Karl Rove

By David Swanson

Did you know the United States has in recent years prosecuted hundreds of people for political reasons? This is a crime, or rather a crime wave, that has thus far been addressed primarily by ignoring it. You can read a lot about it from bloggers like Larisa Alexandrovna or Scott Horton. But you won't hear the president mention it on TV.

The secret to the Bush-Cheney-Rove administration was simple, but never reported. Karl Rove kept a file on everyone, and used it with quiet but deadly efficiency for one purpose: blackmail.

A staff member for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said today that the deposition hearing scheduled for Monday, Feb. 23, for Karl Rove, the infamous former political adviser to President George W. Bush, “is still on at this point.” The Obama administration had sought a two week delay to weigh in on whether former Bush White House officials must testify before Congress about the politics involved in the firing of at least nine U.S. attorneys across the country, as well as the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. For more, including the details of an investigative reporter's allegations of a cover-up by the Obama White House in seeking a delay, read the full story in the progressive Locust Fork News-Journal run by investigative reporter and former New York Times free-lancer Glynn Wilson.

We have known all along that the smoking gun was hiding somewhere, nestled down in between the cracks of all the ongoing probes of the Bush Justice Department. In fact we have known that there are way more than one smoking gun hiding in the bushes behind the misdeeds of George W. Bush’s White House — and that Karl Rove’s fingerprints are, without a doubt, all over them.
There are a few more smoking guns to chase down before we are through. But if you look closely at a couple of largely ignored reports from two of the hardest working investigative reporters digging into these stories, one of the smoking guns is right in front of our faces.
Read More from The Locust Fork News-Journal

Just four days before he left office, President Bush instructed former White House aide Karl Rove to refuse to cooperate with future congressional inquiries into alleged misconduct during his administration, according to a story just out on Newsweek's Website [link below].. His lawyer, Robert Luskin, says he has asked the House Judiciary Committee to postpone its deposition of Rove until he hears back from the White House. The committee has agreed to put off the deposition -- but only for a few weeks. So far new White House counsel Greg Craig hasn't responded. He could have a conflict of interest on his hands due his friendship with former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, and his past representation of Karl Rove, which is not dealt with in the Newsweek article. In fact, it's pretty much just reported briefly here:

http://blog.locustfork.net/2009/01/29/rove-escapes-testimony-for-now/

When Democrats took control of Congress in 2007 and subpoenaed Karl Rove, he refused to appear by claiming "absolute immunity." This claim was always without basis in law, but it became ludicrous after Rove left the White House. Still, Rove stuck to it because George Bush was still the Unitary Executive  until January 20, 2009.

One of the first acts of the new Congress was to renew its old subpoenas to Rove, Harriet Miers, and John Bolten. Today John Conyers sent another subpoena, but this time he won't have the White House protecting him. Could a frogmarch be in Rove's future?

The Senate will cast its final vote on warrantless wiretapping late Tuesday or Wednesday, so we need to flood Congress with petitions and calls demanding a no vote on the FISA bill.

Sign our petition for impeachment, not immunity:
http://www.democrats.com/peoplesemailnetwork/141?ad=d1

Call your Senators through the switchboard at 202-224-3121 or dial direct
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
or let BlueAmerica connect you for free:
http://tools.advomatic.com/7/fisa

Karl Rove just added another Democratic scalp to his collection: Eliot Spitzer's.

Spitzer has not been charged with any crime. He was railroaded by the Corporate Media, led by Rupert Murdoch's NYPost and FOX News, with Karl Rove's "loyal Bushies" leaking furiously from Bush's InJustice Department.

So what's the standard here? If hiring prostitutes is a disqualification for office, then David Vitter must resign today too. In fact, a good chunk of the men in politics must also resign (and possibly a few women as well). And a bunch of reporters and editors must quit as well. And pundits too - yes I'm talking 'bout you, Dick Toesucker Morris.

Next to Bush and Cheney, no one has poisoned American politics - and hurt America in every possible way - more than Karl Rove. So why has Saint John McCain embraced him?

Karl Rove, the president’s top political hand since his Texas days, recently gave money to McCain and soon after had a private conversation with the senator. A top McCain adviser said both Mehlman and Rove are now informally advising the campaign. Rove refused to detail his conversation with McCain.

It's easy to see Rove's evil handiwork on behalf of McCain, for example the Canadian story about alleged Obama-Clinton doubletalk on NAFTA.

Karl Rove stenographer Mark Halperin did us all a favor and collected 16 of Rove's "best" ideas to help John McCain "take down" Barack Obama.

So now when McCain and the Republicans implement these ideas, all we have to say is "this is straight out of Karl Rove's playbook."

And for the record, Steve Benen did a brilliant job (as always) dismembering each one.

1. Play the national security card without hesitation.

2. Talk about the Iraq War without apologies or perceived contradiction.

3. Go at Obama unambiguously from the right.

4. Encourage interest groups, bloggers, and right-leaning media to explore Obama’s past.