Apparently, we won’t have Karl Rove to kick around anymore:
Karl Rove, chief architect of the Bush presidency and the premier Republican strategist of the last decade, will step down as White House deputy chief of staff Aug. 31.
Rove revealed his plans to the Wall Street Journal in a Saturday afternoon interview that was published this morning. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed the news to The Washington Post.
Rove, 56, has survived years of pointed investigation of his activities while in the White House — first during special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe of White House leaks, and more recently by Democratic-controlled Congressional committees examining the firing of U.S. attorneys and the involvement of Justice Department officials in White House political briefings.
He refused Congressional subpoenas, citing executive privilege, and was never charged in the White House leak scandal despite evidence that he was involved.
Critics of the White House have demanded Rove’s resignation for years. Rove first discussed the idea with Bush about a year ago, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul A. Gigot reported in a column in today’s Journal.
Rove said he did not want to leave immediately after the Democrats took over Congress in 2007, Gigot reported. Nor did he want to abandon the White House as the president pushed through a troop surge in Iraq and fought — unsucessfully — to forge new immigration laws. Rove’s decision to end 19 years of working as Bush’s closest political adviser came only after chief of staff Josh Bolten told senior White House aides that if they stayed past Labor Day of this year, they would be expected to remain on staff until Bush’s second term ends 17 months from now.
“I just think it’s time,” Gigot quoted Rove as saying.
And considering the stellar success he’s had in the White House, I’m sure he’ll be in high demand.
Ummmm
Oh, never mind.
August 13th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Goodbye Karl Rove…
The Presiden’t chief political adviser is resigning. Will AP now give us an update on the contents of Rove’s garage? Inquiring minds want to know. Jason Leopold will now have to find honest work, that’s for sure….