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Will Rove Get a Pardon?
Then, in September, an internal investigation at the Department of Justice concluded that the 2006 firings of the US attorneys was problematic, which prompted Attorney General Michael B. Mukasy to appoint Nora Dannehy, an acting US attorney in Connecticut, as a special prosecutor to investigate the matter. In particular, Dannehy was charged with seeking information concerning Rove’s participation, if any, in the scandal, since Rove had refused to be interviewed for the Justice Department inquiry. “It’s an ongoing investigation at the moment,” says Tom Carson, a spokesman for the special prosecutor. “Miss Dannehy has to submit a status report within sixty days [of commencing the investigation], but I don’t know the extent to which that will be made public.”
Should Rove be indicated by the special prosecutor before January 20, 2009 (unlikely) or should the House Judiciary Committee seek and receive a contempt of Congress charge, which it could do (very unlikely), that would make Bush’s decision to pardon Rove easier. “I think Bush pardons Rove on his last day in office regardless,” says George Shipley, a longtime political foe of Rove in Texas. “Bush has to pardon a hundred guys—washboarders, torturers, lawyers who wrote the opinions on torture, the White House political staff who violated the Hatch Act. And Rove.”
Others disagree. “I would think Bush would not want to further damage his presidency by clearing the hired help,” Roger Stone says. “Bush Senior’s pardoning of Casper Weinberger is different. Weinberger was secretary of defense and a social peer of the Bush family. Karl is still the hired help.” What’s more, Bush may not be pleased with the way his presidency has turned out. “Rove is the architect of Bush’s current unpopularity,” Stone says. “He is the architect of failure. Bush might want the judgment of history to be on Karl as well as himself.”
As such, Rove may have worries separate from potential indictments or a possible presidential pardon: his legacy. Within the Republican Party, he is now viewed by many as the mastermind behind one of the greatest collapses of a political party in American history—losing both chambers of Congress in 2006, now the presidency.
That dislike, however, has not necessarily translated to the public. Rove is a highly-paid television commentator and a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, evidence his opinions are still valued, even sought after. He also earns hefty fees for speaking engagements, in part because few political figures can draw a crowd like Rove.
But the overwhelming reality remains. At this time, Bush looks to have had a failed presidency. So is Rove still glad Bush called him the “architect,” since it now appears that what he helped create was years of unmitigated disaster?
Paul Alexander is the author of Machiavelli’s Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove and Man of the People: The Life of John McCain, among others. His journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Nation, New York, The Village Voice, Salon, George, The New York Observer, The Advocate, Men’s Journal, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone. A member of The Authors Guild and PEN American Center, he has been a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
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Paul Alexander is the author of Machiavelli’s Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove and Man of the People: The Life of John McCain, among others. A member of The Authors Guild and PEN American Center, Paul has been a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Forestroot
W is already bragging about all his successes--especially in Iraq. This guy is oblivious. He is like Mr. McGoo, stuck in a mire of pig doo-doo, thinking he is at a spa in a plush mud bath. Bugliosi in one of most recent C-Span appearances, said he was sending his new book on Bush as a murderer to every single DA in the country. His biggest fear is that W is going to be able to lounge around for decades, living the good life when he should be in prison for life. Rove was just the Propaganda Minister--although his fingerprints are all over certain illegal prosecutions or prosecutorial omissions. Rove is a liar but he did not set policy. At any rate, I now think that W will not issue blanket pardons when he does not have the faintest idea that he or his team did anything wrong.
coloradokarl
Don't Kid Yourselves, EVERYONE gets a Pardon. Even the people that are not guilty will get pardons, Just To Be On The Safe Side. If I was Bush I would do the same thing.
magicspin
Why should it be just one turkey that gets pardoned?
monkeyman
He WILL be pardoned! The code among "good ol' boy cliques is very much adhered to, even by hypocrital, treacherous morons. W knows if he isn't pardoned he will be roasted. He has orchestrated more damage and pain to more people than any figure in the last 50 or so years. Terminology doesn't even exist that accurately describes the absence of redemption for this scoundrel. If you start listing all he has initiated it would take hours to finish. He should be locked up forever or worse.
AndreainNY
"That dislike, however, has not necessarily translated to the public."
That might just be because the guy is brilliant and worth listening to. He's popular for a reason -- and hated for a reason. He's outsmarted quite a few people, who despise him.
quatro
Carl Rove is not brilliant and is not worth listening to. He is a traitor to his country. He will get a pardon from Bush because he will tell Bush to do so. Bush does what he is told.
Having said that-- It is a well known fact that Carl orchestrated
the theft of the 04 election so it seems to me that we need to prove it in a court of law. Once that is done we can reverse everything the Bush administration has done including any pardons.
Then we prosecute every one of them.
condo1
george pardon carl; and they all live appily everafter in texas never to be hopefully heard from again. have these guys done enough damage to our country in the last 8 years. poor pap bush; must make him sick to see what george has done; who he pals around with. can't u see carl and scotter and george riding off into the sunset.
ReturnToHavana
Who didn't see this coming? Since the beginning of the 2nd term? But first, our legally challenged former AttGen, then Rove, the V-P, Rumey, Scooter, on & on. So where was the "liberal" media w/questions about this issue earlier? Speaking of which, if Gov. P believes Gibson & SK asked hardball questons she obviously does not remember Sam Donaldson.
jpmjr73
This guy needs to lay off the cool aid.
Rove will not be charged with anything
The new guy preaching CHANGE had instead loaded up on Clinton cronies. My advise, lock up the young girls!
Screw you
sultanofbaseball
I am not in favor of Presidential pardons under any circumstances but if I was Karl Rove would not be one of them.We still do not know fully his role in the Valerie Plame Scooter Libby situation.
JohnMuir
Rove is like the first mate on the biggest pirate ship ever. He and Chaney should not only be prosecuted but keel-hauling also comes to mind.
EThompson
"That might just be because the guy is brilliant and worth listening to. He's popular for a reason -- and hated for a reason. He's outsmarted quite a few people, who despise him."
Or it could just be that people will basically excuse anything from anyone that agrees with them.
I'm not sure you can call his scummy tactics "outsmarting" someone, either. He's pretty much Limbaugh without a drug problem.
donatello
This entire group should not pass go, not collect anything but a slow crush of the jewels, then a public persecution slowly, painfully, tearing those jewels from their mount, in front of all their peers in hell.. When no jewels are present, jalapeno laced super glue with cactus needles inserted one at a time would come close to justice, I hope you get the idea this is not sarcasm.
hockeydog
The thing about Karl Rove is that he is a bully! Despite the fact that he is shrewd and cunning, his is a third-rate mentality. Bush's legacy may be questionable, but his morality has never been in doubt. The irony is that his original chief advisor, the infamous "turd blossom" has no morality at all. It is doubtful he will ever serve prison time regardless of the number of lives and careers he has ruined. But I salute The Daily Beast for keeping a little spotlight on this dark, slimey crawler of a person.
donatello
After taking a second look the next day I must repeat the Bush/Cheney montra, "We American's don't torture". (This is sarcasm).
Thank you.
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