Despite the fact my day job does not entail partisan political hackery and parroting the party line, I’m going to do so anyway: Karl Rove is going nowhere, and he will easily survive the lynch mob we see in DC this week for three primary reasons:
First, and per usual, the GOP is already kicking the teeth in of the “liberals” and “soft on terrorist”
Democrat inquisitors demanding Rove’s head. Bush/Rove and Company ALWAYS win when they move the dialogue back to a debate on being tough on terrorists versus being appeasers. That’s exactly what’s happening as GOP talking heads are out lambasting Rove critics as the same bunch of MoveOn.org and Howard Dean foreign policy wimps that were dismissed in the presidential contest. Good move, and it will work.
Second, with all the Supreme Court intrigue swirling around Washington with uncertainty as to what Bush will do next regarding appointments, he and his team have the option of naming a justice when it suits their schedule and needs. Bush’s naming of a new justice to replace Sandra Day O’Conner will quickly swamp any coverage of the Rove situation, and those Dems firing at Rove will be forced to redirect their fire at whomever Bush selects.
Third, this is strictly a DC Beltway story. The fact that dirty politics and under-handed activities occur in Washington isn’t exactly news to anyone outside of town — it just isn’t, and won’t be. Joe Wilson? Valerie Plame? Karl Rove? Yellow cake uranium?… who cares?
Especially in the wake of the London bombings, people want the terrorists to suffer — and lilly-livered hand-wringing from the Howard Dean/Michael Moore crowd about mean Karl Rove and those terrible GOP henchmen has no audience except for the base.
The Dems hold no cards. This fight is already over.