THE KING RAT

 

WHEN A RAT GETS CAUGHT The Nest Gets Fouled. The political air is rancid with the smell of a found rat’s urine.  Fight or flight in Karl Rove does not apply, as he does both at the same time.  But while the fight remains in him, flight remains his fate.  Always in more than one place at once, Rove has steered the Bush political ship and now he is the iceberg that ship has struck.  Rove is the iceberg and the pilot of the boat, but also the first rat, king rat, to take to water. The ship is sinking. We should not be distracted from that reality by the ship’s loyal band playing “Nearer My God to Thee.”

Bush is nearer to hell than his handlers would admit.  Oil now burns slick and hot on his political waters.  Bush is loyal, so they say, which is odd for a man who so often trashes the legacy of his father.  With Bush loyalty runs only one way, on a one way street.  And all who run to Bush first must stop with Rove.  Rove for the moment stops all political traffic, as all great wrecks do.  Wreckage is what Rove does best, even if this one now is his own. 

So where are we going and where have we been in this tale of the Boy who is a Genius and the President yet a Boy? Even as Rove scratches the decks to scurry into the sea, the focus for them will be on the now so that we might not remember the when. What when is that?  The when before the war for one. And the when when Paul Bremer could not account for eight billion dollars somehow all disappeared.  We will be asked to look at what is now and forget how we got here.  We will be told back when does not matter, for we are here now.  Do not notice the rather large rodent as it splashes in the water.

At this point, for Bush it would be best if the Boy Genius resigned immediately.  That would be all public relations and I am sure Rove would continue to advise, in the same way Bush’s other main man, Karen Hughes, did when she so publicly left the administration to return so publicly as well  However, the stain and acrid aroma of Rove will be forever on Bush.  More revelations of what Rove has done will soon disquiet the formerly silent middle of America.  The flickering, little light for decency so long wavering in the breeze will only grow brighter now. Darker times wait ahead for Bush.  When people come to realize the priorities this administration has set and the dubious means by which it has achieved them, this administration's ability to dictate the terms of discussions in the coming mid term election will for all intents and purposes evaporate.  An even more frantic tenor will be yet more in evidence for the tenure of Bush's term.   The recent past, the dubious terror alerts timed so coneviently to raise blood pressure as administration poll numbers dropped will take a harder look.  The run up to Iraq, the talk of nuclear clouds and smoking guns will explode into the news as it should have way back when. This investigation will not end, even with the departure of the largest rat from this sinking ship.

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RELATED AND RECOMMENDED READING:
NBC NEWS MEET THE PRESS With Time Russert, Matt Cooper, John Podesta, Ken Mehlman, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein
[TRANSCRIPT ][CROOKS AND LIARS VIDEO]

TIMELESS SELF LOVE OF MATT COOPER
[TIME:MATT COOPER REVEALS DOUBLE SUPER SECRET BACKGOUND TO GRAND JURY] ROVE: "I've already said too much . . ."  . . . COOPER: Is any of this a crime? Beats me. At this point, I'm as curious as anyone else to see what Patrick Fitzgerald has.
[TIME PRESS RELEASE] HAT TIP: [TALK LEFT]

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
[JOHN DEAN ON KARL ROVE] Rove's unique role is that he is a political guy making policy decisions for political reasons. Decisions in the Bush White House are made not based on what is best for the public interest, rather what will get the president the most mileage with his base, and best political advantage. Not since Nixon's so-called responsiveness program -- which was uncovered during the Watergate investigation -- have we had such overt political decision-making.
The reference to Haldeman and Ehrlichman as explaining Rove was a quip from a friend of mine from the Nixon White House who has had dealings with Rove. Since Rove is a revengeful fellow, my friend will remain nameless. But my friend was telegraphing a lot of information about Rove with this bit of shorthand -- for anyone who has any knowledge of the Nixon White House and Watergate, they know Haldeman and Ehrlichman were the heavies. First, it is a compliment in that both Haldeman and Ehrlichman were very smart, and highly efficient. But what it tells us is that Rove is ruthless, for both Haldeman and Ehrlichman were that too.

[FRANK RICH/NY TIMES] Well, of course, Karl Rove did it. He may not have violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, with its high threshold of criminality for outing a covert agent, but there's no doubt he trashed Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame. We know this not only because of Matt Cooper's e-mail, but also because of Mr. Rove's own history. Trashing is in his nature, and bad things happen, usually through under-the-radar whispers, to decent people (and their wives) who get in his way. In the 2000 South Carolina primary, John McCain's wife, Cindy, was rumored to be a drug addict (and Senator McCain was rumored to be mentally unstable). In the 1994 Texas governor's race, Ann Richards found herself rumored to be a lesbian. The implication that Mr. Wilson was a John Kerry-ish girlie man beholden to his wife for his meal ticket is of a thematic piece with previous mud splattered on Rove political adversaries. The difference is that this time Mr. Rove got caught.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Comments

[Fred Dawes]

Rats are Rats nothing can stop a rat from eating life.

and we have many rats eating away at all of us.

[Missouri Mule]

Yep, and rats kill and eat each other.

[jillian]

Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
Ill never be alone
And you, my friend will see
Youve got a friend in me
(Youve got a friend in me)

Ben, youre always running here and there
(Here and there)
You feel youre not wanted anywhere (anywhere)
If you ever look behind
And dont like what you find
Theres something you should know
Youve got a place to go
(Youve got a place to go)

I used to say I and me
Now its us, now its we
(I used to say I and me
Now its us, now its we)

Ben, most people would turn you away
(Turn you away)
I dont listen to a word they say
(A word they say)
They dont see you as I do
I wish they would try to
Im sure theyd think again
If they had a friend like Ben
(A friend)
Like Ben
(Like Ben)
Like Ben

[jillian]

(oh...forgot to add to my post above...)

There's one way to get the Public interested in this Rovegate story....Put a Michael Jackson spin (song) to it....

[Amanda]

This is one of my favorite Photoshops so far.

[Conor]

I was going to comment how fantastic the picture is then I saw the comments and had a good laugh. Great pic and great comments! May that little turd, Rove roast, roast, roast.

[cruelanimal]

Another terrific pic from you.

Now if only our journalists would re-fortify their spines and approach Rove with the mindset behind this memorable line from both "Willard" movies:

Tear him up!!!

[Fanny Pack]

I have a fat ugly rat name Telica Yolonda Mocole Lashay Anderson and she just gets on my nerves I get so tired of her it dont make any sence. But she eats alot of food and she is really stuffed but i dont like it but i just want to give her away. I dont like her at all.

[tyhgetyhe]

plain and simple- watch out for evil spawns of satan like Rove; they will destroy our democracy if we don't recognize them for the reats they are

[fern]

that picture is so cool my brothers nickname is called connorrat and it is nearly his birthday so i made a card with it on