WSJ: 'Architect' Builds Bush Policies, Legacy

[question everything]

'Architect' Builds Bush Policies, Legacy

Some Republicans Are Worried by Idea Of a White House Without Adviser Rove
By JOHN D. MCKINNON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 10, 2005; Page A4

WASHINGTON -- Among the problems besetting the White House, the CIA leak investigation appears most threatening. That is because one of those under scrutiny, deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, is far more than merely the strategist behind President Bush's campaign victories.

Mr. Rove is the administration's indispensable man, the connective tissue between the policies and constituencies needed to win elections and govern. Some Republicans even link the administration's recent setbacks on Hurricane Katrina and Harriet Miers to Mr. Rove's legal distractions -- and say they fear worse if he were forced to leave the White House over the investigation. The inquiry centers on whether Bush administration officials leaked the name of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame in retaliation for criticism of the war in Iraq by her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson.

Mr. Rove's White House role ranges beyond the social issues that stir evangelical Christians and the tax cuts that rally economic conservatives. This summer, when nine senators from both parties gathered in the Roosevelt Room to discuss immigration, the main White House figure wasn't the domestic policy adviser but Mr. Rove. He led a briefing on the administration's plans for stiffening border security while easing the path to legal residency for many Mexican-born workers already here.

(snip)

The president has long demonstrated how much he values the relationship. In 2001, he installed Mr. Rove as a senior White House adviser rather than dispatching him to head the Republican National Committee -- as his father, President George H. W. Bush, had done with campaign strategist Lee Atwater. Inside the White House, Mr. Rove developed a reputation for mastering policy details and injecting himself into all manner of issues. Debating a plan to expand disabled veterans' benefits, Mr. Rove offered a summary of two centuries of federal employee benefit history and opposed the expansion as a bad precedent.

(snip)

Critics say Mr. Rove has a win-at-any-cost philosophy. Aside from accusing him of leaking Ms. Plame's identity, they link him to the 2004 presidential campaign's "Swift Boat" ads challenging decorated Vietnam veteran John Kerry; Mr. Rove has denied involvement in the spots. One longtime antagonist, former Texas Republican Chairman Tom Pauken, calls Mr. Rove a "Nixonesque" figure without an "ethical compass." Backers respond by citing his commitment to policy rather than cashing in. "Karl ... rightfully believes we are in a time of great historical significance," Gov. Bush said in an email interview. "He wants to be part of it, rather than pontificating about it charging a large fee."

(snip)


--Christopher Cooper contributed to this article.

Write to John D. McKinnon at [e-mail]

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112889767793063991.html (subscription)

[bobbieinok]

1. Albert Speer????? Hitler's architect

http://www.auschwitz.dk/Speer.htm

Albert Speer was the architect who served Adolf Hitler with devotion and efficiency, starting with his enthusiastic crafting of Nazi rallies and going on to become the organisational genius whose efforts are credited - if that is the word to use - with keeping the German war machine functioning under the onslaught of the Allied blockade and bombardment.

Albert Speer is said to have prolonged the war for at least a year, with the consequent death of hundreds of thousands and widespread ruin. It also gave the Nazis more time to pursue their mass murder of Jews, Russians, Gypsies and others deemed not fit to live.

more....


(edited to add link)

[Toots]

4. Dietrich Eckardt

Was Hitler's Mentor

[radfringe]

2. intelligent disassembling?

---snip---

The evolution of Mr. Bush's statements on the CIA leak case indicate how loath he is to lose the man he has described as his political "architect." Early on in the controversy over the disclosure of Ms. Plame's identity, the president vowed to fire anyone involved. Later, after testimony implicating Mr. Rove became public, Mr. Bush expressed a looser standard, saying he would remove aides who committed crimes. Last week, amid speculation that Mr. Rove might face charges from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Mr. Bush wouldn't say whether he would remove an aide under indictment.

----

ummm...pardon?

[truthisfreedom]

3. a "Nixonesque" figure without an "ethical compass." said by a prominent

thug? unbelieveable. or maybe not... perhaps some thugs are finally coming to the conclusion that although rove ramrodded an incompetent criminal into the whitehouse and kept him relatively safe, it has cost the thugs the future control of this country for many many years to come.