Dick Cheney helped force George W. Bush to finally agree to dump top aide Karl Rove, sources say. Cheney and Rove have engaged in a mostly behind-the-scenes feud since the indictment of Cheney's top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in 2005. Rove was included as "Official A" in the indictment who also leaked information to key media members to try to discredit Iraqi war critic Joseph Wilson. Rove did not get indicted after giving depositions five times in the investigation and changing some of his statements. Cheney, who reportedly masterminded the vendetta campaign against Wilson himself, thought that Rove blamed the scandal on Libby, who he considered a scapegoat. Rove and Cheney have been at each other's throats since. Cheney's lobbying efforts to convince Bush to dump Rove were aided by Rove's dismal efforts in the 2006 elections and role in ensuing scandals involving the political firings of attorneys general and the improper use by White House aides of Republican National Committee email accounts. Even Bush knew Rove had become too big of a liability. Rove's lies that he is resigning to spend more time with his family, including a second wife and son in college who won't be around anyway, are laughable, to say the least. Perhaps Rove wants to spend more time with his gay stepfather, the one who left Rove and his suicidal mother during Christmas time one year, to talk about "family values."
Jackson Thoreau is a Washington, D.C.-area journalist/writer. His latest book, "Born to Cheat: How Bush, Cheney, Rove & Co. Broke the Rules, From the Sandlot to the White House," debuted at the Take Back America conference in June 2007. More info on the book is at http://www.geocities.com/jacksonthor/cheat.html
to who will take over running Bush's brain, once Rove departs for Texas-- Cheney. Or maybe, Cheney was ALWAYS the one, ever since Bush asked Cheney for advice on who to choose as a running mate.
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Rob Kall (722 articles, 3752 quicklinks, 305 diaries, 1495 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 2:14:39 PM
But the Plame situation really got Cheney mad at Rove, who likely did try to blame everything on Libby. Even before that, there were tensions. Rove was among those floating rumors about Cheney being replaced as VP before the 2004 elections.
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Jackson Thoreau (25 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 20 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 2:31:30 PM
There is always more to the story when someone resigns before it is time to go. When do they not say it's to "spend more time with family". Good ridence Rove. I always thought he was over-rated as hell.
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Davol (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments)
on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 5:48:39 PM
I started keeping a file on Rove (and one on Cheney and one on David Addington and one on Wolfowitz ..) in fall, 2005 as things were at PEAK chaos at that time.
The call for the head of ROVE was scheeching! People forget even the rePUGs wanted his head. So this all predates a year ago, by far. The time period to check is November 2005 ...
Yes, this trotting out of the wife and "son" are just excruciating to witness in their psychopolitical horror!! Real "Alice Miller territory" stuff .... complicated by the psychopathic personalities of them all ...
As I am fond of pointing out, Karl better watch OUT! He's ticked off the CIA, and someone in Langley is about to get a much larger desk with TWO windows ... after outting Plame (and numerous OTHER blunders not mentioned in the AP reports) he can run, but he cannot hide .. where would he go that is SAFE ...?
Some "brain" ... <sarcasm dripping>
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ladybroadoak (37 articles, 20 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 386 comments)
on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 7:23:45 AM
Story last year gives more insight into Cheney-Rove feud
This is part of it:
Sources say the rift between Rove and the Vice President's office crystallized when Rove quietly attempted to gauge the temperature for replacing Cheney on the 2004 Presidential ballot last year.
"Rove was the source of 'feelers' put out before the last presidential election in which he was suggesting that Cheney could be replaced on the ticket with someone who had better poll ratings," said one of the former experts approached who wished to remain anonymous.
"White House polls were showing that Cheney was a drag on the reelection ticket and that the Iraq war issue might be responsible for about a three percent drop, with Cheney the principal object of voter hostility in this percentage of anti-war sentiment among the general public," the source added.
Cheney, the source said, got wind of "Rove's political soundings" and the already tense relationship between the Bush and Cheney camps became almost impossible.
This is sort of like when the two top running backs on a team don't like the fact that the other one gets the ball a lot.
In the end, they slap each other on the behind and go out there and win the game. In this case, the game is the total destruction of our Constitutional Republic in favor of large corporations and Rethuglican cronies, and both Cheney and Rove have their respective roles to play.
Rove couldn't be "forced out" if it wasn't part of HIS strategy to leave. Yes, maybe he did pin the Plame Affair on Scooter, but he also got Scooter his get-out-of-jail-free card from Bush, and I'm sure will arrange for Scooter to live happily ever after.
Rove could sink Bush/Cheney and the whole bunch with one long chat with Fitzgerald, so I doubt that anybody could make him do anything he didn't want to do.
There's a plan here and we won't know it until it's too late. Unfortunately, the idiot Democrats in congress probably think this is a GOOD thing and are already joyous and gloating how they are going to win 2008 big now. They are showing themselves to be the most pathetic, misguided and self-indulgent bunch of idiots ever to be the only roadblock between us and corporate fascism. I fear for our nation.
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Charlie L (2 articles, 2 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 612 comments)
on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 11:17:12 AM
Jackson, please, can we all stop repeating the lie
that the outing of Plame had ANYTHING to do with her husband. That is a ridiculous red herring thrown out by the criminals to keep a gullible press and public off the real reason.
The one and ONLY reason she was outed is to crush her company Brewster Jennings, who worked on WMD tracking (blck market etc) in the middle east. How many of our "assets" connected to this co. have been killed???? I have heard rumors that Brewster Jennings foiled a plot to smuggle WMD's into Iraq (aha! there they are! we were right all along!)
Brewster Jennings also would have been a counter weight to all the lies we are now hearing about Iran. Now, not so much.
Think for yourself. The blowing of her cover is treason. Treason during war is a CAPITAL OFFENSE. This means the death penalty. Would dick, karl and knee-pad Novak really risk a firing squad to "get back at" a guy who ALREADY published the op-ed. That is absurd. They are evil but not retarded. The Joe Wilson fiction was a complete fabrication, a convenient excuse.
Demand your Senators and Rep find out how many Brewster Jennings employees or associates have been murdered.
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CamusRebel (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 59 comments)
on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 11:37:02 AM
