Rove's Delusional Attempt To Shift Blame

See, Karl Rove's biggest problem is that he is no leader; when he's right, he wants to be praised like some God, when he's wrong, he wants someone else to take the blame. In his latest WTF moment, he blames Democrats in Congress for the Iraq war, trying to convince us that the President never wanted to go to the war in Iraq, but it was Tom Daschle and the Senate Democrats who pushed the President into the war.

On Fox News Sunday, Rove kept to his story, even as Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) countered his argument with a quote by former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer;

"It was definitely the Bush administration that set it in motion and determined the timing, not the Congress. I think Karl in this instance just has his facts wrong."

Rove disagrees and one wonders...does he really believe the crap he says?

Rove: Iraq is Congress' Fault

Is he serious?

I'll comment more when I stop laughing.

Got 'Em

I don't know if this will spark a censure or impeachment movement in Congress, but it's definitely not what this administration needs right now.

At this point, does it really matter...there's only 13 months, 29 days left of this administration

Is Rove Scared Of Clinton?

She says he's obsessed with her. What's the other rational for him attacking her and not the other Democratic nominees?

President Hillary Clinton is a nightmare scenario for Republicans like Rove, and in a stark change from two years ago, that nightmare may very well be a reality.

The Devils Leaves The West Wing

Karl Rove will resign at the end of the month.

He calls his term at the White House a "witness to history"

Then he cried.

Whatever will Bush do without his brain

Rove vs. Crowe

Karl Rove's response to the war of words with Sheryl Crow at the White House Correspondant's Dinner;

"She came over to insult me and she succeeded." -Karl Rove

Even if I did believe it, is my heart supposed to bleed for you?

Sheryl Crow and Lauren Davis, co-producer of "An Inconvienent Truth" went over to Karl Rove to strike up a conservation about the administration's global warming policies, or lack thereof. Davis and Rove's conversation got testy, when Crow stepped in to calm things down...to no avail.

Crow told Rove that he works for her, he responded that he works for the American people...of which both Crow and Davis are...albeit famous American people. Did Rove forget that they are voting American citizens? Or was this a Freudian slip showing Rove's feelings that all Americans who disagree with him...aren't truly Americans?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Rovian Unpopularity

I don't condone the idea of throwing things at people or blocking cars. It just seems a little out of control, but I can understand why students at American University did this.

They were, after all, protesting Karl Rove.

Democrats Call Bush's Bluff

Democrats in the House of Representatives called the President's Bluff, using their Constitutional Power to show the dictator-wannabe that they are in fact an EQUAL branch of government.

The Judiciary Subcommitte approved the issuing of subpoenas. Now it is up the full Judiciary Committee to issue the subpoenas that will force Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, among others, to appear before the committe and testify UNDER OATH.

Meanwhile, the Senate has repealed the subsection of the PATRIOT Act they seemed the have missed; the part that allowed the Executive Branch to circumvent them and replace US Attorneys without Senate confirmation. It is pretty clear that if that stipulation did not exist, this whole firing scandal never would've happened.

The vote was 94-2 with two Republican dissenting; Senator Kit Bond (R-Missouri) and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska). I'd like to know what Hagel was thinking.

Bush To Congress; I Don't Have To Listen To You

You can't blame George Bush...he's not used to having Congress checking his power. He used to be treated like a dictator...whatever he wants, he gets. This is all new to him.

You know he's hit rock bottom when his only defense against the Democrats in Congress calling his staff to testify at the hill is that they are trying to gain political points, that it is a partisan hit job. Essentially he's stating; "The Democrats are using the fact that I am immensely unpopular for their own gain."

Still, Congress has the authority to investigate what they may believe to be illegal or unethical events in the Executive Branch. They use that authority to their discretion with the knowledge that if it is abused, it will cause a change to who controls the Legislative Branch. The Republicans did not use that power at all, which in part is the reason they're the minority party right now. If the Democrats abuse the power, they may go the way of the Republicans.

This is not, however, an abuse of power. Congressional Democrats have reason to believe an offshoot of the Executive Branch (the Justice Department,) made an unethical decision to fire federal prosecutors for political reasons. While this is not an illegal offense, it is an unethical one and Congress had the complete authority and in my opinion, the responsibility, to investigate it and make sure nothing unethical happened or those who did commit a violations of ethics.

It is not reasonable for a person involved in a possible ethics violation and possible abuse of power to come to the Hill and testify not under oath. The oath is what makes sure the truth is told, because to lie under oath is to end up like Scooter Libby. Congress needs to oath to make sure they are getting truthful testimony. The President would never accept less from Congress, so Congress shouldn't expect less from the President.

By acting like he's too good to talk to Congress, the President is playing to what's left of his base; those Americans who would support Bush if he had Democratic leaders arrested, tortured, and paraded around Washington in chains; these people who think Congress doesn't have a lick of power in the country and Bush is the end all, be all of the American government. These Republicans, and I say Republicans cause if they weren't a part of that party before, they sure are now, are dangerous to democracy, and they hold little to no power in national politics or in the voting population.

Bush is not going to win this argument in the courts; He may win the argument among the minority of the populace who think he is being abused by the Democratic Congress, but the country voted in November for a Congress willing to check the out-of-control power of the President and that's exactly what they are doing. The people are getting what they voted for.

Rove's Last Stand?

Newly revealed White House e-mails show President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales were involved in discussions of a shakeup of U.S. attorneys before Gonzales became attorney general.

Well this certainly doesn't paint a pretty picture for Gonzales, but it's interesting to see Karl Rove's name implicated in this. Although, he's probably implicated in every White House scandal we'll see from this administration.

What's also interesting is WHEN all this occurred...January 9, 2005, when President Bush was riding high after his reelection, the Republicans had what they thought was a tight hold on both houses of Congress, and Karl Rove was the Reigning Emperor of American Politics. Rove discussed the firing of all 93 federal prosecutors at the time, which after Bush's reelection would've only created a whimper of protest. (See that's the time to do it, not the week after your party looses Congress.)

More on Rove;

The Justice Department later admitted that one of the eight -- H.E. "Bud" Cummins, the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas -- was fired to make room for a former Rove aide returning from military service.

Meanwhile Rove is defending the firings, claiming the Democrats are "playing politics." You know, after seeing Dick Cheney defend the war his company is making billions in, you'd think this administration would be smarter than to defend themselves with a guy who's best buddy took over the job of one of the randomly fired prosecutors.

They just never learned do they? It's like sending a mosquito to defend malaria.

Now the question on everyone's mind...is this Rove's last stand? Has the Godfather of the Republican Party met his Waterloo? I have the popcorn popping in the microwave.

Beyond Damning Evidence

Someone's head is going to roll for this;

On March 2, 2005, in an e-mail to Harriet Miers, AG Gonzales' Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson wrote this;

To be clear, to put aside the question of expiring terms, the analysis on
the chart I gave you is as follows;
Bold= Recommend retaining, strong US Attorneys who have produced, managed
well, and exhibited loyalty to the President and Attorney
General
Strikeout= Recommend removing, weak US Attorneys who have been ineffectual
managers and prosecutors, chafed against Administration initiatives,
etc.

US Attorneys are non-partisan and loyalty to President and party should not and is not supposed to be a factor in their firings. Among those with a strikeout were Bud Cummings of Eastern Arkansas, Carol Lam of Southern California, and Margaret Chiara of Western Michigan, while Kevin Ryan of Northern California and David Iglesias of New Mexico were listed as bold, they were all later fired. Kevin Ryan had been listed as a candidate for removal as early as January, 2006, when it appeared Harriet Miers had came up with the whole idea.

On September 13, 2006, in an e-mail, Kyle Sampson wrote this;

US Attorneys in the Process of Being Pushed Out;
-E.D. Arkansas- Bud Cummings
US Attorneys We Now Should Consider Pushing Out;
-Arizona- Paul Charlton
-Southern California- Carol Lam
-Western Michigan- Margaret Chiara
-Nevada- Dan Bogden
-Western Washington- John McKay

"Pushed out" is a very damning phrase. Absent from the list is David Iglesias of New Mexico. This is about the time where he received the pressuring phone calls from Senator Domenici and Congresswoman Wilson, who was in a tight race with Patricia Madrid.

In October, Harriet Miers writes to Kyle Sampson that she suggests that they "as a matter of Administration policy, [we] utilize the new statutory provisions that authorize the AG to make Attorney appointments." She suggests that by doing this and circumventing the President and Senate confirmation, it will "give far less deference to the home-state senators and thereby get (1) our preferred person appointed and (2) do it faster and more efficently, at less political cost to the White House."

The new laws she speaks of comes from the PATRIOT Act and she speaks of the home-state Senators as Senate confirmation would be difficult. Many of the fired prosecutors came from states with Democratic Senators; California, Michigan, Washington, and Arkansas have two Democrats, while Nevada is home to the (at the time) Minority Leader.

This was especially important in Arkansas, where Bud Cummings was being "pushed out" in favor of someone who sent to work for him...Tim Griffin, a close personal friend of none other than Karl Rove. In the e-mails, Sampson makes it known that "it is important to Karl" indicating Rove knew of the plan to oust Cummings in September...he claims he didn't know about it until November...LIAR!

The firings occured on December 7, 2006. Later e-mails indicate that Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) was not happy about the firing of Dan Bogden from his distirct, while the Chief of Staff for Senator Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico) was thrilled with the news.

To me, it seems like this came entirely out of the Justice Department with little, if any, Oval Office knowledge, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. This may actually be the beginning of the end of the administration. It's funny, the one thing that may finally bring down the people in the White House has NOTHING to do wtih the War in Iraq, as many had suspected would bring him down.

Bush is having an absolutely horrendous second term to say the least.