I think I have figured out why Karl Rove is leaving the White House NOW, instead of at the end of Bush's term.
For years, Rove used the Republican National Committee's e-mail server in order to HIDE his nefarious and possibly illegal dealings and doings.
The RNC claimed to have erased all Rove's e-mails ... so the senate and House committees investigating who at the White House was directing the firings of the eight U.S. Attorneys -- the ones who were unwilling to bend the laws to help Republicans win elections -- would be thwarted in their efforts.
Senator Leahy famously said that no e-mails were erased forever and that he would find them.
Find them he did.
And Democratic senate aides have been poring over them ever since.
I think they found the proverbial "smoking gun" tying Rove to the firings and identifying him as the mastermind behind the whole snarky business.
I believe the Democrats informed Rove they had the goods on him and, after the August recess, were prepared to go after him aggressively.
I think Rove, seeing the handwriting on the wall and the revelations of his criminality staring him in the face, made the Democrats in Congress a deal: "I'll go now, and you will drop the investigation into my (Rove's) actions."
Anyway, that's my take on this whole mysterious business.
I think it is a deal to cover up Rove's activities.
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SEE also: "Karl Rove, Top Strategist, Is Leaving the White House" at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/13/washington/13cnd-rove.html