Joe Hack

George Bushs brain (as he is generally known) Karl Rove appears unlikely to slip quietly into retirement. Bush ’strategists’ in the last two elections plumbed new depths in dirty tactics and we wait uneasily for the tidal wave of black propoganda in the run up to the next election but it seems that there is every possibility that in the coming weeks Rove will begin to direct attacks on Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton. You would think this was  a just another sign that Bush is running scared but  is it as straightforward as it seems ? With Rove few things ever are. Is  he is worried about Clinton? Or is there a calculation that the attacks on her will get Democrats to rally behind her because Bush is even more scared of the other contenders ?

“The Democrats are going to choose a nominee. I believe it’s going to be her,” President Bush’s departing political adviser said on Sunday. Rove, not an elected politician or accountable in any way to the public, nevertheless found it necessary to appear on THREE Sunday talk shows after announcing last week he was leaving the White House at the end of the month to spend more time with his family.  Asked why he was helping Clinton by saying she would headline the ticket, Rove said disingenuously: “Didn’t know that I was. Don’t think that I am.”. Yeah right Karl ! You’re just a babe in the woods at negative politicking. We all believe that.

Rove followed up with harsh remarks about Hilary Clintons negative public opnion ratings. Well lets think back a little, shall we ?  In 2004 Bush’s re-election team aimed its harshest comments at John Kerry, the eventual nominee, because it wanted Bush to take on Kerry rather than Edwards, then a senator from North Carolina. Thats not my opinion.  Thats what Bush’s former pollster and strategist Matthew Dowd reportedly said at a 2004 Harvard University conference, that Bush’s re-election team went after Kerry because they were more afraid of Edwards. Don’t you just love honest politics ?

Asked whether he was attacking Clinton because the GOP feared Obama, Rove replied: “I read that in the LA Times this morning. Those, those guys out in LA have got to get clued in. I mean, come on.” Asked for his opinions on Obama, Rove demurred. “I’ve said enough,” he said.  You have to laugh. Right again Karl. You wouldn’t ever want to manipulate public opinion or anything, would you ?

At a Democratic debate in Iowa on Sunday, Clinton responded to Rove’s criticism. “I don’t think Karl Rove is going to endorse me, but I find it interesting that he’s obsessed with me,” she said. She said no candidate will escape the “Republican attack machine,” and added: “I know how to beat them.”

Last week, Clinton’s campaign ran a television ad saying struggling families and U.S. troops are “invisible” to Bush. White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino called that “unconscionable.” Rove said that was laughable.  Hmmm .. but are the thousands of struggling American families and the neglected and ignored troops really laughing Karl ? I wonder.

Rove, in the news recently over the unamerican dirty tricks that saw Scooter Libby handed a jail sentance, also commented that he doesn’t think he owes an apology to Valerie Plame who was ‘outed’ as a CIA operative by newspaper columnist Robert Novak’s in 2003, shortly after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, began criticizing the administration’s rush to war in Iraq. Rove said he had indeed talked to Novak about Plame, but said he did not confirm that she worked for the CIA only that he, too, had heard that she did.

Predicting that Democratic-led investigations into  U.S. attorney firings and other matters would follow him after he quits the White House , a decision he insisted was not in response to probes on Capitol Hill, Rove said .. ..”They’ll keep after me,” . Well lets really hope so Karl. There are a LOT of questions still to be answered about the Valerie Plame scandal that saw the life of a loyal American CIA operative put at risk for political revenge and about the rumbling scandal of the US attorney firings that is not about to go away. The country needs some answers.

Rove appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

-Tags:Bush CIA operative Clinton karl rove Political News presidential candidacy republican Republicans whitehouseBush, CIA operative, Clinton, karl rove, Political News, presidential candidacy, republican, Republicans, whitehouse

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Justice ! Free and fair. Equal and available for all. The bedrock of any civilized society. Not in America ! For over four years the American judicial system has run its course in the case of , former chief of staff for the Vice-President Dick Cheney. At last, after the most painstaking and mericulous review of the facts by the FBI and by a grand-jury hearing Libby was convicted on five counts of felony and sentenced to two and a half years in jail. A relatively mild punishment, many would think, for acts that endangered the security of the nation and bordered on treason. Immediately the sentence was announced, however, up popped Libby’s former paymaster, George W Bush, to use his presidential power to reject the courts verdict and decree that Libby should not spend a single day in jail. This, you will recall, is the same George W Bush who favours tougher sentencing and enthusiastically suports the death penalty. But of course thats only for folks like you and me. Not for his cronies. Oh hell no !

This is the most extreme and shocking act of disrespect to the American legal system that any of us can ever remember. Sure previous presidents, including Bush senior and Clinton, had granted dubious pardons but this outrageous act of cronyism goes far beyond any of those. It is fundamentally different. Libby was convicted of lying to the court and obstructing justice.  Lets recall the circumstances. Bush decided to wage war on Iraq on the basis of lies, in particular the false assertion that it had ‘weapons of mass destruction‘. One of the few people to expose that lie was a former US ambassador, Joseph Wilson.  Bush’s cronies, as part of a smear campaign of revenge on Wilson for telling the truth, leaked to the media that Wilson’s wife was a covert CIA operative, thereby putting her life at risk. Libby was a key player in this shameful episode and lied to cover it up. What he and bush’s aides did was to break all previous conventions regarding the naming of CIA operatives and thereby put at risk the life of a government employee. It was reckless, deeply nasty, and as close to treason as you can get. By any standards it was a very, very serious crime. Thats what ‘Scooter’ faced jail-time for, although of course he was just the monkey and the organ-grinders - who should have faced the courts were Bush and Cheney.

So what is the result of Bushs breathtaking intervention ? Well for a start this decision makes a mockery of the basic principle of the seperation of power between the executive and the courts. The sentencing guidelines of the US courts have been disregarded. Prospective CIA operatives will think twice, knowing that they can be publically outed for political reasons by any whitehouse aide with a grudge. The American public, bar a few far-right headbangers, is outraged, with 67% recently being oppoosed to any form of pardon for Libby. Bush is now, according to polls, the most unpopular president *ever*, with ratings for unpopularity that have set completely new records. However as one Bush aide dismissively said , ‘the President can take the heat’. Thats a measure of just how contemptuous and arrogant this administration has become.  The real damage though is not to Bush. He’s a lost cause anyway.

The real damage is to America. The cancer of corruption has been starkly exposed in a government that is now rotten to the core. The rest of the world looks on in disbelief that a nation which so prides itself on its systems of justice and fairness should have sunk so low. No-one outside America can possibly take seriously anything the present American government says about ‘freedom‘ or ‘democracy’ or ‘justice’. The Libby case demonstrates yet again that in Bush’s eyes he and his cronies are above the law. Public tolerance for that kind of arrogance has ebbed though, washed away by the bloody mess of the middle east and the increasingly obvious corruption in government. Its just not fixable as things are. The hard fact is that when you have a cancer it has to be removed for there to be any chance of survival.   So lets hope the shame that this latest episode brings America will not be a totally negative thing.  Lets hope this will be the final outrageous act of corruption that signals the beginning of the end.

The nation under Bush has become deeply sick. Lets all hope for a speedy recovery, but first the cancer must be legally removed so that the healing can begin.  Impeachment anyone ?Tags:administration America arrogance Bush chief of staff CIA operative Clinton convicted corruption crime death penalty Dick Cheney FBI felony freedom George W Bush government Impeachment Iraq jail Joseph Wilson judicial system justice legal system legally Lewis Scooter Libby Libby media middle east obstructing justice outrageous pardon pardons Political Rants punishment ratings security shame society treason unpopular president unpopularity US courts weapons of mass destructionadministration, America, arrogance, Bush, chief of staff, CIA operative, Clinton, convicted, corruption, crime, death penalty, Dick Cheney, FBI, felony, freedom, George W Bush, government, Impeachment, Iraq, jail, Joseph Wilson, judicial system, justice, legal system, legally, Lewis Scooter Libby, Libby, media, middle east, obstructing justice, outrageous, pardon, pardons, Political Rants, punishment, ratings, security, shame, society, treason, unpopular president, unpopularity, US courts, weapons of mass destruction

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