Washington, D.C.: What odds would you give at this point that this will lead to Rove's firing?
Dana Milbank: My predictions are often comically off, but here goes: This is Karl Rove's town, and the rest of us -- President Bush included -- are just living in it.
Yep. That just about covers it.
4 comments:
Well, don't go smiling too much. When I first wrote about this scandal two years ago, I thought it was ready to blow. Shows what I know.
Yeah, the whole "I didn't actually say her name" goes in the pantheon of lame cover stories. Aside from the fact that it almost certainly isn't true (Novak explicitly said in July 2003 that "they gave me the name and I used it"), the whole excuse is just stupid.
If your wife were named, say, Mrs. Cubefarmer, and she were a CIA operative, it presumably would be just as bad for me to say "Mrs. Cubefarmer is a CIA operative" as it would to say "Cubefarmer's wife is a CIA operative," since the two phrases have exactly the same meaning.
Interesting article on CNN about the matter:
here.
People are suprised that Bush isn't showing confidence in Rove anymore, he's witholding comment until the investigation is over, a change from what most see as Bush's typical "loyalty above all else" stance. Maybe Bush can tell that someone is about to get thrown to the wolves?
Here's a priceless hairsplitting politician's distinction: "However, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush had been prepared to show his confidence in Rove but the question from reporters focused on the investigation." They asked a question about Rove, and the White House is saying they would have shown confidence in Rove if the question had primarily been about Rove. Hmmm...
Then there's the gem at the end: "White House allies have weighed in, with expressions of support for Rove from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania"
When Tom DeLay is getting listed as one of your major allies, you know you're in trouble.
Rove latched on to W early on. The more power W attained, (with Roves help) the more power Rove himself wields. The "leak" problem is not really so much a problem for Rove as it is for the president.
It doesn't matter if he's (Rove) the deputy chief of staff, or a consultant down in Texas, he still has the presidents ear, and that's not likely to change. But the president is answerable to other entities. To congress, to the people to a certain extent. Rove only has to answer to the President.
Now the president is operating with the lowest poll numbers he's ever had, deminished political capital (having spent most of that on Social Security) and his most trusted advisor under a cloud. I mean the guy he would normally turn to in this situation is the guy in the hotseat.
Now, I'm not sure the president really cares about his poll numbers, but the guys up for reelection next year do, and the guys with their eye on '08 do as well. The president doesn't have many options. He will have to appoint a moderate to the Supreme Court. He will have to abandon privatizing social security. He may have to abandon Karl Rove.
For a president with a supposed "mandate" he sure seems weak and inneffectual.
But if the press falls back asleep, or there's another attack in this country, or......you just never know.
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