Charles Colson. Colson eventually went through a sort of spiritual contrition where he is now a strong advocate for third world poor, particularly Africa. I wonder if Rove will do the same thing.

cactusmaac

08-14-2007, 04:24 AM

I was talking with some mates down the pub about who the worst ever British PM was. We decided that even Thatcher & Blair did a few good things that have helped the UK.

Then the subject moved onto American Presidents & we tried, really tried to think of just one good or useful thing Bush has done in his time. Has Bush done anything of any worth at all, or has he just wasted the last 7 years creating mess after mess for his successors to clean up?

Boosted AIDS funding.

This talk about Republicans deviating from Goldwater's principles is overdone. He became pro-choice, ant-evangelical and pro-gay rights long after he'd ceased being a factor on the national scene. During the 60s he was anti-abortion and opposed the passing of the Civil Rights Act.

Drew Van T.

08-14-2007, 05:02 AM

Boosted AIDS funding.

But because he simultaneously attacked all family planning initiatives and organizations that are not 100% anti-abortion, and because family planning is itself a vital element of the fight against AIDS (as Kofi Annan once put it: "The AIDS pandemic has a woman's face, and meeting women's needs is key to stopping it"), many would argue that Bush constantly undercut his own AIDS efforts in a big way.

Kid Omega

08-14-2007, 05:34 AM

I think I know a former NYC mayor who needs an evangelical makeover!

Maybe he just needs opponents with fictional ethnic illegitimate children!

I don't know what's more depressing... that the Bush camp actually used this tactic, or that it worked.

literally exaggerated

08-14-2007, 05:41 AM

Bush is not the nation's worst president ever, by virtue of having never willfully committed genocide (see: Andrew Jackson).

However, a strong argument can be made that he is this nation's least competent president. Only Grant comes close, and at least his problem was basically total cluelessness and some really corrupt advisers. Bush had both of those, plus all the nobility of spirit of some bastard little kid who keys someone's car and that vigorously denies it.

cactusmaac

08-14-2007, 05:54 AM

Hoover is easily the worst President ever. He took the bad situation that was the Crash and made it far worse.

The Mirrorball Man

08-14-2007, 05:54 AM

Bush is not the nation's worst president ever, by virtue of having never willfully committed genocide (see: Andrew Jackson).
And Dick Cheney is not the worst Vice President ever, because Aaron Burr shot a guy and well, Dan Quayle did all those other things.

Kid Omega

08-14-2007, 06:26 AM

And Dick Cheney is not the worst Vice President ever, because Aaron Burr shot a guy and well, Dan Quayle did all those other things.

Cheney also shot a guy.

It wasn't in a duel, just a drunk hunting fuck-up. But still. At the time, Burr's duel wasn't unheard of or outrageous. Today, swinging a shotgun around on your pal because your'e wasted is pretty disgusting.

Relative terms.

Cheney is a pretty messed up dude. The testimonials from white house staff are pretty damning. My favorite is the one born agian christian who realized that Cheney was so so evil, he quit his job and is now doing missionary work to atone for being involved with him professionally.

Yikes!

I mean, this is a guy who is ON THE RECORD profiting from a war he was key in instigating. If nothing else, that right there is evilllll. Not to mention illegal. But our pussy congress doesn't seem interested in pursuing that, so...

Dreadstar

08-14-2007, 06:27 AM

Yep. We've gone from the Rove resignation to straight Bush-bashing. And I missed the target post count by 10. I suck.

Tom

08-14-2007, 06:31 AM

Given the topic, how could it NOT lead to what you call "Bush-bashing?" He was the main architect of Bush's presidency and Bush is one of the least popular presidents of modern times.

Dreadstar

08-14-2007, 06:32 AM

Given the topic, how could it NOT lead to what you call "Bush-bashing?" He was the main architect of Bush's presidency and Bush is one of the least popular presidents of modern times.

So, did anyone get closer than 10?

I'm guessing Tom didn't.

Kid Omega

08-14-2007, 06:33 AM

Yep. We've gone from the Rove resignation to straight Bush-bashing. And I missed the target post count by 10. I suck.

Hey! What else has everyone done wrong today, oh paragon of posting perfection?

Kid Omega

08-14-2007, 06:34 AM

Given the topic, how could it NOT lead to what you call "Bush-bashing?" He was the main architect of Bush's presidency and Bush is one of the least popular presidents of modern times.

THE least popular.

Worse than Nixon... during his resignation.

Shellhead

08-14-2007, 06:42 AM

Maybe he just needs opponents with fictional ethnic illegitimate children!

I don't know what's more depressing... that the Bush camp actually used this tactic, or that it worked.

It worked in South Carolina. Isn't that also the state where the first battle of the Civil War broke out? Maybe old bigotry dies hard in the South, where many people still refer to the Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression."

Shellhead

08-14-2007, 06:43 AM

Yep. We've gone from the Rove resignation to straight Bush-bashing. And I missed the target post count by 10. I suck.

Do you feel that Karl Rove deserves all of the blame? Or should Bush take some responsibility, too?

Tom

08-14-2007, 06:44 AM

So, did anyone get closer than 10?

I'm guessing Tom didn't.

Probably because I'm not so smug as to sit back and make those kinds of predictions if I'm not interested in the conversation. But that's just me.

Dreadstar

08-14-2007, 06:46 AM

Probably because I'm not so smug as to sit back and make those kinds of predictions if I'm not interested in the conversation. But that's just me.

Hey, I'm just having fun.

Sorry it's such a sore spot as to piss you off.

Just delete my posts, huh?

Kid Omega

08-14-2007, 06:47 AM

It worked in South Carolina. Isn't that also the state where the first battle of the Civil War broke out?

Yer funny, shell.

Maybe old bigotry dies hard in the South, where many people still refer to the Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression."

"Many people"? I don't think so. In fact... I've never heard it called that by a Southerner that wasn't referencing the fact that it was called that from time to time.

The phone calls worked because it flat-out painted McCain as some sort of liar with a secret life. The racial element just added another element of hateful sleaze to the tactic.

cactusmaac

08-14-2007, 06:48 AM

Kid Omega

08-14-2007, 06:48 AM

Hey, I'm just having fun.

This is how you have fun?

yikes

Kid Omega

08-14-2007, 06:50 AM

Truman had lower ratings (25%) during the Korean war. The Harris poll gave Carter the worst-ever rating (22%) for a president in 1980.

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/07/12/bush-approval-challenges-nixon-carter-lows/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2003-12-26-approval-ratings_x.htm

Ah... I got the worst ever mixed up with this: "Vice President Cheney’s approval rating was 21%"

EDIT: A friend reminds me that the differing polls tend to fluctuate around 5%, so some do have Bush lower than Carter.

But within that slim margin of error, whatevs. Point being that his approval is in the toilet.

ANOTHER EDIT: And with Rove gone, his "best" advisor will not be around to help him pull the heartstrings of the public. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Agent Helix

08-14-2007, 06:56 AM

As a South Carolinian, yeah, it can get pretty bigoted 'round these here parts, though I've never heard anyone seriously refer to it as the "War of Northern Aggression".

Winslow

08-14-2007, 07:03 AM

As a South Carolinian, yeah, it can get pretty bigoted 'round these here parts, though I've never heard anyone seriously refer to it as the "War of Northern Aggression".

I've only heard Southerners refer to it in jest.

It's bigoted everywhere . .some areas "cloak" it better.

Ray R.

08-14-2007, 07:15 AM

I've only heard Southerners refer to it in jest.

It's bigoted everywhere . .some areas "cloak" it better.

Yeah, I've seen less bigotry in Virginia than in some parts of New England, in all honesty.

Ray R.

08-14-2007, 07:16 AM

Or should Bush take some responsibility, too?

There's a first time for everything.

I'm wondering what prompted Rove to resign. Did someone throw the ring into Mount Doom?

Winslow

08-14-2007, 07:19 AM

Yeah, I've seen less bigotry in Virginia than in some parts of New England, in all honesty.

You should hear what the construction union "shop stewards" say behind closed doors. It's disgusting.

If anyone ever felt the playing field was level in job opportunity for trade work, think again.

Anyway, back to Rove bashing . . between the 2004 election, wire tappings, Valerie Plame, and the attorney firings (I think he was involved in this - I'm not sure), I think he's done more to damage the country than any politician in our generation.