Rove Is Toast
Watching the White House reporters clawing at Scott McClellan reminds me of the scene in Rocky IV when Ivan Drago is finally cut: Apollo Creed's former manager, now in Rocky's corner, shrieks, "You see, he's not a machine! He's a man!"
These bastards have never been hurt like this before. Everyday this thing continues not just Rove's, but Bush's credibility suffers. If the major political story for the year leading up to the 2006 elections is corruption in the White House, the Republican party is going to be pretty soundly defeated.
So, here's the question. Surely Rove himself can see the handwriting on the wall. But he's too powerful within both the Republican party apparatus and the White House to be forced out; if he goes, it will be willingly. Does Rove tell the president he needs to spend more time with his family, or no? (Or put it another way: Just how addicted to power is he?)
posted by Finnegan @ 12:11 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I think your analysis is right Finnegan, but after both questionable elections, Abu Ghraib, the Iraq War more generally, Kyoto, etc. I can't possibly allow myself to believe that a) the American people care at all anymore about Presidential abuses of power (the terrorists don't have oversight committees!), and b) even if they do care the furor will ever actually be powerful enough to dent the obtuseness of the President or of Republican Senators/Representatives...
What could be really interesting is if this scandal causes some kind of rift within the Republican Party itself... After all, many of these Senators were around back in the heady days of '98 when a President's perjuring himself over "sexual relations" was considered grounds for impeachment... Surely, with that precedent in mind, some of these people will feel a little bit hypocritical if this Rove thing continues to unfold in the direction you're suggesting.
N-the Clinton analogy is interesting. Keep in mind that Clinton did many things that were much worse and much closer to impeachable than lying in a civil suit about adultery. But that scandal stuck because it was easy to understand (unlike Whitewater and all the fundraising shenanigans).
None of the Bush scandals have been terribly complicated, but they have been of a nature that criticizing the administration's conduct leaves one vulnerable to accusations of being traitorous or soft on terrorism or whatever. Think the abuses at Abu Ghraib were illegal and immoral and that those responsible should be prosecuted? Whatever, pinko-fag-commie-abortionist. Pull bin Laden's dick out of your ass and then get back to me.
But this one is different. Karl Rove did something probably illegal, and obviously incredibly slimy, and for once, the folk-national security angle cuts against the administration. This one is different. Trust me on this.
Sigh...I wish I could get excited about this, but no. I don't care what a goddawful satanic robot Rove is, I'm just not capable of summoning an iota of outrage on behalf of the C.I. fucking A. and their precious secrecy laws. Until one group of these fuckers that perpetually get to run the show gets torn apart by an angry mob for gross incompetence and/or generally dry-fucking the American Dream, as oposed to picayne stunts against another faction of the same fuckers, like this deal or, e.g., when one group of powerhungry asswipes mounts a third-rate burglary of another group of powerhungry asswipes' offices, I'll get interested. Until then, there's baseball. I'll dance on all their skulls but I refuse to take a rooting interest in mere court intrigue.
Evan is, of course, completely right.
Eh, maybe, maybe not. But what I definitely am is mad as hell and on the verge of not being able to take it anymore. What I would like to do is be able to ignore politics entirely and, better yet, have politics ignore me. Don't get me wrong, I'll cheer if and when Rove goes out on his ear, possibly also drink, but we shouldn't pretend it means too much.
As for Judith Miller, well, if you dance with the devil....
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