White House Letter: Gathering storm tests Bush's loyalty to Rove

[maddezmom]

David E. Sanger International Herald Tribune

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2005


WASHINGTON Loyalty has long been the most hallowed virtue in the White House of George W. Bush, but rarely has it been tested the way it has this week.

No one has been closer to the president or bailed him out of more tight spots than Karl Rove, his chief political adviser. Now the question is whether Bush will protect Rove from a gathering storm.

~snip~


On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee put in motion the political machine Rove has built up over the past four and a half years to rally to his defense. It offered detailed rebuttals to any suggestion that Rove had done anything wrong, and specifically that there was an organized White House effort to leak Wilson's identity in retaliation for criticism of the Bush administration's Iraq policy by her husband, Joseph Wilson.

"He wasn't talking at all about her identity," said Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the committee and a protégé of Rove's, accusing Democrats of playing an unseemly game in criticizing the chief strategist of Bush's victory over John Kerry last year.

Speaking of Rove's conversations on July 11, 2003, with Matt Cooper, a White House correspondent for Time magazine, he added: "He was saying, 'This is a bum story, you shouldn't write this story.' He didn't use her name because he didn't know her name."

The most senior of them, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser at the time, accused the CIA of feeding bad information to the White House. In an interview this year, she said that "I was the national security adviser and the president said something that probably shouldn't have been in the speech, and it was as much my responsibility" as anyone else's. Bush stuck by her, making her secretary of state.

much more:http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/13/news/rove.php

[raysr]

1. If course he'll be loyal to Rove

he couldn't find his fly w/o Rove unzipping for him!

[WhoDaThunk]

4. not only that...

but Karl knows where all the bodies are buried. Bush is screwed if he doesn't stand by him.

[AzDar]

7. You are sooo right! Rove is the Brains (and I use the word loosely), Shrub

is just the empty suit necessary for daily operation of the Monster.
He'll find some 'justification' for keeping his Master around.

edited for: spelling without morning java. Yikes!

[Fridays Child]

2. B*sh is implicated in the Plame outing by his very refusal to fire Rove.

And Rove has way too much dirt, hidden in too many places, for B*sh to cut him loose. If Rove goes down, B*sh will, too. Maybe it's Bush who Miller is protecting.

[MaineDem]

3. "Bush stuck by her, making her secretary of state."

Another reward for poor performance.

[The Night Owl]

6. Like a mafia boss, Bush rewarded Condi for her loyalty.

[The Night Owl]

5. Loyalty, the most hallowed virtue in the White House...

Loyalty, the most hallowed virtue in the White House is also the most hallowed virtue in the mafia. What a surprise.

[BCBud]

11. My 10 year old son....

....observed a few weeks ago "The Bush family is just like the Mafia, but its political".

[ninkasi]

15. Your 10 year old son

is a bright youngster. He sees what roughly one half of the adults in this country don't. He sounds like a kid to be proud of.

[maxrandb]

14. Too Bad That "Loyalty" is NOT to the Constitution!! n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

8. It's only a crime if a "bad guy" does it, not if somebody like rove

does it. Basic rw hypocrisy at work here in the rove case.

[progressivebydesign]

9. I hope the film, Bush's Brain, is suddenly in demand. n/t

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

16. In US, it's on Comcast InDemand

Bush's Brain is a free OnDemand movie via Comcast in the US. I urge everyone to see it, before Comcast gets cold feet and pulls it...

[Toots]

10. No one's been closer to the president or bailed him out of more tight spot

I wish they could expand upon this. What tight spots are they referring to? Why was the pResident in tight spots? I thought he was the perfect person. How did he get into tight spots? Inquiring Minds want to know.

[soothsayer]

12. daddy bush fired rove once, didn't he? i can see jr doing it too

[Bassic]

17. Only if daddy tells him to do it in order to save face.

[wallwriter]

19. Daddy fired Rove for leaking a story to Bob Novak!!

[JNelson6563]

13. They are wrong on the question

Now the question is whether Bush will protect Rove from a gathering storm.

No. The question is whether Bush can protect Rove from a gathering storm.

Julie

[Ravy]

18. I hope they defend him to the hilt.

Americans, as a whole, are slowly wising up.

[yorkiemommie1]

20. out of the mouth of babes...

my friend's 4 yr old grandson heard his folks talking about *.

he is also learning about Robin Hood, taking from the rich, giving to the poor, whereas * does the opposite.

He told his Granny that * is an evil man.

[DS1]

21. If Rove didn't know her name, who did?

Simple rebuttal

[Massachusetts]

22. Gathering storm tests Bush's loyalty to Rove

Let us HOPE its a Category 5.