AP: Thinking the unthinkable: What if Rove were forced to resign?

[Wilms]

Posted on Wed, Oct. 12, 2005

Thinking the unthinkable: What if Rove were forced to resign?

NEDRA PICKLER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Karl Rove's fingerprints are all over everything at the White House, from politics to policy to the shape of President Bush's entire career in government.

It's hard to imagine Bush without Rove, and vice versa. But the question of what would happen if Rove were forced to resign is something to contemplate, now that the grand jury is pressing the president's aide-de-camp in its investigation into who leaked the identity of a covert CIA officer.

White House insiders speaking privately say Rove would be irreplaceable. While Bush has a few other close confidants in aides like chief of staff Andy Card and counselor Dan Bartlett, none combine such an intimate working knowledge of politics and policy with such a long trusted relationship with the president.

snip

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/12880376.htm

[longship]

1. I like the lead sentence.

Karl Rove's fingerprints are all over everything at the White House, from politics to policy to the shape of President Bush's entire career in government.

The conclusion is forgone. Rove's fingerprints are all over every mess into which the lunatics in the White House has thrust us.

Nominated.

[opihimoimoi]

3. Guilty of Lunacy? I could go for that....Vote for it even.....

[bigbrother05]

2. You have to remember

this is Texas politics, they will just hire him as a consultant.

[unblock]

6. ding ding ding ding ding!

we have a winner!

[MADem]

10. The Heckuva Job Brownie solution, indeed! nt

[soothsayer]

31. Yup. But it would be fun to expose that!

[Norquist Nemesis]

39. Or more specifically,

it's Republican politics. And yes, I completely agree they'ld hire him as a consultant/private contractor.

[goforit]

42. Or better yet give him the metal of honor.

[DS1]

51. They don't even have to 'hire' him

Some rich GOP Donor would probably forward him the difference - and then some - and they'd say the work was being done pro-bono by a White House guest.

[Why Syzygy]

4. You mean like Bush without a Brain?

Har Har

[meow2u3]

56. Bush would die of anencephaly

:evilgrin:

[bluestateguy]

5. I wish you hadn't posted that

I don't want to get my hopes up yet again, only to face another door slam.

[goddess40]

30. He could still run the White House without the title

I'm sure many private industries would line up to pay him to continue doing what he's doing. So unless he goes to jail he will continue to be a threat to Americans and the rest of the world.

[northzax]

50. except...even an indictment

removes a security clearance for a non-elected person. And therefore, sharing any classified information with him (and remember, this administration classfies everything) is a felony.

[louis-t]

69. You don't think they'd share classified info with him?

'Course they would. Laws don't apply to Repugs.

[goddess40]

71. I don't think the right cares about security clearances

when it comes to their agenda.

[keopeli]

7. The unthinkable to Pickles is no Rove. The unthinkable to us is MORE Rove.

[Cronus Protagonist]

52. Yes, because how else would George get a blow job?

Laura certainly won't do it, and with Rove away, the only option left is to grant Jeff Gannon "personal interviews".

:evilgrin:

[Hekate]

8. What if? Popcorn, champagne, my Schadenfreude Dance, Abby's Abby Dance...

That kind of thing. :evilgrin:

Hekate

[aquart]

9. Teach me the Abby Dance.

Obviously, all Abbys should know it.

[Blaq Dem]

11. "Off with his head!"

In any normal civilized nation, Rove would be jailed. For LIFE, perhaps.

[cassiepriam]

12. The best we can hope for is that he is run out of the WH.

[VaYallaDawg]

65. But let's hope it's a nice, long very stinky process! n/t

[CTyankee]

26. Zee garrot, peut-etre? (pas de text)

[ClintonTyree]

13. Is there anyone who thinks Rove wouldn't.........

still be "the presidents brain" even if he was forced to resign? Little georgie would be peeing his pants without his "grownups" around to "guide" :eyes: his decisions.
Rove would still be as big an influence then as now. IMO. Even in a Federal country club prison he'd have the opportunity to be in constant contact with the White House.
It might slow the cabal down a trifle, but The Agenda and utter horse-shit would continue unabated. KKKarl would remain bush's brain.

[Wind Dancer]

28. I agree!

It would be nice to see Rove politically humiliated in front of the world even if he continued to work behind the scenes. How many lives has this sociopath destroyed? Rove's rise to power will be his downfall, every elite ruler has suffered the same fate and this administration will be no different.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. I fear how many they will take down with them.

[cassiepriam]

14. He'll go on the lecture circuit, write a book, make a gazillion $$

and be a hero.

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. Bush Without Rove Is Hard to Imagine

(No it's not)

October 12, 2005, 4:05 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Karl Rove's fingerprints are all over everything at the White House, from politics to policy to the shape of President Bush's entire career in government.

It's hard to imagine Bush without Rove, and vice versa. But the question of what would happen if Rove were forced to resign is something to contemplate, now that the grand jury is pressing the president's aide-de-camp in its investigation into who leaked the identity of a covert CIA officer.

White House insiders speaking privately say Rove would be irreplaceable. While Bush has a few other close confidants in aides like chief of staff Andy Card and counselor Dan Bartlett, none combine such an intimate working knowledge of politics and policy with such a long trusted relationship with the president.

The two have been working together since the 1970s, when Rove was helping lay the groundwork for the Bush's father to win the presidency and trying to get the younger Bush elected to Congress.

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-bush-without-rove,0,1398659.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines


Are they kidding, Bush without Rove is hard to imagine? That's all must of evil DUer's have been dreaming about since 12/12/2000 or at the least, since Fitzgerald got serious about taking his investigation all the way to the top. Besides Bush doesn't have to live without Rove, I'm sure we can arrange for them to be cellmates in prison.

[Lancer]

16. Not just W, but the entire WH staff

will be like the Flying Wallendas doing the 7-man pyramid without a net.

[leveymg]

17. Okay, we'll give them a whole cell block, just to themselves.

Leavenworth or GITMO? Choices, choices.

[Lancer]

18. Works for me.

Dirt suites for everybody!

[leveymg]

20. Just posted this elsewhere. May be worth repeating.

You'll like this idea: an open air stockade in lower Manhattan at the
site of the WTC. Allow the public to get up close, like in the old Central Park Zoo.

Sentence the lot of them to one day for each of the 3,000 who perished due to the Bush Administration's negligent homicide on 9/11. Another day for every serviceman in Iraq. A third day for each victim who died after the levies broke in New Orleans.

Please, don't feed the animals.

[rosesaylavee]

24. Will we allow them warm shelter or is this an open air thing? n/t

[leveymg]

36. We let their fur grow out during the Winter.

And shave them come Spring. :evilgrin:

[rosesaylavee]

58. Sounds fair. We may be able to get volunteers

to knit their fur into useable scarves and mittens for the less fortunate... That is if the fur can be cleaned of all vermin prior to handling.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

33. Send him to Egypt for some "aggressive questioning"

The way we do with other terrorists.

[goforit]

43. They would honestly drive each other crazy. Can see it now.

[Why Syzygy]

19. A puppet without a clown.

What an historic event.

[Missy M]

21. It's not hard for me to imagine, I think it's great....

now if we could only have the country without bush.

[bklyncowgirl]

22. I think we've been seeing it lately.

While Karl's been spending quality time with his lawyer when he's not doubled over in agony trying to pass kidney stones, Bush has been left to function on his own and the result has not been pretty.

[Why Syzygy]

23. lol

Is that kidney stone for real? Could not happen to a more deserving individual.

And Bushie doesn't have his muffy? Awww . what a crying shame.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

25. What's to stop Rove from helping * even if he does resign?

it would seem that he could still assist the bush admin even if he is no longer "officially" part of the team?

:shrug:

[Bloodblister Bob]

34. Rove's Not Going Anywhere

They can do whatever they want to Rove, but, as you say, he'll still run the operation. The law isn't going to slow them down.

[leesa]

27. Oh it would be so very sad. Maybe he'll take the Murderer Bush with him.

[catmandu57]

29. I'd rather he be fired

and imprisoned without visiting privileges, better yet stick the needle in his arm for high treason.

[oscarmitre]

32. I prefer to think of it as

the monkey losing the organ grinder.

[architect359]

35. Hate to be cynical but

I really don't think that it would amount to whole hill of beans. I mean, even if he were to resign - there is no saying that he still doesn't have any influence. I've been thinking for some time now that even if Bush were to be impeached and removed, so what? Who's next in line of succession? Cheney. If he goes, who's next in line? See what I mean? This administration is known for its cronism - the inner circle is neo-con. Those that hold influencial positions are Neo-con or at least are comfortable with the ideology. How much you want to bet that if Rove steps down, his replacement is someone that believes in his methods?

Yes, if Rove resigns - that is great. It is. But we also need to see the big picture also. Its all going to boil down to the grass roots (duh, singing to the choir here). It's not just the executive branch that needs our attention but also the legislation arm - and by default, if we are lucky, SCOTUS.

What I am afraid of is that we pour all of our energy and focus on these "figureheads" that we become exhusted when they are gone, and we don't pay attention to teh lower tiers to check any other neo-cons or the like from bubbling up to the surface.

Sorry for the preachiness...and (perhaps) the redundancy of the message. :)

[many a good man]

37. A doctor will declare the president "brain-dead" if KKKarl is ...

is sent pounding rocks somewhere. What's the Constitution say about replacing a brain dead Executive?

[alcibiades_mystery]

38. Excuse me, but Rove apparently has NO knowledge of POLICY

"...such an intimate working knowledge of politics and policy"

If he's advising, then it's clear his policy ideas are little more than Ivory Tower conservative dream visions, with little application in reality. Every one of the "policies" they've deployed in reality has been an unmitigated disaster, from their so-called defense policy that weirdly focused on Russia and China until 9/11 (disaster), to their weird "use local forces to get Osama" policy (disaster), to their Iraq policy (unmitigated disaster), to their bizarre deficit ballooning tax policies (disaster), to their inscrutable, alineating foreign policy (disaster), to their crony capital economic policy (disaster), to their police-state domestic policy (disaster) and now their nutso health policies (disaster), to their Social Security policies (disaster averted by the American people), it's disaster, after disaster, after disaster. And the boy genius suddenly is an expert on POLICY? Are you kidding me? He don't know shit about policy, if actual, real life, non-conservative-fantasy-world RESULTS are any measure.

[Miss Chybil]

40. Unless they put him in a cell without a telephone, it wouldn't change

a thing. He'd just continue running the country from home.

[Wordie]

41. Tweety said it would be like playing 3/4 of the game w/ the 2nd string...

(finishing the rest of this term without Rove, et.al.) ...from Bush's perspective, at least (and I am probably paraphrasing what he said here).

Why stop at Rove? This DUer likes thinking the TRULY unthinkable (for them): what if the Fitzgerald probe gets BOTH Rove AND Cheyney? Ahhh, just contemplate that for a moment. Lovely, isn't it? (Ok, so maybe that's just too much to wish for.)

Btw, does anyone still have transcripts of the debates? At least I think this was from the debates (Gore? Kerry?). I know that during the campaigns Bush went on and on ad nauseum about how he was not a "micro-manager" because he knew how to surround himself with good people to advise him...LOL

His judgement ought now to be very much in question. And that ought to be an issue in the Miers hearings.

[goforit]

45. If Tweety would have been a fairer host in 2000, W wouldn't be Prez!!!!

He is an ass and is part of the crime.

[Wordie]

48. All the more remarkable to hear him going after Rove so fiercely now. eom

[sofa king]

63. Lovely thought

I am reminded of that King with the most peculiar of titles:

Athelred (Ethelred) 'The Unready' was King of the English from 978 to 1016. The term 'Unready' was probably a misinterpretation of the word 'un-raed' which meant 'lack of council'. It appears that Athelred was not able to make any decisions on his own and relied on the Witan council heavily.

http://www.btinternet.com/~timeref/hpr43.htm

[JPZenger]

44. Rove Will Just Move Across the Street

If the scandals get worse, Rove will just close his White House office and move across the street to a private organization. He will still run things. Remember mob bosses have found ways to run their empires from inside prisons.

This would be a major improvement because we would know that our tax dollars would no longer be paying Rove's salary.

[DoYouEverWonder]

60. The only place Rove is moving anytime soon

is into a jail cell.

[sunnystarr]

46. Will the real president please stand down

from cited article

Some Republicans suggest the investigation has already taken a toll, weakening and distracting Rove. Some even suggest the botched early response to Hurricane Katrina and the flash of indignation from the political right over the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination might have been averted had Rove been more hands-on.

There should be a law that prohibits any non-elected official from assuming the role of President. The fact that Rove is referred to as "Bush's brain" and that Bush would be brainless without him should set off alarms in the hearts and minds of all Americans.

[freestyle]

47. "The cemeteries are full of indispensable men." DeGaulle

No one is irreplaceable. The evil will continue, unfortunately.

[stubtoe]

49. This from the AP, eh?

They're getting bolder, aren't they? I'll take it as a hopeful sign that Rove could be dead meat after all.

[0rganism]

53. Still bears the tell-tail Pickler stains tho

That worshipful tone in which Nedra Pickler idolizes the dipshit fascist administration and all its component parts, even in their days of utter failure, now THAT would be hard to replace.

[Gregorian]

54. I'd prefer hanging.

But I'm sure there's another "Rove" right around the corner. Life keeps throwing things at us. It's never over.

But to answer the question with a question- what if you had lived in New Orleans? What if you had lived in Baghdad? What if you were Valerie Plame? I think resigning is fairly insignificant. Hopefully the best is yet to come.

[katty]

55. Subtitle: Rove is Forced to Resign

[Giant Robot]

57. I just watched "Casino" for the one hundredth time

over the weekend. It seems to me that since the Bush White House is like a crime syndicate, we should start thinking about it like that. For instance, when DeNiro's character(sorry the name escapes me today)was refused his name on the gaming license, he just made up a new title for himself every so often that had nothing to do with gambling. He was head of the dining room once for example, or another time did his own talk show from the casino on local TV. That's what will happen with Rove if he does not go to jail. He may lose his position and his security clearance, but he will still be the one in charge. Titles and rules do not mean anything to these people, or in reality do not apply to them. At least thats my thought.

[AZBlue]

59. Would it matter? He'd still be the evil one in charge. (n/t)

[go west young man]

61. Maybe he'll do a Tom Delay and just hang out after he's indicted.

Its hard to get rid of cockroaches once they have infested the house.

[On the Road]

62. It Would Make the Same Impact as Richard Pearle "Resigning"

his unpaid post. OK, maybe a little more, but not what we're been anticipating here.

Indictments, now -- that's another matter. I think Nedra is trying to avoid thinking about that option.

[drb]

64. He'd just go on the RNC payroll at double his salary...

...with a direct video conference link to the offal office. Our only goal must be to have him so busy getting slammed in the slammer that he has no time to hatch evil plots.

[Kablooie]

66. Sean Penn is itching to take his place.

[DearAbby]

68. long trusted relationship with the president....

A long trusted friend would lie to the president, saying he had nothing to do with outing a CIA agent? That they would actually do anything without consulting with each other? Wake up sheeple Culture of Coruption is thriving in the White House.

[Canuckistanian]

67. What Nedra fails to mention is....

Rove has had his hand on the tiller even as the ship starts to list badly.
How would this be a disaster? Could it get any worse?

[anotherdrew]

70. bush is NOTHING without rove, too bad they didn't say so in election times

[Nothing Without Hope]

72. This TOLES CARTOON answers the question in the thread title:

[Ferret Annica]

73. Indict Rove

[tanyev]

74. Unthinkable? Nonsense! I think about it all the time.

"Inconceivable!"

"I do not think that word means what you think it means."