When the WH announced on April 19 that Karl Rove was stepping down as Bush's chief policy advisor, I felt that the move was in defense and Fitz was closing in on an indictment of Bush's Brain. Today, courtesy Christy at FDL, who provided news that Fitz was headed back to the GJ with an update that Rove would testify again for the fifth time, I found a Scripps-Howard article from yesterday. Martin Schram summed up my intuitions in this graf:
That's why it begins to seem likely that someone (it could have been Bush, or Bolten or even Rove himself) came up with this smart stroke of potential crisis management _ the one and only way to get out in front of what could be the next bad wave of news. Separate Rove from all policy. Then, if the indictment comes and he must resign, it can be said to have no effect at all on White House policy. And of course, if no indictment comes, well, Rove can still be the dominator in the wings, shaping all policies foreign and domestic _ without portfolio, but with his uninterrupted, Bush-bestowed clout. Just as he was during the first four years of the Bush presidency.Interesting point Schram makes about how the media reported that Rove "surrendered" his policy duties. Could that be foreshadowing? Fresh faces in the WH tell me that Bush wants to make his WH look renewed for a reason. After following the preznit for six years, I've observed Bush to be stubborn to a fault and a control freak about loyalty. I doubt staff changes were implemented just to overhaul his tanking approval ratings. I smell a baking potato almost ready to take out of the oven.
John King of CNN reported that Rove testified for three hours today at the request of Special Counsel. AP pegs it at almost four hours. Whew! I figure Fitz must be contemplating what charges to indict Rove on. King also said that Viveca Novak of Time Magazine had tipped off Rove's attorney, Luskin, to the fact that folks at Time knew that Rove had talked to Matt Cooper, something Karl had "forgot." Viveca's tip led Luskin to the retrieval of Karl's emails, so said the attorney. We'll see how that excuse flies with Fitz.
Jane Hamsher provides a history of Rove's GJ testimony. More later...
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