August 13, 2007

Fred's Team On Rove: Enjoy The Retirement

No sooner did Karl Rove announce his retirement than some people started speculating that he would hitch his wagon to another presidential campaign. At Radar, Ray Gustini called Fred Thompson's spokesman and former Rove aide Mark Corallo to ask if the Fred team had cleared a desk for Rove. Not exactly:

Asked about the prospect of a Rove-run campaign, former Rove spokesman and current Thompson spokesman (ahem) Mark Corallo tells Radar, "I really don't think Karl Rove is going to have anything to do with any campaign in 2008... I talked to him today, and we shared some e-mails and I told him, 'Enjoy your time with your family and take care of [your wife] Darby.'"

Rove has proven himself invaluable to the Bush administration, and if anyone would consider asking Rove to join, it would be Fred. He's already defended Scooter Libby and helped him raise funds for his defense. Fred doesn't appear to fear connections to the Bush administration as much as the other Republican campaigns, and given his late entry in the race and its juxtaposition with Rove's official termination date, it might make some sense.

However, it won't happen. It's one thing to say that Scooter Libby should get a pardon, but it's another thing entirely to hire him as an aide. The same is even more true for Karl Rove. Like it or not, fair or not, Rove has served as a lightning rod for the Bush administration for too long to risk adding him to a specific candidate now. The GOP had four election cycles in which to learn from his lessons, and one hopes that they paid attention.

Besides, Rove has better plans at the moment. He can't write the book that will make him richer than Bill Clinton while running yet another campaign. If Radar thinks that Fred's "salivating" at the prospect of hiring Rove -- which is highly unlikely -- then the major publishing houses in New York have to be holding buckets under their chins while mortgaging their last J. D. Salinger first-edition signed copies of Catcher in the Rye to come up with signing bonuses. The best part of that project is that Rove can do that while spending time with his family.

No candidate will hire Karl Rove in this cycle -- and that probably suits Rove just fine.

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» ROVE TO RESIGN! [updated 8-14] from Buck Naked Politics
Huh----? Whuh---? Buh---? Right here at BBC News, I found this headline: Top White House aide Rove resigns, by way of which I found the Wall Street Journal article here. Look, it says it right here: Karl Rove to Resign at the End of August. And now it'... [Read More]

Comments (4)

Posted by Andrew Jackson | August 13, 2007 7:47 PM

while mortgaging their last J. D. Salinger first-edition signed copies of Catcher in the Rye to come up with signing bonuses.
Heh.

That is, until JD Salinger actually passes on, then the race is on to publish what he has been writing over the last couple of decades...

Posted by Rose | August 13, 2007 11:22 PM

Karl Rove has been a part of a number of highly successful administrations and teir campaigns - why would he want to hook up with any of these RINO LOSERS?

Duncan Hunter is the only one worth Karl Rove's time, and unfortunately, it doesn't seem the climate is right for either of them, at this time.
THE GOP HATES those the Conservatives love, or who do their jobs WELL. Once the DIMS hate a GOP successful operative, the GOP eats him alive.

I have no warm and fuzzy feelings left for the GOP.
They remind me of abused wives of alcoholics who keep the house and kids absolutely spotless, and tell the neighbors the noise they heard the night before was a movie on TV. And make best friends of their husbands' mistresses.

Posted by lexhamfox | August 13, 2007 11:45 PM

Perhaps not in this cycle, but isn't even fall of 2007. There is a long way to go before the next election and who is to say that Rove will want to player again. He has every chance of getting back into the game.

I personally think his 'retirement' is good for the Conservative cause in relation to those core values which are more easily shared with the general public and humanity at large. He is an able and capable political operator. in my opinion, however, he put politics way above policy, and by doing so, traditional fiscal and pragmatic conservatism, and the nation as a whole, will pay dearly for his efforts.

Posted by Barnestormer | August 14, 2007 8:49 AM

IBEW members scrambled last night to replace the MSM circuit panels destroyed by the massive distribution of the collaborative network miniseries, "Rove--the Hardball Divider from Hell."

The good news is that such a power surge is unlikely to recur unless Lehman Brothers reveals Dick Cheney as CEO of the newly merged Halliburton/Wal*Mart, Inc.

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