More on Karl Rove

Joseph writes:

I read your story about Karl Rove, and even though I’m a conservative, if Rove did indeed give over Wilson’s info to Time for political reasons, I absolutely agree with you. I think Rove is a dangerous fellow. He cares about winning, not people or principles, he cares about winning. If there were two drawbacks to enjoying the presidency of George W. Bush (which I do), it’s that Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are reprehensible.

Apparently losing two out of two wars isn’t a drawback. I’m afraid, though, that plausible deniability isn’t going to work here. Acting President Cheney is too much of a control freak to allow Rove to act on his own, and Bush isn’t smart enough to know that there are some things he’s better off not knowing about.

In my opinion, and this is purely opinion and guessing, Karl Rove is to George Bush what Ollie North is to Ronald Reagan. I’m pretty sure Reagan had no clue what North was doing, other than some slight sense of making deals. I have the same opinion of Bush and Rove. It’s not so much that I don’t think Bush can make mistakes, it’s just that Bush’s leadership style seems to give way to a guy like Rove doing something like this. Reagan trusted people to do their job and if he didn’t like the job, he’d just fire them, not try and run the program himself. Bush seems to be the same way, which means someone can hide a number of facts from him for quite a while before he ever finds out. Some people have tried to categorize this as stupidity, to me it’s just one style of leadership.

If Karl Rove did indeed jeopardize the life of an American agent, I agree with your column that execution might be justified. Not out of malice, but principally, it would be my head if I had done it, so why not his?

Well, just so. Though, as I’ve written before, I oppose capital punishment in general.

JF writes:

As to your comments on Rove, I spent the 4th protesting the president at West Virginia University. My mind was on Rove and of course Bush’s impeachment. There were a number of signs calling for Rove to be investigated both legally and through the press. I can’t go with you on the death penalty but the prick deserves to spend a ton of time behind bars if guilty…which I believe he is.

What is it going to take for thinking republicans…of which I’m sure there are many…to finally admit Bush and most of his cabinet are simply bad people and even worse leaders?

A good question. There are, of course, many thinking Republicans although it’s hard to imagine exactly how they can continue to justify supporting an institution run by racists, homophobes and other assorted bigots and thieves after they’ve exposed themselves as such time after time. It’s difficult to accept that one has been snookered, but you’ve got to do it eventually.

Finally, I love how republicans site newsweek as a bad source, as though the Koran story was ALL bullshit. Save for a few errors in practice, THE STORY TURNED OUT TO BE TRUE!!!

Yes.

If the press has anything of value left…the investigation of Rove in both contexts should begin today.

Yes again.

Keith writes:

In your article you mentioned you couldn’t think of
anyone on the left who had been convicted of aiding a
terrorist, what about Lynne Stewart?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15444-2005Feb10.html

Convicted of passing messages for the Sheik who
masterminded the first World Trade Center bombing.

The article even describes her as “the leftist
lawyer”.

Got me there, sorta—she’s a lawyer with liberal views, not a Michael Moore type leftie personality. I guess the reason I didn’t think of Ms. Stewart is because she so very clearly got railroaded. I don’t believe for an instant that she’s guilty, but of course I wasn’t on the jury so I don’t have all the facts.

Eric says:

I recall that Richard M. Nixon went kicking and screaming, kneeling in prayer and drinking heavily, before he submitted his resignation. Nixon never admitted any wrongdoing, and his cabal of treasonous supporters came out of the woodwork recently when Deep Throat revealed himself.
I correctly referred to the Bush regime as carpetbaggers years ago. In fact, all the words I used to describe Bush’s gang of thieves and cutthroats have ultimately found their way into mainstream journalism. I wonder why a simple dumbass Veteran of Vietnam, with only my experience, gut and average intelligence, knew at the start what the ‘experts’ are discovering now? Maybe it’s that great American tradition called ‘process.’ ‘They’ screw us at their whim, then the investigative and legal systems wait until the criminals find a wheelchair and an oxygen bottle as an excuse not to go to trial and the slammer.
George W. Bush will flee the country, Karl Rove not far behind. In an age of unprecedented in-your-face arrogance from the Bush misadministration, America will stand aghast at Bush’s self-imposed exile. Fifty percent of American voters, the Bush apologists, will lament, “Whoda thunk?” Jeb Bush will wage a Crusade to become president in 2008 in order to give George W. a presidential pardon.
George W. Bush will be able to receive e-mail at an undisclosed location in Saudi Arabia.

Eric’s email makes me warm and tingly.

And finally, from Steve:

“Karl Rove is pond scum on the gene pool.”

Let’s be fair to pond scum here, Ted and Pat. At least pond scum (much of it anyway) photosynthesizes, thereby removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and replacing it with oxygen. What has rove done for us lately?

Well, his propaganda has certainly been good for the environment. Thanks to him and Bush, 1,700-plus US soldiers and 180,000-plus Muslims are decomposing into fertilizer.