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Last week, the news broke that presidential adviser Karl Rove will leave the White House at the end of August, and since then the man known as "Bush's brain" has been on a valedictory press tour. Press accounts make a point of noting that Rove failed to engineer the permanent Republican majority he hoped to create, but he succeeded in blending politics with policy making, and in defining the public debate in ways that all but equated dissent with treason. That success has helped Pres. Bush enact laws that expand presidential power in unprecedented ways.
Rove, arguably, is like a boxer who uses the "Rope-a-dope" strategy made famous by Muhammad Ali. In many of his most famous matches, Ali leaned against the ropes while his opponents pummeled him, only to unleash a barrage of punches that leaves opponents and even judges wondering what just happened. In interviews over the last several days, Rove has portrayed himself as an easy target for Democratic haters. "I mean, I'm a myth, and they're ... You know, I'm Grendel ... They're after me," he told Chris Wallace of Fox News.
But Arianna Huffington says Rove's neither a myth nor a victim. In fact, she charges, actions may even have contributed to the Utah mine disaster. Huffington begins by observing that, "[T]he destructive legacy of his politicization of the federal government will be with us for many years to come," adding:
"Rove's plan involved much more than having Cabinet officials make election year visits bearing federal goodies to the districts of embattled Republicans; it also meant using the government's regulatory mechanisms to reward major GOP contributors. Major contributors such as Big Coal."
Huffington argues that the Bush administration traded workers' safety for campaign contributions -- even choosing a mine safety czar , Richard Stickler, who has long been accused of not caring for workers. Stickler will now lead the investigation into the Utah mine collapse that seems to have killed six miners and three of the rescuers who tried to save them.
That legacy, along with Rove's refusal to testify about his role in the firing of eight US attorneys, should have led to some tough questions in Rove's interviews over the last week. But to many observers, the press failed to lay a glove on him.
Blogger Jay Rosen said the press found itself seduced by Rove in a way that revealed something important:
"...Rove tries to destroy people with whispering campaigns. He makes stuff up. He transgresses and figures no one will stop him. He goes further than others in the game. These are things you would think journalists would recoil at, or at least observe with regularity.
"But Karl Rove: political extremist is not what I read in the press yesterday as word of his resignation got around...
"...[P]art of Rove’s “realignment theory” was to “delegitimize, decertify and discombobulate the press; control it with psychological power; reduce its influence on the political process,” while simultaneously seducing reporters with his credentials as a winner and his savvy take on American politics".
Shane-O at Corrente says interviewers on the Sunday talk shows let Rove get away with a specious argument justifying his refusal to comply with Congressional subpoenas. Rove repeatedly argued that testifying before Congress about his advice to Bush would violate the Constitution's separation of powers mandate:
"We have a constitutional separation of powers. The founders talk about this. They, they understood this issue, and they wanted to insulate the judicial, the executive and the legislative from each other in this respect. Imagine the outcry if the executive branch said, “We have a right to pull up any congressional aide we want and ask you at any time what advice you’re giving your member about a vote.” Imagine the outcry in the country if we said Supreme Court clerks can be called before Congress or called before the executive at any time to talk about what they’re, what they’re advising the Supreme Court Justices as they write their opinions."
To which, Shane-O retorts:
"Of course, the executive branch has pulled up congressional aides to testify. The FBI, as part of the executive, and the DOJ, regularly subpoenas other branches of the federal government – legislative and judicial..."
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Marcy Wheeler pointed out that the firing of the US attorneys isn't the only legal question surrounding Rove. There's also the matter of his relationship with lobbyist-turned-felon Jack Abramoff or his role in the procurement
