There are many, many different reasons why Karl Rove might have abruptly announced his resignation today. The only one we know for sure isn't true is the one he gave -- he wants to spend more time with his family.
That is the lamest excuse in the history of political excuses. It's such a hackneyed, cliche that it smacks of panic and poor timing. If Rove had any time to think or set up another job before he left, he wouldn't have had to go with the desperate, "spend more time with my family" BS.
He said he wants to be closer to his son who is going to college in San Antonio. Which parent leaves the job of a lifetime to stalk their kids at college? Did Rove leave the White House to attend more keggers?
So, what's the real deal here? Let's start out with the most benign and work our way toward the more fun and ugly possibilities.
We outline all the possibilities below:
1. Bush's Chief of Staff Josh Bolten said that anyone who stays past Labor Day has to stay with the White House for the duration of Bush's term, so this was the perfect time to leave. But this is the first anyone has ever heard of this rule and you think they might have announced that before.
2. There is nothing political left to do in the Bush White House since they won't be running for office anymore and they don't seem to give a damn about popularity, for better or for worse. Rove left to run someone else's campaign and better utilize his real talents. But why wouldn't he have set up a huge job on one of the campaigns before he announced this awkward resignation? He says he wants to spend more time with his family, is that going to change three weeks from now when he signs with one of the Republican campaigns? It's an uncomfortable position to leave yourself in.
3. There's something rotten in Denmark. He's doing a pre-emptive strike to get out of line of fire before the shit really hits the fan in the White House. They are about to release some papers that shows that Rove clearly had a part to do in firing the US attorneys or in violating the Hatch Act, etc. Now, they'll be able to say, "What difference does it make, he's not in the White House anymore anyway. The Democrats are just pursuing an old, irrelevant political vendetta." So, he gets out before he is forced out by damaging revelations.
4. The flare theory. Some fighter planes throw out flares before an oncoming missile hits them to distract the missile and steer it in another direction. There is going to be some significantly damaging news they are about to put out and they want to distract people by throwing out Rove's resignation first, so that's all people will talk about. Normally, bad political news is put out late on a Friday in order to bury it. The fact that they have announced this early on Monday, in the beginning of the week's news cycle, makes people wonder what they might want to hide later in the news cycle this week.
5. Gonzales is also about to resign and they knew Rove would be next. Once Gonzales was out of the way, Congressional investigators would have turned their sights on Rove. Internally, the White House knows the evidence against Rove is bad and they acted ahead of Gonzales so that it won't seem that Rove's resignation had anything to do with Gonzales' departure and the related scandal.
6. Sex scandal. I told you we were going to have fun. If you put out nonsense reasons for resigning from the White House -- the best job you will likely ever have -- you have to expect that people will speculate about what the real reason is.
Here are theories that listeners already came up with this morning on our show.
a. DC Madam. He's on the list. The only thing that gets you thrown out of this administration is a sex scandal. Everything else is kosher, so it must have been sex.
b. The publisher of Hustler, Larry Flynt, promised there would be another big name on his list of Republican politicians who were caught having sexual indiscretions.
c. Jeff Gannon. This is the fake reporter that the White House used to plant favorable questions during press conferences at the White House (which by the way is completely outrageous and they completely got away with -- as usual). He also happened to be a gay, male prostitute (of course). He was on record as entering the White House on dozens of occasions where there were no press briefings. What was he doing there? Was he seeing someone at the White House?
I think all of these except 6(c) are plausible. Even though I am an evil, Bush-hater, I still think the top two possibilities are very real. But the fact that they came out with the story on a Monday, it was so sudden and unexpected and that they had no good excuse other than the usual family nonsense makes me think something is up. So, until there's a real answer, we'll get to keep speculating.
So, what do you think?
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The Real Reasons Karl Rove Might Have Resigned
Posted Aug 13th 2007 11:12AM by Cenk Uygur
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Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 5)
31. Thomas Gasset,Why doe's free speech bother you so much? Who's paying you to write this ridiculous,
hateful rant?
You sound like a far right wacko.Your fascist
world is the only place where Bush is "wildly
poular".
The liberal Congress? 25-30% of the Democrats in
Congress are decidedly Consevative.
The Dems efforts to do the People's will is
constantly blocked by the Republicans,so the
end result is that nothing is being accomplished
legislationwise.The Repub plan (and yours), is to
make the Dems look inconsequential.
Despite the Dem majority in both Houses, they
don't have a filibuster proof majority.
And whatever happened to that vaunted Repub
accountability.You hold the Dems accountable
for our low standing in the world for exposing the
crimes of the Bush Crime Family.
If you knew anything about our Constitution,
you might also know that it is the responsibility
of Congress to enforce compliance with our laws.
This may surprise you, because the Repub controlled
Congress abdicated this responsibility for 6 years. Facts have a well known liberal bias.
BOB JOHNSON at 10:38PM on Aug 13th 2007
32. BREAKING NEWS:
KR is leaving the White House to set up a mega far right BLOG and radio program for the Murdock group in conjunction with the Wall Street Journal....
Cenk, with all your experience conjecture is nothing more than gossip, always the old, "if you have nothing good to say come sit by me" syndrome.
Sure the first reaction is FFLMAO, then reality, what S is about to hit the fan and how much more evil can rOVEr accomplish for the neo-con/military industrial complex once free from the current regime?
So hey, how did you like my little conjecture, seems sorta surprising you all did not think of that one! ;-)
Steve at 10:42PM on Aug 13th 2007
33. BREAKING NEWS:
KR is leaving the White House to set up a mega far right BLOG and radio program for the Murdock group in conjunction with the Wall Street Journal....
Cenk, with all your experience conjecture is nothing more than gossip, always the old, "if you have nothing good to say come sit by me" syndrome.
Sure the first reaction is FFLMAO, then reality, what S is about to hit the fan and how much more evil can rOVEr accomplish for the neo-con/military industrial complex once free from the current regime?
So hey, how did you like my little conjecture, seems sorta surprising you all did not think of that one! ;-)
Steve at 9:25AM on Aug 14th 2007
34. I have no idea why he quit. And even though I highly doubt it, perhaps his completely bogus-sounding answer was actually on the level. I can't rule it out yet. Deductive reasoning could provide an answer.
But if Karl Rove "mysteriously" dies or is murdered within the next couple of months or years (I suspect it will definitely happen before Bush leaves office), we'll know he was whacked by Bush et al to keep him quiet about certain high crimes and misdemeanors, most of which he himself cooked up. Normally, I'd find this sort of thing deeply disturbing, but this piece of crap lived by the sword, so it seems fitting that he die by the sword, as well. So if this happens, by taking into account the timing regarding current subpoenas/indictments, you could therefore substantially narrow down the number of possible scenarios.
The Messiah at 12:37AM on Aug 14th 2007
35. Thomas Gasset,Why doe's free speech bother you so much? >>
I'm simply practicing my right of free speech. Clue: You can say whatever comes into that tiny Lefty near brain, but that dosen't mean I can't call you on it. There is no issue of free speech here ... unless you're a bit confused on exactly what free speech is? Clue: It ain't free. Lest we forget.
Who's paying you to write this ridiculous, hateful rant?>>
I made serveral cogent points that you apparently missed or don't care to respond to. As to hateful ... I don't see it. What passes on these boards for political discourse is tame by historical standards. (Before the PC clowns) I find it rather delusional to equate an opinion different from yours as one that must have been paid for, but liberals do it all the time. What's up with that? I imagine there is a long Latin word that describes this sort of mental illness ... maybe you should look into it?
You sound like a far right wacko.Your fascist
world is the only place where Bush is "wildly
poular".>>
So, my 'hateful rant' is different from yours ... how? Don't look now, but you do what you complain about. Personally, I just think you're angry because I'm better at it than you are. Just my .02
The liberal Congress? 25-30% of the Democrats in
Congress are decidedly Consevative.>>
Democrats control Congress and have an approval rating just above Bin Laden. (14%) And, if you call the lost over the Lefty rainbow Dorothys running congress conservative ... God help us all, when the lunatic Left rears their ugly heads.
The Dems efforts to do the People's will is constantly blocked by the Republicans,so the end result is that nothing is being accomplished
legislationwise.>>
Our system of government was setup that way on purpose you clueless clown. It's supposed to be hard to pass legislation ... even when you call it the peoples business. Oh, and if Congress was doing the peoples business ... they would be doing better than 14% approval rating ... right?
Congress abdicated this responsibility for 6 years. >>>
I'm surprised you would even try this one. Democrats promised to hold the Bush administration responsible for Abu Graub, manipulating intelligence and lying us into war, and all the other outragous accusations that have ruined our standing in the world ... right? So, maybe you can explain to the class why fired Federal prosectuors that serve at the pleasure of the presidnet is all they are having hearing on? Remember when you traitors told the world Bush was trashing our constitution with his wire taps? Why no hearings on that one ... oh, I forgot, liberals just made those wiretaps law. Do you have any explaination? We are waiting, droneboy.
Thomas J Gassett at 12:45AM on Aug 14th 2007
36. He's going to be the CEO for Diebold?
>>>>
First we had to spend hundreds of millions on touchscreen voting, because democrats told us they were too damn stupid to correctly use a punchcard ballot. Now, Diebold is out to steal another election.
Personally, I think liberals have a complex and need a conspriacy to explian how one political party could run unelectable candidate after unelectable candiate.
First they run the lunatic Gore, then the cardboard cutout John Hines Kerry, and now they are going to trot out walks like a man Hillary. A women whose only claim to fame is being publicly humilated by her husband. And when she goes down in flames ... you stupid liberals will blame everyone and everything ... except your idiot selves. Go figure?
Thomas J Gassett at 1:05AM on Aug 14th 2007
37. Republicans love the fact that liberals continue to be obsessed with Karl Rove.
Robert Byngham at 6:12AM on Aug 14th 2007
38. If you were real journalists and not just hate-filled partisan "bloggers," your sources would have been telling you (for three years) that he's been actively planning to leave the White House and spend time with his family. Instead, you just read the news as it comes out--like any other yahoo--and treat it as if it's a bombshell revelation because *you* just happened to find out about it. Your conspiracy theorizing about the departure is, in a political blog, equivalent to masturbation.
Grow up.
J at 8:28AM on Aug 14th 2007
39. Pray tell, what does this have to do with John Edwards.People beat up on Elizabeth Edwards because she dared to publicly declare that Hillary and Barack were the darlings of the press because of sex and race. Thank God she had the guts to bring that issue out into the open. People beat up on John because somebody who pays the bills miraculously got some obscure barber in California who happened to cut his hair, reams of free national publicity. Edwards has the best platform going of any of these wanna-bes. Just read and compare them. Guess I am expecting too much. Who wants to read positions and platforms? We'd rather be enamoured by the sex or race of the candidates.
So guys like John Edwards or Joe Biden get scoured not only by Limbaugh or O'Reilly but Young Turks who would link Edwards to a blog on Karl Rove. Give me a break!!! -Wyll
Will Quick at 9:18AM on Aug 14th 2007
40. To run a Rovian campaign Karl needs room to operate. In the White House his emails and correspondence are tracked and recorded. To help the Republican machine manipulate another national election he will need privacy.
The nation shouldn't know how often he will be speaking with the US Attorney in Arkansas. His good unqualified political operator friend that he instilled to undercut Hillary. If nothing new can be found be sure they will create something than let it fade after the election. Our tax dollars hard at work.
johng at 10:17AM on Aug 14th 2007
41. He's leaving to prevent the Constitutional showdown over his failure to testify before Congress.
BT at 9:51AM on Aug 14th 2007
42. Before making assumptions, try reading Paul Gigot's piece in Monday's Wall Street Journal. I forget that young liberals like you aren't smart enough to read a real newspaper.
I know people who have worked in Washington, and it's a lousy place to work. No one stays in Washington after retirement age. They move away.
Anyone in the military will tell you that the Pentagon or anywhere else in the Beltway is a lousy duty station. Schwartzkopf avoided Washington assignments like the plague.
Kent at 12:19PM on Aug 14th 2007
43. What ever reason the dems seem to be a little upset.Is it they can't keep their eyes on his movements, he is very intelligent, does this worry them????/ edwards comments are typical of someone who looks like a "pretty playboy" this guy is such a loser and should give up now. He is such a phony and his wife looks a and sounds like his mother always speaking out in the most idiotic ways. Rove will do his thing and it's none of their business.
Jane at 10:54AM on Aug 14th 2007
44. An Ego like this does not cave, it is always strategizing the next chess move. Nevertheless, the Triumvirate (the "brain", the "executor", and the clueless "face") are crumbling. Pray they don't take the nation with them !
mikki at 10:59AM on Aug 14th 2007
45. I think Karl Rove is leaving because he is setting up to help the next "BUSH" try to run for office. They don't want to announce it now with the President at such a low. But after the next terrorist threat/attack it will be prime time and he'll already be deep in the trenches with the dirty campaining up and running.
Cathy at 11:14AM on Aug 14th 2007