Patrick Fitzgerald has met with attorney’s of Matt Cooper to discuss Rove’s
involvement with the leak case even more. Washington Post is reporting that
Fitzgerald is considering charging Rove with making false statements during the
investigation. This could happen in the next few weeks.

It may not take an indictment in the leak case to force Rove out of the White
House. This is from the same Washington Post article:

But some top Republicans said yesterday that Rove’s problems may not end
there. Bush’s top advisers are considering whether it is tenable for Rove to
remain on the staff, given that Fitzgerald has already documented something
that Rove and White House official spokesmen once emphatically denied —
that he played a central role in discussions with journalists about Plame’s
role at the CIA and her marriage to former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a
critic of the Iraq war.

“Karl does not have any real enemies in the White House, but there are a
lot of people in the White House wondering how they can put this behind them
if the cloud remains over Karl,” said a GOP strategist who has discussed the
issue with top White House officials. “You can not have that [fresh] start
as long as Karl is there.”

Full article

here

At the very least there seems to be a consensus at the White House that Rove
should at least issue an official apology for his involvement in the leak case.
This of course is not likely to happen with the investigation still going on.

Rove is no stranger to these kinds of problems. In 1992, he was fired by
George H. W. Bush for leaking information to Novak during Bush’s run for a
second term. It is amazing that he was fired for leaking to the same reporter as
he has leaked to once again. Perhaps there should be a father son talk about
what is right and what is illegal.

Everyone remembers what happened to John McCain in 2000. It suddenly came out
that he had an illegitimate child. The worse thing about this was the timing. It
came out in South Carolina during the primaries, right after McCain beat Bush in
the New Hampshire primaries. This too was an orchestrated leak by Rove. Its a
tactic commonly referred to as “push polling” in the political world. You start
phone calls and leaking information out that can damage your opponent with out
making an official statement on it. This cost McCain the nomination in 2000.

The first real incidence of Rove using the press for his number one assault
tool was in the 80’s. Rove was heading up the campaign for Bill Clements (R) to
defeat sitting Texas Governor Mark White (D). He called in private investigators
to sweep his office for electronic listening devices and they found them.
Instead of calling the police, Rove called a press conference.

The police and FBI did investigate the bug and they ended up dropping the
investigation. The reason was because the battery was so small it would not of
been used by opposition. As matter of fact, the battery in the device only had a
six hour life, meaning for it to be used it would have to be changed four times
a day. This still helped Clements become Governor in 1986 for a second time.

It seems that Rove has pretty much skated in the past by doing actions that
teeter on being illegal. They are highly unethical maneuvers though and anyone
who would employ such a person does not care about decency but rather just
winning.

If Rove is the great political mind that they say he is then why hasn’t he
resigned from office? Bush’s approval ratings are down to 35% and more
congressional Republicans seem to be distancing themselves from the embattled
administration. A resignation by Rove would certainly help the image of the
White House and give an increase in approval ratings.

Perhaps this morning Washington Post article has helped shed light on the
reason. If Rove did in fact resign or even apologize then he would be admitting
guilt. That is something the prosecutor could easily use against him in securing
an indictment. Instead of wanting what is best for the country, Karl Rove is
wanting what is best for him. Sadly, the President is too blind to see this
greedy action. The President should show the American people that he is in
charge and working for the best interests of this country by terminating the
employee in his administration that is a known leaker of classified information.

That would also explain why aides in the White House are starting to say Rove
needs to go. I am sure no one is comfortable discussing national secrets with a
known leaker. If they tell him something and then he runs to Novak, it could
lead to a repeat of the last two years. That would make any decent employee
uncomfortable doing his job. Like I said though, if anything is evident its that
Karl Rove does not care about his country or his employer, he just cares about
himself and winning. That is a terrible philosophy for some one so powerful in
our government.