Rove

Karl Rove has resigned as Bush's chief fixer.

Speculation is running rampant as to why....the timing seems a little odd. If I had to bet, it'd be tough, because he had his fingers in so many different pies....

One thing it may be related to is how hard Rove leaned on the Dept. of Justice. Don Siegelman, Democratic Gov. of Alabama 1999-2003, has been charged with eighteen zillion different things, and they finally got a conviction. There has been evidence of jury tampering, and also allegations that Rove was personally involved in directing the prosecution. Google Siegelman's name for more information. (Cf. also Georgia Thompson, a Wisconsin official whose corruption conviction was later thrown out by a visibly angry Appeals Court.)

Politicization of the DOJ is a major issue IMHO and the Democrats should make it a major issue in 2008. The scandal that ensued after nine US Attorneys were fired for partisan reasons has essentially destroyed Alberto Gonzales; any reasonable President would have fired him long ago. (A reasonable President wouldn't have hired that useless moron in the first place, but I digress....)

Obviously there's way more to all of this; I'm just trying to give the nutshell version.

Now, before anybody gets their hopes up for justice, recall that as long as Bush is President, Gonzales is AG; as long as Gonzales is AG, there will be no effective prosecutions of people like Rove. Scooter Libby is a perfect example. He was sentenced to thirty months, fined $250K, and given two years' probation. Bush immediately--as in the same day the judge denied bail--commuted the prison term, saying Libby had still been punished. When asked directly whether Libby would receive a full pardon before the end of Bush's term in office, Bush dodged the question. Anyone who thinks Libby will not be pardoned, raise your hand.

Honestly, with the effective corruption of the entire Dept. of Justice, George Bush could eat a baby on live TV with salt and ketchup and he would suffer no consequences. His craven apologists would continue to cast aspersions on those asking questions about their President, and the media would continue the post-9/11 paralysis, unable to actually speak out with any credibility or integrity, continuing to place lies on an equal footing with the truth. If anybody wants to know how Karl Rove was able to pull off his schemes, it's because of that: America's Very Respectable People on TV in their nice suits and stage makeup are too chickenshit to take a side, even at this late date.

And the band played on....