Fitzmas revisited?

April 26, 2006

[tag]Patrick Fitzgerald[/tag]’s [tag]Plame[/tag] [tag]grand jury[/tag] met on Friday morning, sparking a new round of speculation about indictments, [tag]Karl Rove[/tag], and what might happen next in the ongoing White House criminal investigation.

There’s new grist for the mill this morning. CNN’s John King reported:

CNN is told by three force sources familiar with the investigation that this morning Karl Rove, the president’s deputy chief of staff and top political adviser, is meeting with his attorney and is to meet this morning — if it is not already under way — with the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald. According to sources, the goal of the meeting is for Karl to clear up some lingering questions about his role in a [tag]White House[/tag] campaign to undermine Ambassador [tag]Joe Wilson[/tag] — remember he was the the critic of the Bush administration case ever going to war in Iraq, his wife the CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose name was outed.

Subsequent reports explained that Rove is not only chatting with Fitzgerald again, but he’s also appearing before the grand jury — for the fifth time.

This follows a series of items from last week, including Sidney Blumenthal suggesting that recent court filings hint at Rove’s serious legal jeopardy, and MSNBC’s David Shuster’s apparent belief that Rove is likely to be indicted.

On a related note — and I’m really just throwing this out there for discussion sake — Rove was more or less demoted last week, losing his policy coordination responsibilities. The official line was that Rove would shift his attention to the midterm elections, but he was probably going to do that anyway. Is it possible that Rove shed some of his duties because he expects to be indicted?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Fitzmas….

  • It’s hard to say. If Bush knew for sure Rove is going to be indicted, then why not have Rove resign to “spend more time with his family.” That way, the WH is only tarnished because of past association. Even with his “demotion,” the stink from his pasty fat, bloated corpse, as it gets carried out with an indictment stuck in its gaping putrified mouth, will get into the rugs of the oval office.

    Put differently, I don’t see how a demotion results in significant political advantage vis-a-vis a Fitzgerald indictment.

  • Maybe it’s the WH misreading Fitzgerald. If you think Rove won’t get indicted you don’t need to do anything with his role. So maybe this was just hedging their bets.

  • My first thought was that Rove was demoted to try to distance Bush from him, in the event he got indicted. Sure, it’s so transparant as to be ridiculous. But short of firing him, what else could they do?

    Even if indicted, I doubt they’ll cut Rove loose. I expect the repubs to return to chanting rule of law 24 hours a day, because Rove has yet to be convicted of anything. There’ll be a pity party for Rove, the likes of which we’ve never seen.

  • I am skeptical both of Rove’s “demotion” and that the “demotion” is related to Fitzgerald’s investigation.

    It’s hard to believe that Rove is really diminished in any way, regardless of the change in title. If he wants in on a policy discussion, he’s going to be in.

    If anything, the message of his “demotion” is that he needs to focus on the Congressional races, and pump up the hate and fear in those campaigns.

    Any kind of pre-emptive move because of Fitzgerald seems to rely on a lot of speculation. Would Fitzgerald really be telegraphing his intentions enough for Rove and the White House to proactively address what he’s going to do?

    Disclaimer: I have no actual knowledge of these events beyond what I read on the internets. Take it with an appropriate amount of salt.

  • Making things cushy for Rove, by reducing his responsibilities, was probably the only thing this administration could do to distance itself from the stench. A “fired” Rove is a “free-to-sing-like-a-bird” Rove. And I’d pretty much bet the whole shooting-match that Rove could sing volumes—maybe enough to justify building his own library—of goodies to Fitz….

  • The official line was that Rove would shift his attention to the midterm elections, but he was probably going to do that anyway. Is it possible that Rove shed some of his duties because he expects to be indicted?

    Could be that they’d just realized that in his former capacity he’d become more of a liability than an asset, as his Social Security plan failed, Bush’s popularity is plummeting, and he failed to keep Cheney from acting like a total idiot in that shotgun-shooting incident– and an impending indictment is just the last straw.

    Oh, Rove. He’s so Rovian. He always makes me think of the theme music from Masterpiece Theater- he’s like the typical ‘evil nerd.’ If he gets indicted, he’ll be a story for American parents to tell their kids about for all time, about what happens to crooked people.

  • Hmmmm. While I would be pleased to see Rove dragged into a courtroom, I have to wonder why Fitz isn’t talking to Cheney yet??? Libby had to have spilled the beans on his ex-boss, right?

  • “The official line was that Rove would shift his attention to the midterm elections, but he was probably going to do that anyway.”

    This somewhat off-topic but how much Federal taxpayer money goes to pay Rove’s salary? Isnt at least normal for employees to at least pretend they are working on policy even if they are truly just doing political work? Even in the White House, is it standard to have people on the Federal payroll that literally do polical campaign work all the time? Dont they at least purport to do something else?

  • Assuming Rove is indicted, what will Bush do? I think it’s fair to say Bush can’t survive without Rove, and he knows it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to brazen it out and keep Rove in place despite the indictment.

    Bear in mind that the upcoming midterms are both crucial and in huge jeopardy for the GOP. Without Rove there’s no hope of staving off Democratic control of one or the other sides of the legislative branch, with the accompanying blizzard of subpoenas. Bush’s next three years won’t be much fun under any circumstances, but without Rove they’ll be likely catastrophic.

  • Rove will never be indicted or, if he is he will cut a deal to keep his ass out of jail so fast that Scooter’s head will never stop spinning.

    Rove will roll-over on anyone and anything he can (and he knows where the bodies are buried) and is probably spilling his blubbering guts before the grand jury right now. If he is not indicted within days you can rest assured he told Fitz everything he ever wanted to hear and more. Most cowards do, and Rove knows he’s just a little too soft and pudgy to survive prison as Bubba’s bitch.

  • I agree, it’s possible Rove was “demoted” to create distance from a pending indictment. But even if that’s the case, Rove going back to being a purely political operative entails a shift from governance to politics.

    We all know how miserable the Bush administration has been at governing this country, as Swan points out above. His “demotion” could simply be a recognition that it’s time to let Rove – and the GOP machine on whole – do what he does best: launch political attacks that invert reality and never, ever, ever say what they mean.

    Unless Rove is indicted he will play a critical role in the midterm elections. Failures won’t matter much when the attack ads start flying and the GOP finds a way to maintain control of Congress. If Rove is indicted, all bets are off and we may actually have an election that’s determined by the results of this destructively incompetent administration’s policies. I’m hoping for the latter.

  • I wish someone with a legal background would discuss whether or not it is unusual go go before a grand jury five times. Is it just me or this a lot of trips to the courhouse?

  • The whole demotion stunt has got to have a reason, and it is probably because of Fitz investigation. These people are so devious that it is hard to figure what is up, but you can bet something is. I love the idea that a fired Rove is a sing like a bird Rove, but dreams don’t always come true. I guess I will just have to stay tuned.

  • jimBOB wrote:

    I think it’s fair to say Bush can’t survive without Rove, and he knows it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to brazen it out and keep Rove in place despite the indictment.

    You think Rove has been helping Bush out? With Rove at the helm the Social Security campaign was an utter disaster, and Cheney was booed by the whole stadium when he threw out the first pitch at a Washinton Nationals game a week or two ago.

    Rove is an anchor. Bush probably only won’t cut him lose more because he thinks it would be too obvious an admission– they’re tied too tight– same thing as w/ Rummy. Rove’s staying power has nothing to do with his aptitude- apparently, he’s only knows how to play one tune, and it’s militaristic jingoism and fear-mongering. But what happens when that becomes stale, when people have seen through it– Rove has apparently lost the ear of the people- he’s lost touch, and that’s been dragging the Whitehouse and the GOP down along with him.

  • wish someone with a legal background would discuss whether or not it is unusual go go before a grand jury five times. Is it just me or this a lot of trips to the courhouse?-ET

    Christy Hardin Smith at FDL is lawyer. Here is what she says:

    I have to say that in my experience, this is really unprecedented — I can’t ever remember any witness who was also potentially a subject in an investigation giving a prosecutor this many under oath opportunities to skewer them.

  • When does the grand jury convene and Fitzgerald have to bring a charge?
    It would be nice to have a countdown to when Rove, Cheney, or Bush will be indicted. Although in all honesty everyone knows some low level lackey will be scapegoated.

  • Swan
    Rove as a policy director was a disaster, I grant you. However, what we are looking for in the upcoming midterms is a campaigner. In particular the GOP needs someone to smear the Democrats just enough to keep them from winning one or the other house of congress. Rove can sling mud as well as or better than anyone, and if you think he’s not an electoral asset you haven’t been paying attention to the last three elections.

  • All I’m saying is, now he works for the WH and their poll numbers are terrible. Because he may have once been an asset does not mean he still is. We’ll see if the change of scenery of working on those campaigns changes anything, but I think he’s worn out. If he’s been responsible for guiding the WH’s public image at all, he’s been failing miserably.

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