Is Rove losing the ‘confidence game’?

October 14, 2005

When Condoleezza Rice was under fire for misstating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein in July 2003, Scott McClellan said Bush “has confidence” in Rice. When DCA George Tenet came under fire for mistaken intelligence about Iraq in February 2004, McClellan said Bush has “great confidence” in Tenet. When several lawmakers insisted that Donald Rumsfeld resign, McClellan said Bush has “great confidence” in him. When Bernard Kerik proved to be a ridiculous choice to head the Department of Homeland Security in December 2004, McClellan said Bush has “full confidence” in him. When Tom DeLay was exposed as a corrupt thug, McClellan said Bush “has confidence in Leader DeLay.”

But today, when asked in the president still has confidence in Karl Rove, McClellan couldn’t bring himself to use the “c” word.

Q: Does the president still have full confidence in Karl Rove?

McClellan: Yeah, Jessica, this is asking questions all in the context of an ongoing investigation and —

Q: He is one of the president’s chief advisors. Does he have confidence is his —

McClellan: Karl continues to do his duties as deputy chief and staff and chief advisor to the president, and you’re trying to ask a question in the context of an ongoing investigation. The president has made it very clear that we’re not going to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Two points to consider. One, just three months ago, while the federal investigation into the Plame scandal was in full force, McClellan was asked if Bush retained confidence in Rove. McClellan said, “Yes. Any individual who works here at the White House has the President’s confidence.” Today, not so much.

Two, a month ago, McClellan also refused to say whether the president had confidence in was Michael “Brownie” Brown — and four days later, Brown resigned.

Time for Karl to update his resume?

Carl may be enjoying the meltdown that’s in progress. He realizes that even he is expendable, and if Bush falls apart when Rove leaves, that will mean that Karl Rove was, in reality, running the United States.

(running it into the ground, of course, but he doesn’t see it that way I’m sure)

  • Why is it that on so many blogs that I read “to” and the writer means “too”? Hmmm?

  • …and the writer means “too”?

    For what it’s worth, I meant “so.” It’s fixed.

  • Karl might be forced to resign if indictments are handed down, but he’ll be no more out of the picture than Tom DeLay is.

  • I suspect that, as we speak, a ream of Presidential pardons are being fed into an Autopen.

  • Mr. Rove’s case is certainly very sad, not that he does not deserve his troubles because he brought them on himself. What is sad is the fact that the American people are so poorly served by such a devious individual. However it should be pointed that people who voted for Mr. Bush not just exactly what they deserve.

  • I had been hoping, since it’s Friday and all, that we’d hear of Karl’s retirement (or worse). No such luck. Guess I’ll have to call off the quadruple Manhattans I had been planning.

  • “Time for Karl to update his resume?”

    Yeah, hopefully with a prison address under his name! Hey, maybe he can make license plates…

  • This is a Whitehouse train wreck in the offing and it couldn’t be happening to a more deserving crew. Will Scooter roll on Carl? What did the President know and when did he know it? He can say he was “out of the loop”. If there was proper Congressional oversight with half of the aggression of Clinton’s Congress, there’d be about 17 special prosecutors on this President. And rightfully so. Let’s get Bush in front of a grand jury. I’d like to know who he’s having sex with. It’s not with his robot wife.

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