NYT Reveals Conditions Set by WH for Interviews With Karl Rove

[Rose Siding]

The White House said that Mr. Rove would consider an interview for this article if it were conducted off the record, with the provision that quotations could be put on the record with White House approval, a condition it said was set for other interviews with Mr. Rove. The New York Times declined.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/washington/03rove.web.html?ex=1314936000&en=50b13c03a5c058e7&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

They wanted editorial control! Yay, NYT for shutting them down. With this, the reporter has revealed a great deal to the reader about the sourcing for his report. (Hiatt, are you paying attention?)

After seeing Larry Johnson blog his admittedly subjective opinion about the importance of recent developments in the CIA leak saga, (the NYT slam Fitzgerald and the Post's attack on Wilson that followed the immaterial plot development regarding Armitage) this piece catches the imagination. It paints Rove as having a diminished and waning influence -both in the Republican party's mid-term flailing and contortions, and in the WH, while other very recent reports have extolled his continuing influence. Curious, no?

The diminishment in Mr. Rove’s influence reflects the fact that his power is to some extent a function of Mr. Bush’s popularity. In some cases, Republican candidates have made a deliberate strategic decision that the way to win is to distance themselves from the White House.

But a central problem, Republicans said, is that Mr. Rove is seen as juggling two potentially conflicting agendas: protecting the president’s legacy and taking steps to help Republican candidates win re-election.

Mr. Rove enters the campaign season after a year of personal tumult. Until mid-June he faced the threat of indictment in the investigation into the leak of a C.I.A. officer’s identity, and in April, he was stripped of some of his duties in the White House. Mr. Rove was moved from a West Wing corner suite to a smaller windowless office across the hall, a shift one friend said he found demoralizing.

Mr. Rove’s associates said that throughout the leak investigation, he was coiled and withdrawn. They said his demeanor brightened the moment he learned he would not be indicted. Associates described him as displaying relentless optimism about an election that is filling Republicans with a sense of doom.

"Relentless optimism". That sounds a little demented to me.

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Let the press kick Rove's fat, pasty ass all over the place.

To hell with him. If he wants to control everything, let him go on Faux. Otherwise, let's see the print media chew him up for a change.

he and all the rest of the RW media whores make me sick.

[The Wielding Truth]

6. Rove is such a slimy snake,but he will get caught.

[Justice Is Comin]

2. What I'm loving is that he's caught in his own sewer.

All the frat boys of his congress are running like antelope from bush. What's he going to do to bring them back under control, threaten that bush won't come and campaign for them? :rofl:

[Gman]

3. "Relentless Optimism"?

If Rove is relentlessly optimistic about November for the GOP, that bothers me. What does Rove know that we don't know? Personally, I think he expects the wingnut fundies to vote like never before. He probably also expects every knuckle-dragging "X" scrawling (signature) RW nut to vote and spook everyone else in line to vote.

[TankLV]

4. Diebold...

No need to say anything more...

[rusty_parts2001]

5. There is a lot of speculation

that he is a cooperating witness still in the Fitzgerald investigation, lest why hasn't his lawyer revealed the full contents of Fitz's letter supposedly clearing him.

[Skidmore]

7. "coiled and withdrawn"

pretty reptilian descriptors. Needs to add rattling and hissing.

[Richard Steele]

8. That's just a standard contract for interviews in a DICTATORSHIP.

I'm just happy/surprised to see that they DECLINED.

[shadowknows69]

9. Hussein didn't even give this condition

when CBS interviewed him did he? Dictatorship indeed.

[Richard Steele]

10. No, I don't think he did.

I wish I could find the old Doonesbury strip
where Rick Redfern is in Haiti, interviewing
the dictator 'Baby Doc' Duvalier...
It seems like an appropriate commentary on
today's White House:

BD: No, wait, don't print that last part.

RR: Sorry, you said it on the record, so
I'm allowed to use it.

BD: Wow, really? What do you call that?

RR: It's called "a free press". I could send you some literature.

[Rageneau]

11. Rove will have to give this interview to the Washington Post.

Those whores will print anything the bushbots want.

[Rose Siding]

12. Good point. In fact, Pickler may have agreed to their terms for this-

Sourced by "others in the White House" and "those close to" Rove, she paints a rosier picture than the Times does:

Rove's Influence Undiminished by Scandal
August 29
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-roves-resurrection,0,6607035.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines