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People
in the News
Karl Rove
Up
until recently the Republican party's chief political strategist
in the George
Bush administration, Rove
announced that he would be resigning
his current post at the end of August, but did not cite any
specific reason for his departure other than "for the sake
of my family".
As
'The Architect' of the Republican reelection campaign, some political
pundits charge that Rove had no choice but to step down following
the distasterous loss of Congressional seats to the Democratic
candidates following the 2006 elections.
Critics
also charge that Rove may be sidestepping
a clash with a Congressional investigation into the alledged
political motivations for a spate of U.S. attorney firings in
2006.
Rove
now adds his name to the list of key departures from the Bush
administration. They include of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz,
and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
White
House Scandals
He,
and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis
Libby have been making headlines over the past year for their
alleged involvement in the Valerie
Plame investigation being led by special prosecutor Patrick
Fitzgerald.
Libby,
having been found guilty
of 4 out of the 5 charges leveled against him in the Valerie Plame
case later had his sentence commuted by President Bush.
Meanwhile,
Valerie Plame & husband Joseph Wilson filed
suit in U.S. District Court accusing Vice President Cheney, Rove
and Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge
against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives
in Iraq. That suit was dismissed by a federal judge in July 2007.
In
other news, Rove and Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales are reportedly at the center of a spate of US
attorneys firings who believe they were improperly dismissed
because of political pressures.
Seven
U.S. attorneys were fired last December with no explanation for
their dismissals. Another U.S. attorney, Bud Cummins of Little
Rock, was dismissed last summer in order to make room for a former
Rove aide.
Most
recently, Rove admitted to possibly millions of missing
e-mails written by him in connection with the U.S. attorney
firings, which have recently become the subject of Congressional
hearings.
Related
News, Bios & Pictures | Quotes
Born Karl
Christian Rove in Denver, Colorado on December 25, 1950, Rove
has been known for his winner-take-all strategy and unconventional
political tactics even from his earliest days on the political
scene.
Beginning
at 19, he admittedly stole letterhead from the campaign office
of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon in 1970 on which was printed the
message, "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for
nothing."
The printed
letterhead was later used for political fliers and distributed
at nearby homeless shelters and at rock concerts. As a result,
hundreds of homeless turned up at a Dixon reception looking for
the promised handouts. An embarassed Dixon was nevertheless elected
state treasurer and went on to become a senator.
Rising
to the Top
Rove's political
career began in earnest as a member of the College
Republicans, an organization in which Rove fought his way
up to office of chairman in 1973.
Throughout
the subsequent decade, he worked for various Republican political
causes, most notably for George Bush Sr.'s 1980 vice presidential
campaign.
By 1981, Rove
founded the direct mail consulting firm, Karl Rove & Co.,
which grew to serve a Republican Who's Who of clients.
As Rove continued
to operate his direct mail business, George W. Bush's gubernatorial
campaign hired him as an advisor in 1993. Six years later, Rove
finally sold the firm to focus on Bush Jr.'s bid for the presidency
and after Bush's successful election in 2001 became White House
senior advisor.
A college
dropout from the University of Utah, Rove is referred to as "Boy
Genius" and "Turd Blossom" by the President for
his ability to come out ahead even under difficult circumstances.
Today, he has risen to become one of the administration's top
political strategists and most influential policy makers.
Valerie
Plame Affair
In recent
years, Rove has become even more visible in connection with the
controversial Valerie
Plame affair.
The potentially
explosive scandal began on August 29, 2003 when career diplomat
Joseph
Wilson accused Rove of being the White House official who
leaked the identity of his wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame, to the
press.
According
to Wilson, it was Rove who sought to punish him and his wife for
Wilson's public
contradiction of President Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein
sought to build up his nuclear arsenal by purchasing yellowcake
uranium from Niger.
(Hussein's
alleged weapons of mass destruction were key in the decision-making
process that eventually led to the invasion of Iraq. That Hussein
held any such weapons has now been proved false.)
In October
2005, the special prosecutor summoned Karl Rove to return to testify
numerous times in a highly unusual step that resulted in widespread
rumors that charges were about to be filed in the case.
However, it
was Libby who resigned from his top-level position on October
28, 2005 after a five-count
indictment was handed down charging him with obstruction of
justice, making false statements and perjury.
Libby, whose
sentence was commuted by President Bush, was found guility of
4 out of the 5 charges leveled against him.
Despite his
unusual cooperation with the Plame case, Rove has steadfastly
refused to testify at ongoing Congressional investigations regarding
the firing of eight federal prosecutors in 2006. His refusal comes
at the behest of President Bush, who claims executive privilege
forbidding him to appear.
The once-divorced
Rove has a son with his current wife, Darby,
who he married in 1986.
Related
News, Pictures & Biographies:
Karl
Rove - Wikipedia
The
President and His Leadership Team - Karl Rove
Karl
Rove - The Architect
Disinfopedia
- Karl Rove
Guardian
Unlimited - Who is Karl Rove?
Bush's
Brain - A Documentary About Karl Rove
Famous
Quotes:
[George W. Bush] was the kind of candidate and officeholder
political hacks like me wait a lifetime to be associated with.
Have a robust domestic and foreign agenda. Don't trim your
sails. Be bold. People want to hear big, significant changes.
They don't want to be fed small micropolicy.
As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless
they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves
there can be too much of a good thing.
Those that the gods destroy they first make prideful. -
statement following the 2004 election.
People like this president. They're just sour right now on the
war.
- In response to 29% Bush approval rating, May 2006.
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